During 12th-seeded Clemson’s 38-24 loss at No. 5 seed Texas in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday, Clemson junior wide receiver Adam Randall was used as a running back at times.

It was an interesting wrinkle to Garrett Riley’s offense, with starting running back Phil Mafah continuing to be hampered by his shoulder injury.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said that after the ACC Championship Game against SMU, the Tigers decided to give Randall a try at running back.

Adam Randall during the second quarter of Clemson’s College Football Playoff game at Darrell K Royal Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas, Saturday, December 21, 2024. Bart Boatwright/The Clemson Insider

“Last week. Actually, after the championship game,” Swinney said during his postgame press conference following the loss to Texas. “The best thing he does is run with the ball, so hey, let’s see if we can create a little role for him and see how he looks, and he looked great in practice.”

Randall was Clemson’s leading rusher on Saturday with 44 yards on four carries against the Longhorns, including a 41-yard run in the second quarter on his first rushing attempt. The 6-foot-2, 230-pounder also caught a pass for 1 yard.

Randall, a former four-star and top-125 national prospect, is a “natural” at running back according to Swinney.

Could the Tigers transition him to running back in 2025?

“He did some good stuff, man. He is a natural, and that’s something that we want to try to grow this spring,” Swinney said.

“We talked about maybe trying to transition him there and see if we can kind of rebrand him a little bit. Let’s see what he looks like as a 230-pound back that can fly and got ball skills. We’ll see how that works out for him.”