Phil Mafah stepped up big time in Will Shipley’s absence last Saturday, with Mafah proving throughout Clemson’s 31-23 win over Notre Dame that he is more than capable of carrying the load for the Tigers at running back.

Shipley, the versatile All-ACC star who’s averaging 4.6 yards per carry this season, missed the game against the Fighting Irish after taking a big hit in the NC State game on Oct. 28. He entered concussion protocol and didn’t make enough progress to play against Notre Dame.

So Mafah took on a workhorse role in the contest and ended up having a record-setting day, racking up a career-high 186 rushing yards on a school-record-tying 36 carries while matching his career high with two rushing touchdowns.

Swinney said after Saturday’s game that Shipley was still day-to-day. But whenever he returns to the field, how will Clemson split the running back reps between two guys who’ve shown they can get the job done in Shipley and Mafah?

Offensive coordinator Garrett Riley was asked that question Monday when he met with the media.

“You gotta do a good job of kind of charting the touches and the amount of plays that they have. That’s something in game you’ve just got to be aware of,” Riley said.

“I think, as coaches, you try and package things throughout the week where you kind of know and have an idea of hey, this guy’s probably going to get this amount of snaps, this guy’s going to get this, based on your game plan. So, that’ll be the fun part for us moving forward like it always is.”

Shipley was Clemson’s leading rusher going into the Notre Dame game with 515 yards for the season. The junior from North Carolina also has 120 receiving yards and five total touchdowns this season.

After Mafah’s huge effort on Saturday, he now leads the Tigers with 625 yards on the ground this season. The junior from Georgia has a team-high eight rushing touchdowns and is averaging 5.7 yards per carry.

Mafah earned his first career ACC Running Back of the Week honor on Monday. His 186 yards against Notre Dame were the most by a Clemson player since Kobe Pace’s 191-yard rushing performance against Wake Forest in 2021.

Riley said he wasn’t surprised by the monster performance that Mafah put forth against the Irish.

“Not really, no. Not at all,” Riley said. “He’s a patient guy, and obviously they’ve been getting challenged pretty good from us as coaches and from player to player, of we need that part of our game to step up. So, we knew some key guys like Phil needed to play big on Saturday, and obviously he played pretty big.”

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