Duke football: Five-star running back commits to Clemson over Blue Devils
One of the top running backs in North Carolina and in the Class of 2021 committed to the Clemson Tigers over the Duke football program and others on Tuesday afternoon.
It seemed very unlikely, but it became official on Tuesday afternoon as Will Shipley committed to the Clemson Tigers over the Duke Blue Devils.
Shipley is ranked as the No. 24 prospect in the Class of 2021, the No. 1 all-purpose running back, and the top recruit in the state of North Carolina, according to the 247 Sports Composite Rankings.
ESPN ranks Shipley as the No. 2 overall running back in his class.
The Matthews, N.C., native stands at 5-foot-11, 198 pounds, and every Crystal Ball prediction had the back ending up in Death Valley. Shipley dropped his announcement video on his Twitter page on Tuesday.
I AM ANNOUNCING MY COMMITMENT TO..... #TYG🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/8yNzXqxJxW
— willshipley1 (@willshipley2021) May 5, 2020
Will Shipley unofficially visited the Duke football program back on Jan. 18, in addition to his visit to Durham on June 1, 2019.
The Weddington High School standout is the first five-star commit in the Class of 2021 for Dabo Swinney and the Clemson Tigers. He was named the Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year in 2019.
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Many experts thought that Notre Dame could potentially flip the eventual Clemson commit, but the running back also was considering Stanford, North Carolina State, and the North Carolina Tar Heels in addition to Duke and the Fighting Irish.
According to 247 Sports, Clemson has the No. 4 recruiting class in the country and the No. 2 class in the ACC for 2021 while Duke has the No. 68 ranked recruiting class in the nation and No. 7 in the conference.
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David Cutcliffe has eight players committed to Durham in the Class of 2021, and the rest of the conference is chasing the North Carolina Tar Heels, who currently hold the top recruiting class in the ACC for next season.
While Will Shipley to Durham might have been a pipe dream, the Blue Devil coaching staff will continue to work to bring the best recruits to Duke as possible.