Clemson football: Tigers found a gem in RB Phil Mafah & he’s already proving it

Clemson football found a gem in RB Phil Mafah & he’s already proving it

The Clemson football program has been known for finding ‘diamonds in the rough’ and nothing seems to be changing.

While it’s tough to call a 4-star who was rated as the No. 8 running back in the nation an overlooked prospect, the truth is that there seems to be a massive undersell by recruiting insiders when discussing Phil Mafah.

Mafah trended up in the rankings as the recruiting cycle progressed, but he was never considered one of the top running backs in the nation by those who make the recruiting rankings. Still, it seems as if he could turn into a major contributor right away and he’s already showing flashes of greatness in spring practice.

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was asked about the depth chart at running back after practice Wednesday afternoon and he was quick to bring up the talented freshman.

"“Today, in our work, Phil Mafah, he flashed,” Elliott said via The Clemson Insider. “Everybody is like. ‘Man! That is a big guy!’ Until today everything had been controlled, but we got out of the way and he popped a big-long run. You saw that explosion that he had.”"

Clemson football got a stud in 5-star Will Shipley, but we shouldn’t forget about the potential of Phil Mafah

Everyone wants to talk about Will Shipley, and for good reason. He was rated as the No. 1 APB in the country and there’s no doubt he’s going to be a major playmaker for the Tigers during his career.

But all too many times when breaking down the 2021 recruiting class, we overlooked Mafah.

When watching Mafah’s film, he looks like an absolute monster. He is 6-foot-1 (which is tall for a running back) and he shows a perfect blend of power and speed to play the position. The best word to describe Mafah is ‘explosive.’

Does he have the straight line speed that Shipley or Lyn-J Dixon, for example, possesses? Probably not. But he’s that running back who is going to get you positive yards and who is not afraid of contact.

He’s going to make plays and bust off big runs because of that explosiveness. That can’t be undersold.

It should come as no surprise to any Clemson football fan that Mafah is having a nice spring if you watched his film (it’s not hard to identify his hard-running ability) and it’s going to be interesting to see what he is able to do once he fully grasps the playbook and is set loose.