Tag: Phil Mafah

Replacing Etienne will not be easy, but it is not why you think

Going into spring practices no one was really sure what to expect at the running back position at Clemson. The coaches had the task of replacing the ACC’s all-time leading rusher in Consensus All-American Travis Etienne. That was not going to be an …

Going into spring practices no one was really sure what to expect at the running back position at Clemson. The coaches had the task of replacing the ACC’s all-time leading rusher in Consensus All-American Travis Etienne.

That was not going to be an easy task, or so they thought. The Tigers’ ability to recruit the position at a high level seems to be paying off. So much so, new running backs coach C.J. Spiller says he will have no pecking order when it comes to the depth chart coming into fall camp, which will begin next month.

Besides having a career 1,000-yard runner in Lyn-J Dixon, Clemson also so saw tremendous progression from sophomore Kobe Pace, as well as in freshman running backs Phil Mafah and Will Shipley. The Tigers also have Darien Rencher and Michel Dukes in the mix, too.

Lyn-J Dixon, Sr., 5-10, 195: The rising senior enters 2021 with 1,372 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns on 208 career attempts and 183 yards on 18 catches in 38 games. He enters his fourth season ranked second in school history, behind Etienne, in yards per carry (6.60). He was banged up a good bit in 2020 due to a knee injury he suffered in the preseason. However, he played well for the Tigers down the stretch. Dixon rushed for 46 yards and scored a touchdown against Pittsburgh in Game 9. He also recorded a 19-yard touchdown run against Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale and had a 15-yard run against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. In the Spring Game, he carried the ball just four times, but he averaged 6.3 yards per carry.

Kobe Pace, So., 5-10, 215: As a true freshman in 2020, Pace carried the ball 18 times for 75 yards, while playing in nine games. He also caught five passes for 26 yards with one touchdown. In his 18 carries, he was not stopped behind the line of scrimmage. He scored his first career touchdown on a 7-yard reception against Georgia Tech. Pace led all runners with 69 yards on six carries in the Spring Game, including a 26-yard run.

Phil Mafah, Fr., 6-1, 220: The freshman ran for 38 yards on six carries, including the game winning score in the Spring Game. In three years at Grayson High (Loganville, Ga.), he rushed for 2,526 yards on 288 carries, an 8.8-yard per carry average, and scored 37 total touchdowns. He had 10 100-yard rushing games in 29 career games. Hailing from the same high school as former Clemson great and current New York Giants running back Wayne Gallman, Mafah is a different type of back than Gallman. He possesses an outstanding combination of size and speed. He is a downhill runner who is known for running between the tackles at 220-plus pounds, but also has enough speed to race past defenders and take the ball to the house. Mafah’s athleticism shows up on film, and he has the ability to make defenders miss in space.

Will Shipley, Fr., 5-11, 200: He was invited to play in the Under Armour All-America Game and was the Gatorade Player of the Year in North Carolina and Charlotte Observer Player of the Year for 2019. He was the MVP of the 2019 state championship game when he rushed for 256 yards and scored four touchdowns in a win over Lee County. He rushed for 4,173 yards on 503 carries (8.3 yards per rush) in his three-year high school career, and also had 1,411 receiving yards on 84 catches for a 16.8-yard average. He scored 80 touchdowns in his career. Shipley, is a threat out of the backfield catching passes in addition to the weapon he is in the run game. He looks like a power back at 5-foot-11 and around 200 pounds, but also has top-end speed — as evidenced by his sub-4.5 second 40-yard dash time — and can not only run by defenders but has the physicality and toughness to run through tackles as well. He is adept at using his excellent vision to follow blocks and find running room.

Michel Dukes, Jr., 5-10, 205: Dukes has played in 18 games in his Clemson career, including eight games last year. He has rushed for 205 yards and scored two touchdowns on 40 career carries. In 2020, he ran the ball eight times for 55 yards.

Darien Rencher, *Gr., 5-8, 195: Originally a walk-on, Rencher turned into a team and community leader last season. The graduate student enters 2021 having recorded 74 carries for 375 yards and three touchdowns while playing in 35 games in his career. In 2020, he won the Disney Spirit Award, which is presented annually to college football’s most inspirational player, coach, team or figure. On the field, he played in all 12 games and rushed 24 times for 137 yards with one touchdown and caught two passes for 15 yards. His 50-yard touchdown against Virginia Tech in the season-finale was the second longest run of the season by any Clemson player.

Note: *redshirt

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Looking Ahead: Running Back

After signing two running backs as part of the 2021 class in five-star Will Shipley and four-star Phil Mafah, landing a running back is not a critical need for the Tigers in the 2022 class, though they remain in the hunt. Clemson continues to track …

After signing two running backs as part of the 2021 class in five-star Will Shipley and four-star Phil Mafah, landing a running back is not a critical need for the Tigers in the 2022 class, though they remain in the hunt.

Clemson continues to track some running backs, and one of those on the radar is Jennings (La.) four-star Trevor Etienne, of course the younger brother of former Clemson running back Travis Etienne.

Etienne participated in the Dabo Swinney Camp and attended the Tigers’ Elite Retreat in June. If he returns to campus for the All In Cookout this month as expected, it figures to further help Clemson’s chances with the nation’s No. 13 running back, per the 247Sports Composite rankings.

Beyond Etienne, the Tigers have only offered two other running backs in the 2022 class — five-star Emmanuel Henderson and four-star Branson Robinson. Henderson has already verbally committed to Alabama, while Robinson no-showed Clemson’s Elite Retreat and is down to Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee ahead of his scheduled decision date July 22.

Looking ahead to the 2023 class, Clemson has offered just two running backs in the next cycle, including the nation’s No. 1 running back in Lehigh Senior (Lehigh Acres, Fla) five-star Richard Young and the nation’s No. 3 back, Blessed Trinity Catholic (Roswell, GA) four-star Justice Haynes.

Young (pictured above) was recently offered directly by Dabo Swinney on an unofficial visit to Clemson’s campus. 

Young (6-0, 190) is the No. 1 running back and No. 17 overall prospect in the 2023 class, per the 247sports Composite rankings. 

As a sophomore last season, Young rushed for 982 yards and eight touchdowns on 100 carries, averaging 9.8 yards per attempt.

The Tigers have spent a little bit more time on Haynes, who took his unofficial visit back on June 1. He officially received an offer from the Tigers nearly 23 days later. His patience and high character paid off, leading to a fateful phone call with Clemson running backs coach C.J. Spiller.

On the behalf of Clemson’s offensive coaching staff, Spiller rewarded Haynes with the offer he had been waiting for.

“It means a lot,” Haynes said of receiving an offer from the Tigers. “Clemson is a prestigious school, they do things differently around there. Like I said, yes, it’s one of my dream schools, for them to offer me, it means a lot.”

Haynes (5-10, 195) is the No. 3 running back and No. 72 overall prospect in the 2023 class, per the 247sports Composite rankings. 

For now, Clemson has maintained its focus on Young and Haynes. 

Much less so, Rueben Owens, who is the nation’s No. 2 running back in the 2023 class. Even before he de-committed from the University of Texas, Owens was supposed to visit Clemson earlier this summer. That never took place and he hasn’t heard much of anything from Clemson or Spiller for that matter. 

It appears, at least for the time being, that the Tigers are keeping their options limited, as far as the running backs in the Class of 2023 are concerned.

Some other running back prospects we are keeping tabs on are Irmo (S.C.) Dutch Fork’s Jarvis Green and Miami (Fla.) Norland four-star Javin Simpkins, who is a Georgia Tech commit.

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