Trevor Etienne or Phil Mafah | Who Leads the Better Running Back Room?

when you look at the running back position Georgia has the upper hand when compared Clemson University you are locked on Clemson your daily podcast on the Clemson Tigers part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day what is up everybody Welcome to the lock on Clemson podcast my name is John Biven I am your host here for this episode we are a credential media member through clums University uh with football baseball and basketball you can follow us over on X at am John Biven thanks so much for making lots on cims in your first listen every single day we are free and available wherever you get your podcast at and over on YouTube we are part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day after this Lo after this episode make sure you go check out one of the other podcasts with lockon podcast the locked on acc show but here on Clemson you're getting three things you're getting all sports all passion all of the time today is Tuesday August 20th we're going to be talking about a lot of stuff today such as the running back matchups between Clemson and Georgia talking about this crazy Atlanta environment that they'll be playing in and then bleach report put out their ACC PR preview and let me tell you they're pretty favorable on Clemson which is a surprise we're grateful for all of our sponsors that made this show possible for a full list of those make sure you check out our episode notes overall Georgia has the upper hand and has the advantage when it comes to the running back position we're in the middle of this series we kicked it off yesterday when we looked at the quarterback position what we do is in order for getting it cited for this game obviously the Slims and Georgia game is one of the hottest games that people are talking about right now as we're getting closer and closer to the kickoff of college football with that series and with that game getting in mind we're starting the series where we look at different positional groups for these two teams we looked at the quarterback room today we're looking at running back room we'll look at wide receivers we'll look at defensive groups we'll look at these positional groups and we're just diving in seeing who has the advantage when it comes to these schools what school has the advantage at the different styles different places for the team today we're looking at the running back room and as much as it hates me to say this Georgia has the advantage and as a Clemson fan believe me that hurts me to say because I look at Phil mafa and I think he is one of the best running backs in the nation I think the reason he slept on and he has slept on the reason he is underestimated he's a sleeper so to say I think the reason for that is because simply he was behind will Shipley last year people are looking at will Shipley who carried this team and he didn't have a great year but Phil great almost thousand yards last year might have been a it was really close he wasn't over as a backup um I think Phil mafa is going to be great as the sole B there he's gonna see a lot of great things he's gonna see a great performance he's going to lead this team um but in order for that to happen uh we've got to see him like right he's going to be underestimated people aren't going to see his true potential his true Talent until the season starts right until the season actually happens so when we're doing this series we can't look at where the team is going to be we can't look at where the running back room is going to be at the end of the season where we think it's going to be we have to look at where it is right now and when we do that run georg's running back room is one of the best in the nation uh here's George running back room it is a familiar name at the running back position but it is a transfer his first year with Georgia Trevor etn the little brother of Travis etn from Clemson but they also have sophomore rodri Robertson redir sophomore Branson Robinson and then there red Shir junr cash Jones as a backup there as well they've got a great room Trevor eten might be one of might be the best back in the nation he he is so great he's talented he can move uh he came in he's transferred from Florida and at Florida he played well little underestimated or a little underappreciated there just with a notre offensive line um but he's great running back uh he came in we're again we're using recruits for this recruiting profil as we dive into these two schools we're using these from 247 Sports just so it is fair and accurate across both of them uh he came into Geor Florida when he entered Florida as a fourstar recruit 93 overall score there uh he's from Louisiana there as most Clemson understand that's where Travis etn was from as well uh but he came in 35th overall uh third running back and then here's his scouting report that was put out um what people said about him a lot the biggest things were this they said that he could move he's got versatility um he has the ability to be Shifty move inside and outside of the line if he's outside run or inside run he can make a difference he's got quick acceleration great open field moves um has the ability to play as a receiver as well catching the field out of catching the ball out of the backfield making a difference in the past game overall tra Trevor etan is amazing he's very talented a lot of Clemson fans remember when Clemson was trying to get him he was one of their finalists and I remember when he chose