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AUSTIN, Texas — With injuries decimating its running backs, Clemson football is leaning on wide receiver Adam Randall for help.
Randall, a third-year wideout for the No. 12 seed Tigers (10-3), was featured in the backfield throughout drives in Clemson’s first-round CFP game vs. No. 5 seed Texas (11-2) on Saturday. He caught a 1-yard pass as a running back and burst for a 41-yard run in the second quarter. He even acted as the quarterback on a wildcat play.
Randall became a factor at running back because of the injuries to Phil Mafah and Jay Haynes. Mafah is playing Saturday, but he is dealing with a left shoulder injury that has limited him in games. Clemson’s No. 2 running back is Jay Haynes, but he tore his ACL in the ACC championship game vs. SMU.
Clemson’s depth running backs are Keith Adams Jr., Jarvis Green and David Eziomume, but all are inexperienced. As a result, the Tigers opted to spice things up with Randall. He rushed for 325 yards on 45 attempts and scored seven touchdowns in his senior season in high school but never received a rushing attempt with Clemson entering Saturday.
Eziomume and Adams received snaps at running back Saturday, too, in place of Mafah, who was seen stretching his injured shoulder on the sideline at times. However, Clemson’s run game has struggled against Texas, who has the No. 3 total defense in FBS.
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Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football: WR Adam Randall is playing at RB vs Texas in CFP
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/why-clemson-football-wr-adam-223626601.html
Author : Greenville News
Publish date : 2024-12-21 22:36:00
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