Phil Mafah, the wonder boy of Georgia, nurtured a long-standing dream to end up in Clemson Football. An unshakable faith, extreme grit, and relentless hard work through the years did the rest. The envisioned future saw a storybook materialization back in 2019 when he enrolled in his favorite program. Honing his prowess through the past 3 years and achieving a raft of milestones with the Tigers, Phil Mafah not only stood out as a brilliant running back of the team but also became a leading light who guides his teammates to step out of their boundaries. However, he didn’t always do it by preaching. Rather, he set an example for the newbies through his various pioneering moves for the team. A high-scale athlete, a visionary, a man of character, all of these in one man are likely to make you intrigued to know the jammy parents he belongs to.

”Being from West Africa, my parents knew a lot about soccer, so that is what they wanted me to play as a kid. I loved playing soccer.”: this is how his non-American parents casually sowed an early seed of athleticism in his veins at a very tender age. A kid who used to play with his friends in the home yard eventually started to feel football a lot closer to his heart and switched to the Gridiron when he was in the third grade. The trajectory continues to fly higher with a remarkable high school stint in Grayson.

The terrific combo of a constant grind and the god-gifted supremacy in skills led him to manifest the ultimate dream come true moment when Clemson offered him a deal and took him in as the first signee of the 2021 recruiting class. There has been no looking back for the 21-year-old ever since.

But all of these would remain a far-fetched dream if his parents didn’t care enough to shift to Georgia to give their child a better, faster life.

Inspirational parents behind a kid of great culture and greater career 

”My parents moved here in the late ‘80s to give me and my siblings a better opportunity in life. So, I’m extremely grateful for that, and it just ended up being in Grayson, Georgia, a great place for football.”

Phil Mafah’s family made a wonder step toward Phil’s elite future and are rightfully enjoying the fruit. Father Mafah was into the textile fabric business after bagging a degree in biomedical engineering. Mother, a benevolent housewife who had vested all of her life in her family’s wellbeing, thinks everything just worked out perfectly for the family since they came down to Georgia. Now, all of these stories grace the walls of the lavish house of the Mafah’s, letting them indulge in blissful nostalgia from time to time.

Apart from the parents, one person who deserves a distinct shoutout in Phil’s life is Mickey Conn, the current Tiger co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. The veteran who supervised a seventh-grade kid in his first football season in school has been a constant witness and architect of Mafah’s incredible metamorphosis from Grayson to Clemson.

Although the senior running back has some solid visions for a resurgence of Clemson in the season after a crushing defeat, he’s sticking to the basics. ‘

“I love my family and just making them proud is what I want to do,” that’s what fuels this talented kid from an amazing family.

If you want to know about other nitty-gritty of college football, you can refer to our ES Think Tank interview with Doug Sanders, founder of Sanders Sports and Entertainment.