Florida I was so bummed I really thought we were gonna have more years of the etn experience I thought that would have been special but it didn't happen instead he transferred over to Georgia and now he's a transfer Junior for Georgia probably will be there for two years he's special he he is so talented there is no doubts when Phil mafa I think he's one of the best in the league there's doubts there Trevor etn no matter how you feel about Georgia everyone knows he's one of the best running backs in the nation they're stacked now I don't think that Clemson is way far behind right now where they are I think they're still high up there because Phil mafa like we talked about had an excellent season last year uh Phil mafa was a he he played really really well um he was a backup to cl to will Shipley he SP they split Stat or shares split the carries a little bit uh but will Shipley mainly got got majority of the starts he got majority of the Downs that kind of aspect but last year he had played in 13 games only started five of those a lot of those were injuries he ended up with 965 yards almost a thousand yards as a backup only starting five games had 13 touchdowns as longest was 49 he averaged uh 13.8 attempts about 75 yards per game that that's good stats much improved from 2022 where he only started one game 14 appearances still had over 500 yards uh his freshman year he started one game nine games played 292 yards with three touchdowns so overall he's good they're very different backs Trev to etn has that smaller frame smaller build more Shifty more elusive back Phil mafa can play as that but he's more of a hybrid almost a PowerBack with some elusive back skills uh so it's interesting it's going to be very interesting when these two scho uh running backs face off they've both got a great R they've both got a great ability great skill you can't compare where they're going to be right you can't compare where we think they're going to be or their potential or anything like that you have to compare where they are right now where they are right now is Trevor is a little bit better last year at Florida um he didn't have the stats that Phil mafa had uh so that's a big thing that people will say and that's my argument why Phil mafa is better I believe Phil mafa is better I think you got to to give the advantage to Georgia just overall as a group uh but Florida had last year at Florida he had 131 carries for 750 yards um eight touchdowns uh but they they had a little bit more shared back as well he wasn't the only one there I think that's why he transferred because he wasn't getting the attention that he deserved the attention that he should truly get she wasn't getting all the shares um but he's a great back I Phil moff had better stats last year overall talent wise I think Clemson might have that as we talked about Trevor etn was the 3 th in the nation 93 overall score Phil mafa came in as 179th in the nation the 92 overall score Phil mafa was in the 221 class uh Trevor etn uh was a very similar but he's a great back really good back personal opinion I think these rooms are identical I think these running back rooms are identical with backups both have good backups we talked about some of georg's backups uh Clemson has great ones they got Keith Adams he's who's a RT sophomore Jay Haynes who r freshman Jarvis green red Shir freshman even e e who is incredibly fast as a true freshman you've got great plays across the board if you have to label it I think quarterback matchup as we talked about yesterday is George's probably up here Kate club Nick's right here right running backs today I would say Trevor etn up here and Phil mafa I personally I say here he's or I say here he's probably putting right there so overall you got to give the advantage to Georgia when it comes to the running back room that hurt hurts to say for sure uh but that's where it is right now you at the beginning of the season the advantage goes to Georgia in the running back room we're GNA keep this segment going keep this series going in next episode as we dive into the wide receiver rooms who has the advantage there but we'll really only get these two School the answers to these when the two schools face off we won't know who's going to be better truly until we see what happens when they face each other on August 31st and when they face each other you better believe that Stadium is gonna be crazy it's summertime and I don't know about y'all but what that means 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money is all yours you can save on over 2400 Brands and shop at over a thousand retailers including your favorite grocery stores Lowe's Macy's Sephora Best Buy and so much more right now I Bata is offering our listeners $5 for just trying I by using the codee locked on College when you register just go to the app store or Google Play Store download the free iotus app to start earning cash back and use code locked on College welcome back to the locked on col Clemson football podcast hey college football is back and the locked on college football podcast kicks off the action with A Live season pre preview at 700 PM Eastern on Tuesday August 20th on the locked on College 24/7 streaming YouTube channel this four-part series covers each of the four major conferences was discussion on which ACC Big 10 Big 12 and SEC teams have a shot at the expanded college football playoffs a lot we're going to talk about Clemson a lot in the ACC segment be sure to check out this special streaming on lockon College's 