Will Putnam pulls back the curtain on how Clemson's offense has changed under Garrett Riley
Much has been made of the hire of Garrett Riley as Clemson’s offensive coordinator by his new head coach, quarterback, and skill players. However, at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff, graduate senior offensive lineman Will Putnam had positive things to share about the mastermind behind the Tiger’s new offense as well.
Putnam spoke highly of Riley’s early impact while sitting for an interview on the ACC Network. He says his addition has already paid dividends for the offense considering how much freedom he has given some of Clemson’s weapons to go do their thing.
“I think it’s been really great. I think it’s a very player-friendly system,” said Putnam. “The emphasis is on our best playmakers and putting them in the opportunity and position to make those plays which I think is great.”
“It gives guys autonomy to make certain decisions on the field, which I know up front on the offensive line is really good sometimes to make those calls,” Putnam continued. “It’s been really great.”
From there, graduate senior defensive tackle Tyler Davis shared similar sentiments from a different point of view while sitting next to Putnam. He says he has taken note of the new-look offense as well, especially when it comes to the different blocks that have been thrown his way
“I’ve noticed a lot. Just knowing the offense is getting playmakers the ball like Will said,” Davis said. “I’ve played a lot of football and I’m seeing some different blocks that I’ve never seen before.”
“Just seeing that and knowing that? It’s going to be very special this year,” said Davis.
Putnam, Davis explain what their position groups do off the field
For the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff, offensive lineman Will Putnam and defensive lineman Tyler Davis represented the Clemson Tigers. There, they explained how their large position groups work to bond together off the field.
As Putnam explained, the offensive line has a couple of traditions.
“Yeah, I can’t name one,” Will Putnam said. “I can name two. So, we have two things. One we call ‘grill and chill.’ Grill and chill. So, what we do is we grill, and we chill. So, pretty straightforward. It will be at my house. You know we have some grills…I’m the grill master — a title earned not given.”
Putnam was then asked why the offensive linemen are always the grill masters on a football team.
“I think we know how to eat the best…go to, right now, big one’s been the brats. brats and burgers are the big one. Occasionally, maybe do some chicken wings, some steaks. So, that’s really big,” Putnam said.
“And the second one we do, we call it ‘swim club.’ What we do, the rowing docks, right next to the facility on campus on beautiful Lake Hartwell, and we’ll just go hang out and swim because we realized if we’re gonna have 10-15, you know, big boys that’s a little too much for just some residential apartment pool complex. Water is everywhere. We’re getting on everybody’s nerves. Just not enough room to swim. So, we’re like, we’ll go to the lake and we started doing that and it’s been awesome.”
Davis then explained that the defensive line has its own team bonding exercises.
“So, we have this apartment complex where most of our teammates live at, and what the d-line do, we usually go to the Redge, chill in the lazy river,” Davis said. “Chill in the lazy river sometimes, go inside. We don’t really grill like that. We just eat out a lot.