Shipley ready to step in as playmaker, 'alpha-leader' for struggling offense

Shipley said his blood boils at the drop in the Pitt game and he's committed to being a playmaker and leader.

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Tue Oct 26 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

Clemson is not shy to bring in highly-recruited freshmen who get on the field right away. Deshaun Watson, Xavier Thomas and Trevor Lawrence were all top recruits in their classes who saw the field early for the Tigers.

It took those players a few years to develop their voices as leaders though. With the Clemson offense struggling this year, Tigers running back Will Shipley has taken it upon himself to emerge in that role as a leader along the offense and use his voice to boost the morale of the team.

“100 percent I feel comfortable being in that role, I think that’s what God put me on this earth to do,” Shipley said on Monday. “I’m 100 percent ready to step up and take that role and I think leadership isn’t really something you have to force, it comes naturally and something I naturally have. I’m doing everything in my power to lead.

"DJ (Uiagalelei) does a great job of leading this team and offense. We have leaders on this offense, but I think it’s about having that alpha-leader that everyone kind of looks up too.”

Shipley feels that one of the problems with the offense so far this season is that no one has really stepped up into that alpha-leader role, something that he believes he can step into.

“If I can step up and take that role, then that’s awesome,” Shipley said. “I can’t really put a name on who is the alpha right now, but that’s part of the problem I think. We don’t have that alpha guy that has stepped up and made those plays. I’m the biggest culprit of that and I have to make plays. I want to be that guy, and that’s me being ultra-competitive. I’m fully aware of what it takes to be that guy and I think if I step up and take that, other guys will follow.”

“You know when you see it and when you don’t,” Shipley answered when asked what an alpha-leader looks like. “Somebody that goes out there and lifts everyone up around them. If anyone comes into contact with them, he’s bringing them up and making him better.”

Shipley is on his second chance at football this season, overcoming a lower leg injury that many feared to be an ACL tear in the NC State game last month. Shipley was told the injury would take anywhere from six to eight weeks to recover from, but just four weeks later, Shipley rushed the ball 10 times for 52 yards in the Tigers' 27-17 loss to Pitt last weekend.

Having a fall senior season at Weddington High School (NC) canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, once Shipley learned that he would be back on the field at some point this season, a smile crossed his face that he would not have to miss out on more football.

“(Clemson director of sports medicine) Danny (Poole) and Dr. Martin came in and broke the news and all I could do was smile, I was just really, really happy. I’ve had so much football taken away from me the past two years, so to think that it was again, after I was really starting to feel like I was gaining some momentum and starting to go my way, it was frustrating. To hear that news was really, really nice for me to hear.”

“I prayed a lot, and I have a lot of people praying for me and those prayers were answered,” said Shipley. “I came back and did everything I possibly could. I was in the training room two times a day for multiple hours and everything started working and clicking again and I got back out there a little earlier than expected.”

Perhaps one of the biggest momentum-changing plays against Pitt came when Shipley dropped what would likely have been a long touchdown pass from DJ Uiagalelei down the seam. While the play replays over and over in his head, Shipley vows to learn from the mistake and let it make him a better player down the road.

“It’s very frustrating for me personally,” Shipley said. “I feel like I not only let myself down, but my teammates and my coaches and a whole fanbase. I’m very frustrated with that play and I’ve played it back in my mind 2,000 times already. It’s something in the past and something I’m definitely going to learn from. I got my job done and beat my man and DJ threw a perfect ball down the field and I just didn’t get my eye on it. No excuses though, I have to bring that ball in and it’s very disappointing for myself.”

“I’ll make that catch 99 times out of 100, my blood is boiling just thinking about that,” Shipley responded when asked about Tony Elliott's comment that he catches that nine times out of 10. “I make plays like that and to not make a play like that in a big game against Pitt -- I would do anything to get that play back. It’s in the past and what am I going to do to improve, that’s the only question I can ask myself.”

Shipley is not happy with Clemson's 4-3 start to the season and he knows his teammates aren’t either, but he sees brighter days ahead.

“I think it’s tough because we haven’t had something like this in a long time," Shipley said. "When you face adversity, what really determines your character is how you react to it. I think our hopes are high and all we can do is keep fighting because every chance we get to play on Saturday is a chance to prove to everybody and ourselves that we can do it.”