Shipley shines as playmaker, leader in comeback win

Shipley scored the go-ahead TD Saturday.

by Zachary Wagner - Correspondent - Sun Oct 31 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

While it wasn’t the performance of offense's past, the Clemson football team and its offensive group found a way to win a tough conference battle against Florida State on Saturday afternoon inside Death Valley, 30-20. The 30 points scored marks the first time the offense has scored more than 21 points against an FBS opponent this season (They scored 49 against FCS South Carolina State).

The offense was paced by true freshman running back duo Will Shipley and Phil Mafah. Shipley rushed for 128 yards on 25 attempts and scored two touchdowns, all career highs for the talented five-star recruit.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott likes the way his offense moved the ball on Saturday afternoon and was impressed by his running back room, especially the game-winning touchdown rush by Shipley late in the fourth quarter.

“No doubt I don’t have a problem with a freshman being a leader,” Elliott said of Shipley who said he wants to become a leader of the Clemson offense earlier this week. “I’ve heard conversations with him around the chow hall challenging other guys, and as I’ve said, age is not a prerequisite for leadership. It’s your character, it’s your work ethic and he’s created accountability for his leadership in the locker room by the way he carries himself.”

“That’s one thing we’ve needed on offense, is leadership,” Elliott said. “You lose (Matt) Bockhorst last week and he was a big voice for us. That void had to be filled and at the end of the day, as long as guys are leading the right way, it doesn’t matter where that leadership is coming from. You want everyone on your team to have that mindset.”

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei didn’t have his best performance of the season, but he put the ball in the right spot at the right time at times. The sophomore threw for 189 yards and completed 19 of his 31 passes and a touchdown. He also turned the ball over twice, an interception and a strip-sack fumble which FSU scored on.

“I think he played well at times, but there’s also some things we would like to clean up,” Elliott said. “He continues to lead and what I did like is that several times during the TV timeouts as the offense was in the huddle getting ready to head out, I could hear him through the headset of the other coaches. He was challenging the guys from a leadership standpoint. As long as we continue to have that from him, he’s going to continue to critique himself and work on the fundamentals and get better. He gave us a chance to win by making plays and managing the game and that’s all you can ask your quarterback to do.”

The freshman duo of Shipley and Mafah rushed for 197 yards and Mafah had the Tigers’ longest play of the season with a 63-yard rush early in the second quarter. Elliott had some high praise for his young running backs after the win.

“First and foremost, I don’t think those two get the praise they should for the type of men they are,” said Elliott. “They’re very, very mature about their business and they’re mature beyond their years, both mentally and physically. Those guys have the eye of the Tiger and the heart of a champion we always talk about. You can see it and it resonates in everything they do. For Shipley to be able to make that play there at the end is only fitting because of how hard he’s played and how much he has battled. Mafah thought he was going to be redshirted and the last few games he’s stepped up big for us and made some really big plays.”