Will Shipley has always been his own biggest critic.
There were a couple of plays that happened during his true freshman campaign that he let linger. The sophomore running back took this offseason to not only learn from his mistakes but to leave them in the past.
“I got to learn how to move on quicker,” Shipley said Friday following Clemson’s first day of fall camp. “That’s one thing that I struggled with last year. There’s a couple instances I can think of right now, where I just got stuck on it for too long. It not only affected me during the game but even during the next week — preparing myself for the next opponent.”
One instance that comes to mind was a dropped pass that came against Pitt.
Holding a 7-0 lead against the eventual ACC Champions on the road, DJ Uigalelei found a wide-open Shipley out of the backfield, but the pass was dropped. Clemson never recovered, making for a seismic shift in momentum after the Panthers scored touchdowns on their next two possessions and never looked back in a 27-17 win.
“I was always dwelling on the past,” he said. “One thing that I can truly think about was that play against Pitt. I dropped the ball and literally the rest of the game that’s all I can think about. That’s a huge mistake. I let my teammates down, not only by dropping that pass, but by not being locked in for the remainder of the game. That’s something that can’t happen. As an elite athlete, I want my teammates to trust me. When my number’s called, I got to be ready to go, regardless of what happened the previous play.”
Shipley has prided himself on looking to this season, but he’s not afraid to admit that the moment was too big for him at some times in the season prior.
“I’ve definitely improved on that since,” Shipley said. “Just my mental game has gotten so much better this offseason. That’s something I’ve wanted to improve on and I have.”
Dear Old Clemson has added to the store posters signed by all 20 members of Clemson’s 2022 football class.
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