Will Shipley provided insight into the drama that clouded Clemson’s running back room early this season.
On Saturday the Tigers rushed for 333 yards as Kobe Pace and Shipley carried the ball 24 times for 191 yards and 19 times for 112 yards respectively.
Shipley credited their success on the ground to tight relationships off the field but that hasn’t always been the case.
“The relationships that we have been able to create and just how happy we are for each other, that’s a great sign of how our room is,” Shipley said. “I think there was a lot of jealousy and some bad make up in our room early in season.”
“And the happiness for one another we have is just great and it’s great to know that somebody can prosper and somebody else is happy for them rather than wishing on their downfall in the background,” he continued.
Two running backs transferred out earlier this season. Lyn-J Dixon entered the transfer portal after Clemson’s win over Georgia Tech and Mikey Dukes entered the portal after the win at Syracuse.
In Shipley’s assessment the transfers only served to make the Tigers stronger.
“In an obvious way I think we’ve lost a couple of soldiers, but I think what it’s really done has made us closer as a group because we’ve had so much adversity with guys transferring out,” Shipley said.
“We had five or six guys that could all produce and not everybody was getting to, so I think some jealousy arose, some emotions arose and everything has figured itself out,” he said. “God has a funny way of panning it out and he’s done that.”
Shipley credited running back’s coach C.J. Spiller for the way he handled the adversity early in the season.
“He handled it great, he’s great with handling relationships and communicating in a great way with all of his players,” Shipley said. “In my experience with him he will call you in the room and he tells you what you need to hear.”