Phil Mafah injury update: Dabo Swinney gives honest assessment on Clemson RB

Phil Mafah is banged up with a shoulder injury but he managed to play against SMU in the ACC Championship.

Now it’s a matter of if he’ll be better for the first round of the College Football Playoff against Texas Saturday. The running back room will sit in an interesting spot if Mafah can’t go, as backup Jay Haynes is out for the year after suffering an injury in the ACC title game.

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Mafah was limited to 13 carries for 28 yards in the ACC title game, but Clemson just ran for 64 yards in total.

“Yeah, I mean, we got what we got,” Swinney said. “Like I said, nobody’s 100%. They have got very few players that are 100% and we don’t either, but certainly some rest for Mafah, it’s not a bad thing. But you know he’s got to have postseason surgery, regardless, you know? He’s going to give everything he’s got and thought he was better in the last game, but you know, we got to use our depth there for sure, and we got our guys, so it’s why we went and signed those guys. So it’s their opportunity.”

In 13 games this season, Mafah has 214 carries for 1,106 yards, eight touchdowns, 5.2 yards per carry, 19 catches and 88 receiving yards. It’s his fourth year with the program in which he’s totaled 2,878 yards and 28 touchdowns on the ground.

Phil Mafah banged up ahead of College Football Playoff

Clemson may be ACC champs, but it comes into the CFP as the No. 12 seed due to its overall ranking. That set up for a road date with SEC runner up Texas.

However, with or without Mafah, Nick Saban seems high on Clemson’s chances to make a bit of a run this winter.

“When you make the playoffs the first time it’s like a new experience. You’re not sure what the practice schedule should be, where we should go, how much time off should we have for Christmas?” Saban said. “I mean you’ve got all these factors… because it’s different than the normal routine of a regular week game during the season.

“And then how to handle the players, how to motivate the players, how to make sure that you get them back to top performance because you have some time off and how you manage the time off. I think all those factors are a benefit when you have experience because you’ve created that horizon for yourself before, so you’ve experienced it and it’s going to be beneficial to your players.”