Clemson football: Will Shipley may be the RB starter by end of season
Will Shipley has a chance at starter reps for Clemson football this fall
The Clemson football team is stacked at the running back position in many ways, but it may be 5-star freshman Will Shipley who is impressing more than anyone.
Shipley arrived on campus this January and through more than half of spring practice, he has shown his raw skills and abilities.
There have been a couple of different highlight film clips that showed Shipley using that impressive breakaway speed and explosiveness.
The first one came from the Clemson football Facebook page where Shipley was seen during a live scrimmage inside of Death Valley running up the middle, breaking a tackle and then taking it to the house.
The next one- from WYFF News’ Marc Whiteman on Monday- wasn’t against a live defense, but it still showed just what the coaches think of him because he was playing with the first-team offense and still running hard when he had the opportunity to carry the ball. Of course, the running backs rotate and he wasn’t the first running back out with the team, but he was- from many accounts- one of the most impressive runners.
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As a matter of fact, Shipley could be the starter for Clemson football before this season comes to a close
It’s not an everyday thing for freshmen running back to take several snaps with the first-team offense in practice.
When you’ve got veterans like Lyn-J Dixon (currently out), Chez Mellusi, Darien Rencher, Michel Dukes and Kobe Pace, the expectation is that those guys will be receiving most of the snaps.
Still, it’s been Shipley who has shown up on the highlight reel.
Shipley is facing an uphill battle in terms of the depth chart this season– especially as he competes against Dixon, Mellusi, Rencher and Pace- but there’s nothing stopping him from getting on the field and, from there, it’s all about execution.
Many thought Travis Etienne would redshirt his first season because of the depth at the position. We all saw what ended up happening.
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Though Etienne wasn’t the ‘named starter’ for most of the season, he continued to progress in snaps and we could see the same type of trajectory from Shipley, as well.