247 YouTube channel or on Amazon Fire TV part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day thanks so much for joining us here for the locked on Clemson podcast Clemson and Georgia are going to face off a mercedesbenz stadium and that whole place will be the wildest environment that either school plays in all year look Clemson is an amazing Stadium Clemson has a crazy good vibes crazy fans uh wild environment it's one of it's in my opinion the best but by far one of the best places to play places to experience in college football if you've never been to a Clemson football game go to one they're crazy Georgia is right up there they've got a great environment as well they've got a great home field they've got a great home stadium it's one of the best in the nation as well it's not as good as Clemson let's just be real but it is really really wild when these two schools face off when they get together and when they play each other in Atlanta It's Gonna Be Wild that stadium is gonna be bumping those schools those fans those bands are going to be wild that environment is going to be crazy there's a couple reasons why number one anytime you get two top 15 schools play opening the season it's electric Georgia's obviously W Clemson's 14 when these two schools face off two top 10 top 15 schools face off to face each other to kick off the season that it's going to be wild the the environment the buildup is already going to be there number two is it's a rivalry game as well I know a lot of modern day fans don't really realize the level of this rivalry these two schools used to face each other every single year they don't play as often now but it's still a heated rivalry like these two schools don't like each other very much especially the fans I mean they're only 75 miles apart they're in two states South Carolina Georgia that naturally has a tendency not to like one another uh but it's a rivalry top 15 matchup and a rivalry it's going to be wild It's also two of the loudest fan bases in college football depending on where you look uh Stadium talk has Georgia as the 20th loud loudest stadium Clemson is the third other sources have Georgia 11th and Clemson 8th others have both in the top seven no matter where you look these are two of the loudest stadiums when they play against each other and now they're both bringing in their fans bringing in their teams because this they're playing in Atlanta that's a two and a half hour drive from Clemson two two and a half hour drive from Clemson an hour and a half from Georgia that's not far they're bringing in their fans into an indoor NFL stadium which is gonna be loud that stadium is gonna be crazy it's going to be one of the wildest environments you've experienced so two top 15 schools facing off the Rivalry is there and it's to of the loudest for college fan bases in college football but it gets bigger than that I think honestly both bands are gonna play they play a huge part of who what these schools do one of the best parts of college football is the bands is the environment that the fans the bands the cheerleaders they bring into it because it just creates this Vibe it creates this Stadium it creates this environment energy that allows people to get more involved in the game which gets def players more pumped up more involved which just creates this electric cycle these two schools have some of the best traditions in the sport when it comes to the band Clemson as the tiger ride ever or the Tiger rag everyone knows it c l Ms o n right like everybody knows that it's huge it plays great the band goes on when the music start as soon as it hits the fans are on their feet they're jumping they're getting involved they're playing it's electric Georgia also has a really I would say annoying but a really known fight song called Glory Glory it it's playing both bands are going to show up and both bands are G to be playing their fight songs at different moments it happens that's what it goes on they play it all the time both teams better get prepared for this because they are going to have an active part net weekend these bands are going to play an active part and an active role in what these two schools in these teams are going to play and the teams have already started preparing for this Clemson has started playing with Georgia's fight song on Loop during part of the practices uh today or yet on Tuesday the CL Clemson players practice where Davos Sweeny had a 20 minute long Loop of Glory Glory Georgia's fight song playing during the entire special teams practice he just non-stop went over and over and over and over and over again and when they asked why he was like look that's going to happen they're going to have to face this they might as well get used to it they did it they talked about that he talked about different things of how they need to impact it a lot of times it'll happen after a touchdown so you'll have to play special teams with that it'll happen after big moments it'll happen at random parts during the game you've got to get accustomed to it different players talked about it uh some of our defensive players are like yeah it's a real thing we're gonna have to deal with so let's just get focused on it let's get used to it CV or Christopher our backup quarterback came in and was like yeah look it's real it's annoying it's a thing that happens we've just got to make sure where you're used to it we're accustomed to it we know know how to handle it when we hear that song 40 times when the game starts I paraph paraphrase