‘A lot of jealousy’ plagued Clemson running backs early in season, Will Shipley says
Clemson’s running backs room has been one of the program’s most affected position groups this season in terms of injuries and transfers.
Freshman Will Shipley revealed another one of the groups’ problems as well — jealous feelings.
“I think there was a lot of jealousy and just a bad mixup in our room earlier in the season,” he said Monday. “The happiness we have for one another (now) is great. It’s great to know that someone can prosper and someone else is happy for them, rather than wish on his downfall in the background.”
The Tigers started the year with six running backs. In a matter of a month, two transferred out.
Lyn-J Dixon was the first to enter his name in the transfer portal. He’ll graduate from Clemson in December but has yet to land at a new school. Michel Dukes was next to leave and has since committed to the University of South Florida. Dukes had appeared in one game and totaled seven yards on two carries. Dixon started in the Tigers’ second game of the season and played in three total. He ended his final season with the program with 48 yards on 10 carries.
Shipley did not mention Dixon or Dukes by name in making his comments Monday.
“I think you find that in a lot of programs, and I don’t even know if jealousy is the right word,” said Shipley, who is the team’s leading rusher with 500 rushing yards and nine touchdowns. “I think it’s just tough when you’ve got so many guys that are competitors, so many guys that love to compete and just not everyone’s going to get their bite because we have so many guys and we’re such a great program. It’s just hard early on because we had five or six guys that could all produce and not everyone was getting able to, so I think some jealousy arose, some emotions arose.
“Everything’s figured its way out. God has a funny way of kind of panning everything out and it’s done that.”
That left Shipley along with fellow freshman Phil Mafah, sophomore Kobe Pace and sixth-year senior Darien Rencher. Mafah and Shipley both sustained injuries during the season while Pace dealt with COVID-19 and had a concussion.
Over the weekend, Pace had a career game with 191 yards on 24 totes while scoring twice in the 48-27 win over No. 10 Wake Forest.
“It’s just made us so much stronger,” Shipley said of the adversity. “When one guy goes down, another one steps up. We can trust one another with our lives, in kind of a silly term to use. I really trust every single guy in that room with anything. Knowing that and having that knowledge is great.”
When asked about how running backs coach C.J. Spiller handled any tension among the players, Shipley complimented his coach and said he handled it great, especially considering Spiller has “seen greater pressures in his life than handling a running back room with some emotions and jealousy,” Shipley said with a smile. The North Carolina native added he looks up to his coach’s leadership abilities.
“I know with my experience with him is, he’ll call you into the room and he’ll have the conversations that’s needed to have and he’ll tell you what you need to hear,” Shipley said. “He’s also there for you in any way you need on the field, off the field. ... He’s not going to (take) pushback or he’s not going to take anything he doesn’t need to take. That’s all I’ll say about it.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
