It has been a long recruiting process for No. 1 all-purpose back Will Shipley but the Rivals250 star prospect out of Matthews (N.C.) Weddington has finally ended his recruitment. It took about a month longer than he wanted and the difficulties brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and recruiting dead period made his recruitment even more stressful. Now that he has announced his commitment to Clemson there is a huge weight off his mind.
IN HIS OWN WORDS...
“Clemson is just the place for me,” Shipley said. “It was the people that make it up, the culture of the locker room, the atmosphere, the game day experience. There are so many things that went into it for me but when looking at the big picture I just didn't see a place that really showed my family and I better.
“I’ve always been ultra competitive and I think that's helped me get to where I am today,” he said. “I would absolutely love to get there and be as ready as I can for coach Elliott to develop me to the best of his ability and try and get some playing time my freshman year. That's my goal and that's what I'm going to push myself to do. I want to start sophomore year and junior year and, if it's possible, leave after three.
“Coach Elliott spoke about having a very similar offense to my high school offense, which really resonated with me,” said Shipley. “To be able to transition into something and not have to totally change everything I've learned since middle school football was big. He wants to use me as more than a running back and that's what I want to do so I'm really looking forward to that."
On the pressure of his recruitment: “After speaking to all the other coaches, letting Clemson know, and getting to the end of this thing, I can already feel so much stress being picked up off my shoulders,” he said. “I can't wait for the whole process to be over with because my family and I have been through it for almost three years now, and it's going to be very, very nice just to be able to focus on one school, a couple of coaches, and be able to start pursuing my end goal.
“Notre Dame did an absolutely incredible job,” Shipley said. “Coach Taylor, coach Kelly, and coach Rees, the push that they made really over the last month made it very, very close at one point. Looking back and putting this in god's hands, he showed me what I needed to see. Clemson, in my mind, is no question the place that I need to be at.
“It was great to be connected with so many people and have so many great relationships in and around Notre Dame,” he said. “I would say that it added a little bit of pressure. When you ultimately make your decision and you're disappointing all of those relationships that you have created, it's tough on you. It was definitely tough on me when I had to call the coaches and call the commits and let them know. I have created such good relationships with them and that made it tough on me. I loved all the relationships I created and I absolutely just cherish all of them."
On how the COVID-19 pandemic and recruiting dead period effected his recruitment: “It was tough for schools like Stanford, Notre Dame, N.C. State, and UNC because those visits were probably going to play a big part for them in the end of my recruitment,” said Shipley. “I wasn't able to go to the schools, hang out with the players, and get a feel for the atmosphere. I've been to Clemson five or six times now so to have that much experience at a great place like that it's almost impossible to say no. It hurt the other schools in my recruitment that finished second or third not being able to visit them."