that pretty liberally but that's what they was talking about they're getting prepared for this Clemson's preparing for it I'm sure georg's PL preparing for it Kirby Smart was asked about what this rivalry is going to happen he's like look a biggest part of this rivalry is the fans don't like each other and when that happens and all the fans are crowded in that Stadium it's gonna be wild with all these factors with everything we're talking about these two schools better get ready for a wild environment as they face off as excited as we are about this kickoff though we're stoked for the entire season and we love to look ahead at what Clemson will do bleach report put out their ACC preview and they for once had a very favorable opinion when it came to the Clemson Tigers Jarvis Davis here for FanDuel you heard us talk a lot about FanDuel America's number one sports BL so guess what about to tell you a little bit more we got a little something just for you now through September 22nd all fandu customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV it doesn't matter if you're a fan of the Atlanta Falcons the Carolina Panthers the Los Angeles Chargers the Las Vegas Raiders it doesn't matter because guess what with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game yes every regular season out of Market game that is so dope all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel anytime so just visit fanduel.com lockon that's fanduel.com locked on and make sure you download America's number one Sportsbook Clemson and FSU see destined to play each other by the media to face each other in the ACC Championship Game look these two schools everywhere you look almost every single media Outlet is saying it's going to be Clemson it's going to be FSU facing each other in the ACC Championship game that's what's gonna happen well these two schools they everywhere you look it seems like that's what's going to be predicted that's what's destined to happen as this match up between these powerhouses really the only big media source that I'm seeing not have these two face off are they locked on podcasts which have Clemson in Miami or NC State everywhere else seems like it has Clemson versus FSU Bleacher Report recently put out their ACC preview where they go through so many different factors and so many different things and they had some really great stuff to say about Clemson and they favor and they had them favored for this matchup so let's go through and look at those we want to talk about what all they brought up forth they brought forth a lot of things some of the things he brought forth were the best players and Clemson had some players listed here they talked about the best best players in the ACC really were focused on the three best quarterbacks they had dju from FSU from Oregon State and from Clemson they had Miami with Cam Ward and above all the other quarterbacks they listed Cade clck they talked about he didn't perform at Star level but they really feel like he's gonna have a big impact on this ACC race with Clemson so they mentioned him there running backs of course they talked about Mar and Hampton from North Carolina and uh CS Jaden a NC State they talked about their wide receiver Kevin concepion Miami at Xavier rreo Stanford Al a miner Florida State they talked about them when it came to some defensive line with Patrick Payton or Ashton gallette Ruben Bane Jr Cayman Rucker and then of course talked about Peter Woods TJ Parker from Clemson and then the best linebacker of course was Barr Carter that's what they put out there um when it came to their top storylines their biggest one they talked about was Clemson or FSU I'm going to read this quote this is from Bleach report it says this Clemson has dominated the conference lately winning seven ACC championships in the last 10 years Florida state which had been the league Powerhouse before Clemson's rise put together an unbeaten regular season and earned all ACC or an ACC title in 2023 that duo opens the campaign as co- favorites even as climon is aiming a rebound from a disappointing year since the ACC Reb abandoned divisions last year it could be Clemson versus fsu's Clash for the crown they're talking about it these two are DES in the face each other everybody is saying it uh talked about their top Challengers they went through and they tiered the division tier one Clemson FSU they talked about how it's going to be them if it doesn't belong to them it's going to be crazy uh they're they call them quote for quote behemoths when it comes to this conference uh tier two they had Miami NC State Louisville Virginia at Tech and SMU um tier three they had the surprise section they put Georgia Tech North Carolina and Syracuse as people that could it could happen and surprise everybody everybody else was below them coaches on the hot seat they put Dabo Sweeney I'm just kidding no they didn't they did not have Dabo uh they had Justin Willcox over with Cal they had Pat ardui Uh from pit and then they had Tony Elliot from Virginia please don't let Tony get fired I love that guy then they had Miami's Mario kist the ball saying that he's up there if they're not able to produce with this team best games of the season they listed 12 games and Clemson appeared in almost half of them uh they had three different ones the best non-conference games they had Florida State and Notre Dame end the season they had Memphis and Florida State NC State and Tennessee and then they had of course the biggest game of the season for ACC