Clemson OC honored as nation’s top assistant coach

Tony Elliott was named the Broyles Award winner on Tuesday, marking the second consecutive year that the award given to the nation’s top assistant coach in college football has gone to a member of Clemson’s staff.

Tigers defensive coordinator Brent Venables won the award last year as Clemson went on to win the national title.

Elliott has helped lead a Clemson offense that is back in the College Football Playoff for the third consecutive season, despite losing the majority of its production off last year’s national title team.

Clemson is second in the ACC in scoring offense, averaging 35.4 points per game, even without Deshaun Watson, Mike Williams, Artavis Scott and others.

The Tigers enter the playoff averaging nearly 450 yards per game.

Elliott played at Clemson before joining the Tigers’ staff prior to the 2011 season.

He began his college playing career in the fall of 1999 as a walk-on and finished his playing career in 2003. He then entered the business world, working at Michelin for two years before starting his coaching career.

Elliott spent the 2006 and 2007 seasons at S.C. State, then spent three seasons at Furman before coming to Clemson.

He has played and coached football in the state of South Carolina for more than a decade.

Elliott runs Clemson’s offense alongside fellow co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott.

He was reportedly a candidate for the UCF head coaching job, which ended up going to Missouri offensive coordinator Josh Heupel instead.

This story was originally published December 5, 2017 at 2:29 PM with the headline "Clemson OC honored as nation’s top assistant coach."