CJ Spiller jump-started Clemson’s success. Etienne has taken it to another level

Dabo Swinney was nearing the end of his news conference after Clemson’s latest drubbing of an opponent — this time a 52-14 beatdown of Georgia Tech for Clemson’s 11th consecutive win by 20 or more points — when he fielded another question about running back Travis Etienne.

The Louisiana native was the talk of postgame interviews after rushing for a career-high 205 yards on 12 carries in the season-opener against the Yellow Jackets, and media members were trying to properly put into context what they had just witnessed from Etienne.

“Have you ever been around a guy that has play-breaking ability quite like Travis does?” the question was posed to Swinney.

Clemson’s head coach smiled as he started his answer: “Well, I had a guy here named C.J. Spiller,” Swinney began, “and man, every time he touched it you held your breath.”

Spiller is a Clemson legend, a player who Swinney recruited to be the face of the Tigers’ program, and a player who lived up to every bit of his five-star hype and then some.

He finished his college career with a school record 7,588 all-purpose yards, more than 2,400 more than the next closest Tiger on the list. He also holds the Clemson record for kickoff return yards (2,052) and total touchdowns (51).

Spiller played a role in Swinney getting hired as the full-time head coach following the 2008 season, leading the Tigers to four wins in their final five regular season games as Swinney had his interim tag removed and was named the permanent head coach.

Now, he is helping mentor Etienne to ensure that the program continues its upward trajectory. When it’s all said and done, Etienne will likely hold several school records, including Spiller’s record for career touchdowns (Etienne currently trails Spiller by nine). That’s just fine with Spiller.

“I’m always just trying to give some pointers, because I know what it is to be a running back. You’ve gotta be able to pass protect, obviously run the ball, you’ve gotta be able to catch the ball,” Spiller said. “He does a great job of having a great feel for how things are, and when he sees a hole he puts his foot down and he explodes through it.”

While Spiller helped jump-start this era of Clemson football under Swinney, Etienne is helping to take the program to another level. He holds the Clemson career record for yards per carry, and is likely to add the Clemson rushing touchdowns and total touchdowns records to his resume later this year.

“There’s no doubt that both of those guys have left a big imprint on our success offensively during their time here,” co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said.

When watching tape of Spiller from his time at Clemson and watching tape of Etienne now, the explosiveness that both backs possess jumps off the screen.

“We’ve had some great players. We’ve had some great backs, from (Andre) Ellington to Jamie Harper to (Wayne) Gallman, and all of these guys that have rolled through here. But Spiller and Etienne are kind of in a group by themselves, just simply because there’s not many people that can just take one 90,” Swinney said. “Spiller could. He could do anything. He could catch it 90, rush it 90, screen it 90, kick return it 90. He could do any of that.”

Scott has been at Clemson with Swinney since the start of his head coaching tenure, joining the program in 2008 as a graduate assistant under Tommy Bowden.

When Swinney took over as the head coach in the middle of the 2008 season, he promoted Scott to receivers coach, and Scott has been a full-time member of the staff since.

He got a firsthand look at what Spiller was capable of in 2008 and 2009, and he has watched every play of Etienne’s career for the past two-plus years.

“Any time that C.J. touched the ball you knew that he had a chance to take it to the house,” Scott said. “And I think Travis is one of those guys that it doesn’t matter if you’re handing off the zone or throwing a little flare pass out there to him, any time that he touches the ball he has legit potential to take it all the way, be a home run threat. I think that would be the first thing.”

But the similarities don’t stop there.

Both players are relatively small backs with Spiller playing at between 185 pounds and 195 pounds during his time in college and Etienne hovering between 200 and 210 pounds for most of his career. Still, even at their weights, they’re both incredibly difficult to bring down.

“I think they have strong lower bodies,” Scott said. “And when guys go to tackle them they have to really wrap them up. The yards after contact is probably similar with both of those guys.”

While both players will be in the Clemson record book for a long time, they will be in there for different reasons.

Spiller put up yards as a runner, pass catcher and kickoff returner. The majority of Etienne’s yards come from handoffs.

“As far as playing style, I think we both are very unique in our own style,” Spiller said.

With the ball in their hands the players may be similar, but Spiller thrived in the passing game, both as a pass protector and pass catcher. Etienne has been a work in progress with both of those areas since he got on campus.

Spiller believes part of the reason Etienne isn’t as much of a threat in the passing game is because he doesn’t have to be.

“When I was there we didn’t have all these five-star receivers, these guys that he has, his supporting cast,” Spiller said. “He has three or four guys at the receiver position that can go out and have a big game. So I don’t think necessarily it was missing. I think it’s opportunities.”

Still, the two areas that Etienne needs to improve the most are as a pass catcher and pass blocker. Etienne knows it, running backs coach Tony Elliott knows it and Spiller knows it.

Spiller, who finished his career with 123 receptions for 1,420 yards, has talked with Etienne about being a more complete back.

“You have to have confidence, you have to work on that craft. And that’s the thing that I was telling him, even though you’re not getting a lot of passing opportunities, when you do get them you’ve got to make sure that you’re confident and you’ve got to make sure that the coaches can trust you,” Spiller said. “Those opportunities might be few, and you want to make sure that you make all of them count.”

Spiller frequently visits Clemson practices and has sat in on running backs group meetings as well.

He doesn’t allow himself to think about what it would have been like to be in Etienne’s shoes, playing in a prolific offense filled with five-star talent. Instead, he is simply thankful to have another running back at Clemson taking the program to another level under Swinney, as he did a decade ago.

“We have a very unique relationship. It’s not like a typical head coach, former player relationship. He was responsible for getting me to Clemson, so we’ll always have that type of bond,” Spiller said. “I’m pleased with the career that I had. I made the most of my time that I had at Clemson and now these guys are trying to do the same.”

NEXT

Who: No. 12 Texas A&M (1-0) at No. 1 Clemson (1-0, 1-0)

When: 3:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Memorial Stadium (81,500), Clemson

TV: ABC

Line: Clemson by 17.5

This story was originally published September 5, 2019 at 5:00 AM.