Garrett Riley understandably gets labeled as a young disciple of the air-raid offense, but Clemson’s new offensive coordinator learned a while back that balance is needed to achieve the highest level of success.

Clemson is the latest stop for Riley, who will begin installing the meat of his offensive system during spring practices next month after being hired as the Tigers’ play caller in January. His other stops have included SMU and, most recently, TCU, fellow Power Five programs where his offense has put up big numbers over the last three years.

Despite his background – Riley was one of the late Mike Leach’s quarterbacks at Texas Tech during the late 2000s – not all of the yards and points haven’t been accumulated through the air. 

At TCU this past season, Riley oversaw the nation’s No. 9 scoring offense and No. 60 passing offense. The Horned Frogs were even better on the ground, finishing 31st nationally and third in the Big 12 in rushing (193.3 yards per game). TCU had a 3,600-yard passer, 1,000-yard receiver and 1,300-yard rusher in reaching the College Football Playoff for the first time ever.

“That was something we did pretty well and was certainly a huge reason why we had some success there offensively,” Riley said of the run game.

Riley broke into college coaching a decade ago at East Carolina, where he joined his older brother, then-ECU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, on the Pirates’ staff as a graduate assistant. That’s where the younger Riley said his eyes were opened to a more physical, ground-and-pound type of play for the first time.

“That’s just kind of what we started to develop,” Riley said. “As a young coach, as a GA, I was exposed to that and kind of what we were trying to accomplish there. We just knew you better run the football if you want to win championships. If you want to contend for them consistently, you better have the ability to do it. We kind of started to develop that part of the offense at East Carolina.”

After six years as an assistant at ECU and Kansas, Riley returned to the Carolinas in 2019 to coach running backs at Appalachian State, a Group of Five school known for its running game. The Mountaineers finished 16th in the FBS in rushing that season en route to their fourth straight Sun Belt title.

Riley called that a “huge year in my coaching career” in further cementing his belief in adding a consistent running threat to his own offense, which he got a chance to run for the first time the following year as Sonny Dykes’ offensive coordinator at SMU. The Mustangs finished in the top 65 nationally in rushing in Riley’s two seasons there before the ground production went to another level this past season at TCU.

“It was a totally different background than mine, and that was great for me professionally to be around those guys that have done it so well for so long now,” Riley said. “We certainly have been able to apply that to my philosophy and our philosophy from a run-game standpoint.”

With four starting offensive linemen set to return next season as well as Clemson’s top two running backs, including 1,200-yard rusher Will Shipley, the pieces are there for Riley to try further improve what was the ACC’s No. 5 rushing offense this past season.

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