Will Shipley working for offense's good to be 'really great,' bad to just 'kind of bad'

Will Shipley is a self-described perfectionist seeking more from the Clemson offense.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Fri Sep 15 07:00:04 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - Junior running back Will Shipley has it all.

He’s been the face of the Clemson offense for multiple seasons now, receiving first-team All-ACC honors as a running back, all-purpose player and specialist while also being a two-time All-ACC Academic Team selection and a finalist for the Paul Hornung Award (awarded to the nation’s most versatile player). As such, he has truly become a leader in the running back room.

“I believe that I set the standard for our running back room above what is expected from everybody else,” Shipley said. “So, if you think that you’re giving just enough to be above that standard -- I’m asking for 10 times more than that, and I wouldn’t ask for that if I wasn’t. Holding myself to that as well.”

In Clemson’s 66-17 victory against Charleston Southern, eight different players rushed for positive yardage. Shipley led the way with 73 rushing yards, averaging 8.1 yards per carry. However, fellow running back Phil Mafah also had himself a day. Mafah averaged 6.6 yards per carry and had two rushing touchdowns. This marked the first time Mafah had multiple rushing touchdowns in a single game.

Shipley and Mafah make quite the duo in the backfield, something new offensive coordinator Garrett Riley has already started to incorporate into his offensive scheme. Several plays have already featured both backs on the field at the same time, something that Shipley has enjoyed and believes helps all aspects of the offense, particularly for both he and Mafah.

“It makes my job a lot easier. They can’t just focus on one of us. Now they’ve got to focus on both of us,” Shipley said. “So when he’s not getting the ball, and I’m getting it, things are just open. Holes are there for longer time, and, like I said, it just makes it a lot easier, and I think it does the same for him.”

The running game has proved vital for the Tigers in both games this season. Their success on the ground helped to get the offense going in their home opener against the Buccaneers. Conversely, the running game, despite having a total of 213 rushing yards against Duke, was where two of the turnovers took place in that game. Shipley said that the inconsistency has been a heavy focus of Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s in practice.

“Coach Swinney has kind of been saying it for the past couple days, (last) week and this week, just that our good is really good, but our bad has been, you know, terrible up to this point, and that’s what we can’t do,” Shipley said. “We’ve got to have our good to be really great and our bad to just be kind of bad.”

In the Duke season opener, Shipley accounted for 114 rushing yards, giving him his first 100-yard rushing game of the season. That made it his ninth 100-yard rushing game of his collegiate career and his best performance in a season opener. With all of the accolades that Shipley has received and his performance throughout his Clemson career, he could likely declare for the 2024 NFL Draft following this season. Still, as a self-described “perfectionist,” there are things that he would like to improve upon.

“I think you can never be as good as you want to be. So, going back looking at the film, you know, just playing faster, seeing things before they come,” Shipley said. “I know, for me personally, pass protection, just continuing to get better at that, to just let Cade (Klubnik) know that he’s always going to be protected back there.”

Of course, before even discussing the NFL Draft, Shipley and the rest of the Tigers have to focus on their upcoming game against Florida Atlantic. Both teams come into the game unranked and with a 1-1 record. For Clemson, this game will help them build off the momentum they created in the second half of the Charleston Southern game. Shipley said that one key to that game will be controlling the line of scrimmage upfront because of their sizable interior linemen, as well as stopping the critical mistakes that have plagued them the first two weeks.

“(Florida Atlantic has) really big interior linemen. I don’t think that it will cause any problems,” Shipley said. “A huge shoutout to our o-linemen. They have absolutely killed it the past two weeks. They’ve done their job. We’ve had a lot of different guys in there. But, yeah, I think if we can control that interior D-line, they’ve got great athletes on the back end. So, just staying disciplined to our game and not getting away from that and not letting the bad get too bad and, you know, making the good great.”