Dabo Swinney hopeful Clemson is trending toward having Will Shipley available

In Week 10, the Clemson Tigers picked up their biggest win of the 2023 college football season when they took down the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at home 31-23. What is even more impressive about the victory is it came with star running back Will Shipley on the shelf dealing with an injury.

While Clemson was able to pick up the win without their star running back, it is not a trend that they want to continue to follow. So, what is the word on Shipley’s status ahead of Week 11’s matchup against Georgia Tech? According to Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney, all things look like they’re trending in the right direction.

“He looked good,” said Swinney. He looks good; he’s been able to go all week. So, hopefully, we’re trending in a good direction there.”

Shipley left the game against North Carolina State after a scary collision at the goal line, which left him motionless on the turf momentarily. Afterward, he was able to get up and walk off the field. However, he would not return to the game. Shipley’s day finished with six carries for 21 yards.

Swinney reveals progression for Will Shipley, status still day-to-day

Week 10 was quite a dramatic ride for Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney after going at it with a fan on his coach’s show before rallying the Tigers to upset Notre Dame on Saturday.

The win meant a massive sigh of relief for a Clemson team that was struggling through eight games at just 4-4. In the lead-up, another loss to NC State the weekend prior had fans extremely frustrated, especially a certain guy named Tyler from Spartansburg, who called in to the coach’s show last week and grilled Dabo Swinney for delivering such little success this year despite his enormous salary.

Swinney responded with a monologue even more forceful than Tyler’s, declaring that the season was “100%” on him, however, that fans like Tyler were also a problem with their negatives attitudes. The clip of his wrath towards Tyler spread wide across the internet with many college football fans mocking Swinney. However, he says several current and former coaches reached out to offer him support over the whole situation.

Here was Swinney detailing those interactions at his press conference this week:

“So yeah, that was actually one of the cool things last week is I had a lot of coaches, like, a lot of coaches, that I don’t talk to, that I don’t even really have a relationship with that reached out to me last week. I don’t even really know what all I said, but I apparently said something that hit a nerve with some people in my profession.”