Though Shipley Plays for Clemson, Most of His Family will Wear Red Saturday

Clemson running back comes from a long line of NC State graduates.

Reinhold Matay / USA TODAY Sports

CLEMSON, S.C. — This week has a little different feel for Will Shipley than it does his Clemson teammates.

Shipley comes from a family of NC State Wolfpack, 26 graduates on his mom’s side alone.

“We definitely have Wolfpack in our blood,” Shipley said.

But somehow Shipley still landed at Clemson, where he will try to help the fifth-ranked Tigers knock off No. 10 NC State at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

“It was a little awkward early on, but I think they have kind of learned and adapted that I am all in. I am a Clemson Tiger,” Shipley said.

Both of Shipley’s parents are NC State graduates. And though his parents will be rooting for him, the rest of the family might view things differently.

“There will definitely be a good amount rooting for the Wolfpack,” the Clemson running back said. “That is one thing I think I have come to realize. I think they are all cheering for me, no question, but when you are talking about my mom’s side of the family, they are diehard Wolfpack fans.

“I am not too involved in it. Don’t want to be too involved in it, but I am sure a bunch of them will be sporting red on Saturday.”

Though Shipley says he is not involved, he is actually more involved than anyone. He and the Tigers have an opportunity to ruin one of the Pack’s biggest goals – win an ACC Championship.

NC State (4-0, 0-0 ACC) has not won an ACC title since 1979, and one of the ways to end the championship futility is to knock off Clemson, who has won or shared the Atlantic Division title nine times in the previous 13 years and has claimed seven league titles.

In other words, the road to an ACC Championship has to run through Death Valley, a place where the Wolfpack has not won a game since 2002 and where Clemson has won 36 straight.

But Shipley and the Tigers (4-0, 2-0 ACC) are not worried about any of that because they know the Wolfpack beat them last year, which ultimately cost Clemson a shot at playing for an ACC Championship for a seventh straight season.

“It was really unfortunate. There were a series of events, and we just did not finish,” said Shipley, who did not get to finish last year’s double overtime thrilled due to an injury. “It is something you saw us do on Saturday against Wake Forest. We were confident going out there that we were going to put the ball in the end zone and the defense was going to come up with a big stop.

“Like I said, that is something we did not do against NC State last year. So, just kind of going into it, I felt like we were not fully prepared mentally, physically and this year it is different. We are going into it and giving ourselves the best hand to do our thing. That is what comes down to, players making plays.”

And Shipley hopes to make a whole bunch of plays in front of his NC State family. Of course, he has converted a few into Clemson fans.

“There are definitely a few and to be able to flip them to full on Tiger fans is a great feeling. I kind of feel like a recruiter myself,” he said. “But it’s good. I still have all the love for them in the world. That’s who they grew up cheering for.”

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