Garrett Riley’s method was designed to be simple enough for a quarterback like Cade Klubnik to understand.
Practice rep after practice rep was designed to synergize connections between quarterback and receiver, triggering something similar to muscle memory. If only the Clemson receivers’ muscles and bones had held up in 2023.
“We would get to the actual game, and it would be my first time throwing a certain route to a certain man, ever, because I haven’t actually repped that with a certain guy,” Klubnik said, “because he’s been dealing with ailments.
“This is not my fault. It is not his fault. It’s no one’s fault. “It’s just how the cards are dealt sometimes.”
Klubnik wasn’t attempting to come up with reasons why Clemson’s passing game didn’t improve in 2023. As the Tigers began spring practice, his ever-optimistic lens was only noticing the difference between this season and the previous one.
When workouts began a week ago, there were more Clemson scholarship wideouts wearing white jerseys than cautionary yellow, reversing the situation from last spring.
“That explosive chemistry that you have to have, you don’t just flip a switch and have that,” Klubnik went on to say. “It takes a million reps.”
Clemson did not get close to a million reps last spring, when sophomore Antonio Williams was the only consistent contributor available. Then came the season, and Williams and projected starter Cole Turner were out for the majority of the fall.
While untimely and costly turnovers help explain why an offense ranked 15th nationally in first downs (304) but finished 50th in scoring (29.8 ppg), it’s easy to see how a lack of “explosive chemistry” played a role.
Beaux Collins, Clemson’s most explosive wideout, finished 166th nationally with 13.4 yards per catch. Collins, who is now at Notre Dame, missed a lot of practice time while with the Tigers due to shoulder problems.
