D.J. Uiagalelei has the back of his offensive coordinator.
During Monday’s media availability, Clemson’s starting quarterback wasn’t the only player to come to the defense of the team’s play-caller, but he took a pointed remark at Tony Elliot’s critics.
“I think it all needs to stop,” Uiagalelei said of the criticism surrounding Elliott’s playcalling. “I think Coach Elliott, he’s definitely not the problem, it all starts with us. Coach Elliott is the best offensive coordinator in football. I’ll stand by it. We have the best offensive coordinator. We have the best defensive coordinator (Brent Venables).”
Davis Allen and now Uiagalelei have both strayed from blaming Elliott, who has received his fair share of criticism from fans, social media and ESPN analysts/former quarterbacks like Robert Griffin III and Dan Orlovsky alike.
Instead, both Uiagalelei and Allen have pointed to execution as being the main thing that isn’t clicking for the Tigers offensively.
“Coach Elliott, I love that guy,” Uiagalelei said. “The amount of work he puts in every week, day in and day out, it’s unbelievable. I’ll ride with him until the end. So, I got full confidence in Coach Elliott.
“I think it starts with us players. He’s putting us in the right position. We just gotta make it work…I don’t think it’s anything that Coach Elliott’s doing…I think he’s doing a tremendous job, just like he’s done the past couple of years. Just the execution part. We got to go out there and execute for him.”
Clemson has yet to score more than 14 points in regulation against any of its FBS opponents. The offense is clearly a work-in-progress and the criticism that Elliott has received comes with the territory, but the players have stressed that it’s on them to execute at the end of the day.
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