Garrett Riley opens up on pressure surrounding him at Clemson

Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is only 33 years old but the young coach has already been in pressure-filled jobs on the sidelines. But there might not be one with as much pressure as the job he has landed with the Tigers.

The team has not made the College Football Playoff the past two seasons after making it six years in a row. Clemson has a potentially elite quarterback in Cade Klubnik and a great running back group led by Will Shipley.

Riley was asked about the pressure he is feeling as the offensive coordinator for Clemson at his Tuesday press conference.

“I just think I do every year probably,” Riley said. “I just think you always put more pressure on yourself than anybody else is going to. I just think that’s the nature of what we do it and that’s the positions you to want to be in. I wouldn’t say any more than I probably have any other year.”

Riley was previously the offensive coordinator at SMU and TCU under Sonny Dykes, which came with its own pressure.

His first and only year with the Horned Frogs was last season when the team went on a historic run to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Riley accepted the offensive coordinator job with the Tigers with his starting quarterback position all but settled. Klubnik will be the starter with transfer quarterback Paul Tyson, true freshman Christopher Vizzina, Hunter Helms and Trent Pearlman filling out the rest of the room.

Tyson was brought in this offseason to be a veteran reserve while Dabo Swinney said the plan for Vizzina is going to be to redshirt him.

Even with those stipulations limiting some of the competition Riley can create in the room, he said he believes there is always some sort of competition pushing the quarterbacks.

“I think they’re always is,” Riley said. “No matter what you did last year and no matter what you did in spring football, you got to come out and you got to be able to do that in fall camp, where we have enough confidence in you to move forward and continue to give you reps. That’s just how it always goes. Everybody in here has seen starters that started the first game and then they get pulled at halftime or whatever. That’s the nature of the beast. I think they always know that there’s always competition in that room.”