non-conference was Clemson versus Georgia in Atlanta that crazy game that's going to happen uh top conference matchups Clemson appeared in three of these four in the top conference matchups of Clems or of the ACC they have NC State at Clemson they have Clemson at Florida State they have Florida State at Miami and then they have Clemson at Virginia Tech a lot GNA happen there right a lot of Clemson there Clemson has their hands full when it comes to the ACC schedule uh then they have best of the rest which are the other games not according to those and they have Virginia Tech Miami Florida State SMU Miami at Louisville they have that Louisville versus Clemson and that's going to be a really big game really important game and then the state rivalry of NC State and North Carolina they have the best offenses Clemson didn't make the list there they best offense they put was Miami and then the best defense by far they had Clemson no surprise there in top 10 defense last season top 10 defense every season uh sophomore group is loaded this year Peter Woods TJ Parker uh they've got some Barrett Carter the senior who's going to be leading this team drastically um we are gonna have a need a little bit of improvement from secondary as we lost Nate Wiggins and Sheridan Jones and Andrew makuba but we have a top five secondary in the ACC almost every single year expectations are high they should do well here the projected order of finish here's how they predicted that order it I will say they uh they forgot one uh but they went through they did Virginia Boston College Stanford Wake Forest pit Duke Syracuse Cal Georgia Tech North Carolina Louisville SMU Virginia Tech that this is from bottom up Final Four they have Miami NC State finish in third they have Florida State at second and they are predicting Clemson to take them the ACC regular season matchup then they went through and they projected the title game they didn't predict who was going to win it they just guessed who was going to be in the title game game and no surprised they put Clemson versus FSU Bleacher Report is not one that usually has a lot of favorable things to say about Clemson but in this one they have a lot of great things they're expecting Clemson to be great they're expecting Cade to truly make this massive difference they're putting him up there they said this about this matchup they said Clemson had a seven game win streak in this series but Florida State snapped at skid in 23 there may be two matchups in 2024 the one contest we know and heads to Tallahassee for a clash in October the winner of that meeting will likely claim the title of ACC favorite as the second half of the Season approaches the second would arrive with the ACC title and trip to the college football playoff at stake Miami is talented nor State North Carolina state is a favorable schedule Virginia slate is similar if either one upsets Clemson and Miami uh and wins at home against FSU throw this prediction directly into the technological trash that would cause chaos conf in combo entering 2024 season Clemson and FSU stand out as the class of ACC they're favorable these two teams and they're predicting Clemson over FSU which you don't see a lot there's been a lot of people predict Clemson FSU and ACC Champion not a lot saying Clemson is going to be number one in the conference that does happen a lot most people are putting up split or FSU taking the lead it's exciting what it comes down to is this it feels like this matchup of Clemson versus f isue is in the words of Thanos inevitable it's going to happen it's they're going to face each other twice according to this I agree I think we're gonna go to Tallahassee I think will win that game shocker I think will upset the world win that game uh and then I think they're going to face off in the ACC Championship game as they talked about the biggest things that would prevent that uh would be Miami beating Florida State at home uh and then either North Carolina state or Virginia Tech beating Clemson State plays at Clemson Virginia Tech plays at home against the those two could be changes to those but it's inevitable it's Destiny these two schools are going to face each other it's going to happen Clemson is going to win the ACC Championship mark it down I'm saying it right now we're going to win coming first in the regular season and win the championship beating Florida state twice this season I'm putting it down there that's my hopes that's what I think is going to happen but with all that being said that's going to wrap up this edition of the locked on Clemson podcast thanks for making climon your first listen every day now go check out the lock on college football podcast from nil deals to never ending conference realignment rumors Spencer MC coflin gets you ready for an exciting season on the grid iron you can find the link to lock on college football in the description so you don't need to search it is part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day later this week we're going to keep this conversation going getting ready for the Georgia game but we also want to make sure you are part of our locked on Clemson Insider program that is a great program where you can have one-on-one chats with us access to bonus material and bonus questions and mailbag episode videos so make sure you join that for a free trial for 14 days Tex Clemson to 864-254-9560 your team every day we can't wait to see you in tomorrow's episode until then keep that tiger Pride alive and roaring and as always go Tigers