Five-star prospect Will Shipley of Matthews (N.C.) Weddington made his second visit to Clemson this season for Saturday’s game against Wake Forest.

The nation’s top-ranked all-purpose back in the 2021 class previously attended a game at Death Valley on Sept. 7 when the Tigers played Texas A&M.

“It was great as expected,” Shipley said of Saturday’s visit in an interview with The Clemson Insider. “Got a chance to do a couple different things. Got a chance to speak to Coach Swinney before the game, which was really cool. Got a chance to meet Coach Elliott, Coach Elliott’s wife and his kids. So, it was a little bit different experience, but it was as good.”

Shipley believes his relationship with Clemson co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach Tony Elliott grew stronger during the visit.

“It definitely did,” Shipley said. “I got a chance to speak to him for about 10, 15 minutes before the game, kind of just talking about my season, their season, this and that, and he got to speak to my family. So, it was great.”

Half of Clemson’s 20 commitments in the 2020 class were on campus for their official visits over the weekend, and Shipley was able to meet several of them.

“Those dudes are absolutely huge,” he said, laughing. “But I did get a chance to meet a bunch of them. I also got a chance to bring a couple of my friends with me, so it was good to spend some time with them as well.”

Up next for Shipley is a visit to Georgia for its game against Texas A&M on Saturday, followed by a trip to Duke for its game vs. Miami the following weekend. In addition to Clemson, he has been to Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, NC State, North Carolina and Virginia for games this season.

As it stands now, Shipley is still looking to narrow his recruitment down after the season, and Clemson is a safe bet to make the cut as one of his top schools.

“I think after this visit, they’ve pretty much solidified a spot in that narrowed list of probably eight to ten schools,” he said.

Shipley, who received Clemson’s first running back offer in the 2021 class last summer, says Clemson checks all the boxes he is looking for in a school as he goes through the recruiting process and works toward a decision.

“They definitely do,” he said. “Some things that are going to play a huge role is relationships with coaches and then the players as well as the commits in my class. Kind of how they use their running back, the backs that they have on the team already and then the commits before me. Just their running back room as a whole, kind of seeing what type of guys are in there, how well I’d work with them, if I’m compatible, things like that. And academics is going to play a huge role, and then team culture as well.”

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