South Carolina football: Garrett Riley no longer coaching bowl game
By Jacob Elsey
One of South Carolina football’s OC candidates will be free this December.
SMU was slated to take on UTSA in this weekend’s Frisco Bowl, kicking off an exciting bowl season. Instead, the game has been canceled due to COVID issues within the SMU locker room. The news seems rather insignificant to Gamecock fans, but it could have more of an effect than you’d think.
SMU’s offensive coordinator, Garrett Riley, has been mentioned a number of times as being the next play caller in Columbia after spending just one season in Dallas. Riley, the younger brother of offensive guru Lincoln Riley, has a personal connection to new head coach Shane Beamer. Beamer has been on staff with Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma for the last three seasons.
With SMU now taking the postseason off, Riley would be immediately available for hire, if that’s the route that the Gamecocks want to go. If he is the choice, South Carolina no longer has to worry about waiting until the offseason to make its announcement, and Riley wouldn’t have to decide between sticking it out with SMU or bailing early to join Beamer’s staff.
Riley has been with programs like Appalachian State, Kansas, Texas Tech, and East Carolina throughout his young career. In his first season as a play caller, his SMU Mustangs ranked 24th nationally in yards per play, 17th in scoring, and 15th in passing.
Many have speculated that we could see Riley and current interim head coach Mike Bobo join forces as co-coordinators, combining Riley’s air raid attack with Bobo’s run game scheme. The Gamecocks fielded the SEC’s top rusher in Kevin Harris with Bobo calling the offense this year.
On the defensive side of the ball, the names Jay Bateman (UNC) and Chad Staggs (CCU) seem to have risen above the rest, though both of those programs will still be in action this postseason. It’s yet to be known which current staff members will be retained.
Time will tell on the ultimate decisions, but with this news out of Dallas, we could see the dominos falling into place sooner rather than later.