Clemson football: Will Shipley – Room for improvement

I admit to being more than a little bit surprised when I checked out Clemson football running back Will Shipley’s grades on PFF.com.

As a matter of fact, I double checked, gave it a day, looked up the definitions and explanations and looked again.

Yep, there he was sitting at number 251 of 494 “half backs” in overall rating.

It’s was a sobering experience, or more accurately, a reality check.  Sometimes us fans see what they want to see and not what’s actually happening.  This was one of those times for me.

The PFF grades are not the be all and end all of evaluation, but more of a confirmation of what your eyes are telling you, or in some cases, reason for a revaluation. I think we all knew there was room for improvement in Shipley’s pass catching abilities as 2021 played out and that’s one difference between Shipley and Kobe Pace, with Pace being the much better receiver to this point.

While the two have fairly similar grades as rushers, Pace is far ahead not only as a receiver, but also as a pass blocker, which is an often overlooked aspect of a running back’s game.

Will Shipley was all over the field for Clemson football as a true freshman in 2021, but there’s room for improvement

Shipley was asked to do a lot as a true freshman last season in addition to his 368 snaps at running back duties, was on the field for 35 kicks, 2 punts, lined up in the slot 11 times and wide 5 more times.

He was all over the field, doing what he could to get Clemson over the hump on offense.

Shipley, of course, missed three games with injury and still managed a team leading 738 yards and 11 touchdowns on 149 carries, caught 16 passes for 116 yards (7.2) and returned 14 kicks for 380 yards (27.1) as the Tigers finished 10-3.

He was good.  At times very good.

But we haven’t seen the best Will Shipley yet, not by a long shot and these grades and our eyes bear that out.

For Will Shipley, the best is yet to come.