An ESPN college football analyst expressed concern when discussing Clemson during the network’s College GameDay show this past weekend.
Desmond Howard talked about the Tigers’ coordinator changes, saying the departures of former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott to Virginia and former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables to Oklahoma “causes concern” for him.
“When you look at what they lost – not just players but the coordinators – that causes concern for me,” he said. “These are like two special play-callers. They lost Tony Elliott. He was the offensive coordinator. I mean, it takes skill, intuition – it takes a lot to be a play-caller. It doesn’t show up every week – it shows up against opponents where you’re probably kind of equally matched. Now he’s at UVA.”
Dabo Swinney, of course, filled those coordinator roles on his staff internally, promoting Brandon Streeter to offensive coordinator and Wes Goodwin to defensive coordinator.
Streeter and Goodwin got a dress rehearsal, so to speak, when they called plays for the first time in the Tigers’ Cheez-It Bowl win over Iowa State last December. But Howard is interested to see how the play-calling works out for Clemson this season.
“I understand that they hired within. But I think that people don’t give the right amount of attention to guys who are long-term play-callers, who are successful at it or who are great at it,” Howard said.
“You just don’t step into those shoes and fill in like it’s nothing to it. There’s a rhythm to it. So, that’s what I want to see. I want to see how the play-calling happens on offense and defense, because they lost Brent Venables, too.”
