ESPN recently released what it sees as the area of concern for Top 25 teams heading into the 2025 college football season.
For Clemson, ESPN named the Tigers’ running backs as their main concern.
Phil Mafah, of course, has moved on to the next level. He recorded the 24th 1,000-yard rushing season in Clemson history last season despite being hampered all year by a shoulder injury, especially down the stretch.
The Tigers also lost top backup running back Jay Haynes to a torn ACL in last year’s ACC Championship Game, leading Clemson to transition Adam Randall to running back full-time this spring following three years at wide receiver.
Meanwhile, true freshman Gideon Davidson generated plenty of buzz this spring after enrolling early and caught the eye of head coach Dabo Swinney, who believes Davidson is the best running back from the 2025 recruiting class.
Looking ahead to the upcoming season, with Mafah having played his final game at Clemson, and Haynes still working his way back from ACL surgery, the Tigers are going to need some of their other backs to step up, whether it be Davidson, Randall and/or someone else.
After redshirting in 2024, David Eziomume should be ready to take on a more prominent role. Jarvis Green and Keith Adams Jr. are also back. Green showed during the College Football Playoff loss to Texas that he is certainly capable of contributing, catching a touchdown pass from Cade Klubnik on a wheel route. Adams Jr. is the elder statesmen of the group, entering his fourth season in the program, but has just 44 career carries under his belt.
Here’s what ESPN’s Andrea Adelson wrote about Clemson’s running back situation as the area of concern for the Tigers:
The position group that has been discussed more than any other since the spring at Clemson is running back — the only position on offense that loses the bulk of its production with Phil Mafah off to the NFL. But the Tigers have plenty of depth at running back, and that should help ease any concerns as they move into fall camp. Particularly because running back traditionally has been an area where Clemson has excelled, even when other groups on offense took a step back. (Clemson has had a 1,000-yard rusher 11 of the past 16 years, and that does not include 2023, when Mafah and Will Shipley split the carries nearly evenly and combined for more than 1,700 yards.) It is easy to see true freshman Gideon Davidson as a breakout player, considering the success Clemson has had with true freshman backs since Dabo Swinney arrived. Clemson also has receiver Adam Randall taking reps at running back to help round out the depth in a room that also features Keith Adams Jr. and David Eziomume. Jay Haynes continues to rehab a knee injury.
As for opponents on Clemson’s 2025 schedule, ESPN named offensive line as the area of concern for LSU, while the defensive front was tabbed as the area of concern for South Carolina. Defensive line was also identified as SMU’s area of concern, and defensive end in particular was pegged as Louisville’s area of concern.