After a lackluster win over Georgia Southern, offensive coordinator Chad Morris questions his team’s maturity, revealing a disconnected locker room struggling to find its competitive fire.
The nobodies are responding with nothing early in the season.
The Clemson Tigers had an opportunity to try and beat down an opponent and show some fire in Week 2 when they hosted Georgia Southern to try and get out some of the bad taste that was leftover from a 51-10 beatdown at LSU in Week 1.
Not even close.
The Tigers had to sweat out a two-score game against GA Southern. The offense scored just one touchdown, settling for field goals the rest of the way in a 22-7 win. Clemson punted seven times, lost one fumble, and Christopher Vizzina threw an interception before being injured.
Offensive coordinator Chad Morris made concerning comments about the state of the locker room before playing the Eagles, noting he was "caught off guard" with how the team took the field on Saturday after the lightning delay. He suggested some players weren't coachable.
“There was no excuse. Lightning delay, whatever, I don’t know," Morris said, via On3. "I was just a little bit shocked, because that wasn’t what I was used to when I was stepping into the Valley with the teams we had. We had guys that were gonna get it done, or find a way to get it done, or you’ll call yourselves out on the sidelines.
"We’re gonna get after it. Was that surprising to me? Yeah, it was a little bit. I was just looking around going, ‘okay, let’s go.’ I shared this with our guys. Going over it, sometimes I feel like I’m looking at the back of your head when I’m looking through your eyes.”
Morris notes that Clemson needs to bring more “fire," and the coaching staff has to have more "juice" in future games.
“We’ve got to have a fire about us," Morris said. "This is a brand we’ve got to ride high for. We’ve worked too hard to not come out here and take advantage of the seven opportunities we have to play in the Valley.
“We have to show them and the staff that it’s not just them… it’s everybody. It’s all of us. We’ve got to have more juice with our staff."
The players have to have some reason to believe. Right now, they're not buying what the coaching staff is selling.
