Brandon Streeter doesn’t have a specific number in mind when it comes to how many touches Will Shipley gets in the future. As Clemson’s offensive coordinator explained, that will largely depend on the opponent and how he feels the Tigers need to go about attacking each week.
But Streeter knows he wants to continue getting the ball in Shipley’s hands as much as possible.
Clemson did that more than any other time this season Saturday in its 34-28 win at Florida State. Shipley had a season-high 27 touches that totaled 238 all-purpose yards, earning him ACC running back of the week honors.
“I know that he’s going to make something good happen the more times he touches the ball, so, yes, we need to continue to get him the ball plenty of times,” Streeter said.
Other than a 69-yard kickoff return, all of his touches came on offense. Shipley averaged 6.1 yards on 20 carries and had a career-high six catches for 48 more yards. His 26 offensive touches were the second-most of his career, trailing only the 29 he had against FSU a season ago.
With Shipley, a former five-star signee, near the top of opposing defenses’ scouting reports, Streeter said getting creative in how the Tigers get Shipley the ball will be key moving forward the way Clemson did with another one of its former star running backs, Travis Etienne, who finished his four-year career at Clemson in 2020 as the ACC’s all-time leader in yards from scrimmage (6,107) and touchdowns (77).
Shipley has a ways to go to get to that level, and injuries cost him three games a season ago. Despite being available for every game so far this season, he hadn’t caught more than three passes before doubling that against the Seminoles over the weekend. And Clemson started varying the ways it got him the ball in the passing game, including leaking him into pass patterns out of some two-back sets.
“Just like we did with Etienne when he was here,” said Streeter, who was the passing-game coordinator during Etienne’s last season at Clemson. “Later in his career, we had to make sure we manufactured ways to get him the ball in different ways. That’s what we’re going to end up doing with Shipley is just continue to find ways to get him the ball.”
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