Brandon Streeter has been envisioning this moment for a while
Next week, it will become reality for Clemson’s first-year offensive coordinator.
Streeter on Monday will experience his first game in his new full-time role when Clemson opens the new season against Georgia Tech in Atlanta. He’s filled in as Dabo Swinney’s coordinator a couple of different times, including during the Tigers’ Cheez-It Bowl victory in December following Tony Elliott’s departure.
But having full autonomy of the offense is the opportunity he’s been waiting for at Clemson since he returned to the program in 2015. Streeter has been a full-time offensive coordinator previously at Liberty and Richmond but never at his alma mater, where he was a quarterback in the late 1990s and also served as a graduate assistant on Tommy Bowden’s staff nearly 20 years ago.
Streeter is experiencing a range of emotions as the moment draws closer, but there’s one that is overriding the others.
“I think the biggest one would be excitement just because I’ve been waiting for this time for a long time, and the exciting thing is that I have the opportunity to call plays and be the offensive coordinator at my alma mater,” Streeter said. “It’s been a long time coming, and I learned from some great, great guys. And great friends. So it’s more exciting than anything.”
Part of that feeling for Streeter stems from the offense that he’s getting to work with, a unit that he believes has grown up a lot since the end of last season. With more than half of its starters back from last season, including four linemen and quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei, the unit enters the new campaign plenty seasoned.
Based on what he’s seen over the last nine months, Streeter said that’s lent itself to more conviction in day-to-day operations from the unit he inherited from Elliott, who left after 11 seasons on Swinney’s staff to be the head coach at Virginia.
“Even since the spring, it’s a more mature group,” he said. “We just have some veteran guys that have that experience and went through some ups and downs last year and have just learned to overcome a lot of things. So I feel like we’re a more mature group, we’re executing better and our guys are really, really confident. That’s the biggest thing for our guys now.”
Of course, that starts with Uiagalelei, whose struggles last season have been well-documented as the Tigers plummeted among the nation’s worst in numerous offensive categories, including yards and points. Streeter said he feels like Uiagalelei is in a good head space entering the season after speaking with Uiagalelei “a lot” over the last year about handling the outside criticism that comes with the territory as the triggerman of an underperforming group.
Streeter reiterated that blue-chip freshman Cade Klubnik will also play this season, though he said he didn’t know exactly what that will look like in the opener. But Streeter said he’s seen on-field improvements from Uiagalelei that still have him atop the depth chart for now.
“I really think his poise factor,” Streeter said. “I really believe the growth he’s had in that area has been tremendous. And him understanding the big picture even more than he has in the past has allowed him to be more confident and really just have that poise that you need as a quarterback. Whether that be leadership on the field or just poise in the pocket, all those things he has grown up in that area.”
But most importantly for the offense, at least from Streeter’s perspective, is a level of confidence that it didn’t have for much of last season. Now Streeter and his players have to show it starting next week.
“It starts with the quarterback,” Streeter said. “He’s shown a lot of confidence, and we have a lot of confidence in him. Just excited about just finally going out there and playing somebody else.”