Elliott responds to Dilfer’s criticism about Clemson not being able to develop quarterbacks

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer talked about D.J. Uiagalelei this week and said Clemson’s sophomore quarterback has “gotten worse.” Dilfer also says Trevor Lawrence regressed during his career as a Tiger and threw blame at quarterbacks coach …

Former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer talked about D.J. Uiagalelei this week and said Clemson’s sophomore quarterback has “gotten worse.”

Dilfer also says Trevor Lawrence regressed during his career as a Tiger and threw blame at quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was asked during his media availability Monday if he is surprised by some of the criticism that has come, considering the success they have had over the years, that they now have analysts questioning quarterback development and things like that.

“I look at it and I guess the way I convince myself is that I know they are paid to say some of those things, to create that,” Elliott said. “But I also know too that we have always been in the situation where people want to criticize Clemson. Right, wrong or indifferent, they want to criticize and they want to criticize Clemson, and we, with the success that we have had, we never felt like we should have been there. So, it doesn’t surprise me.”

Elliott admitted, though, that criticism like Dilfer’s can be frustrating to hear.

“You get frustrated sometimes,” Elliott said. “I don’t hear much of it, but there are some comments that people are making that you can tell that they aren’t educated on the comment that they are making. Those are the ones that frustrate me. At the end of the day, we gave them the ammunition to say it, so we got to own it and all we can do is go back… It is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ business. It is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ world, and right now we haven’t done enough for them to say nice things, so I understand it.”

“But some of the stuff about not being able to develop quarterbacks,” Elliott added before pausing. “That is all I am going to say.”

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