CLEMSON — Mickey Conn stood among a small herd of supporters on the morning of April 8, eyeing Phil Mafah as he weaved through a maze of tiny cones in Clemson's indoor practice facility.
Each drill in Mafah's workout for NFL scouts began with a thunderous clap from Clemson running backs coach C.J. Spiller, who bent down in a wide stance, shooting "Let's go, let's go, get there" directly into his pupil's ear.
"There you go, babe," Syracuse sprinter Kitana Burgard shouted as her fiance pitter-pattered his feet between rows of step-over pads.
Burgard, propped on crutches after a recent hip surgery, was flanked by Clemson teammates and coaches. They chimed in with "There you go, Phil," and "Like it, Mahf," as the 239-pound rusher accelerated on the turf.
Conn was grappling with the speed of life. "Where does time go?" he asked, feeling emotional tugs as he overlaid the present with scenes from his past.
Fifteen years ago, Conn coached not only Georgia power Grayson High, but also his son Brodey's little league team. They had an oversized wingback, from ages 7-12, who ripped through defenses on the criss-cross "Applesauce" counter play.
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Phil Mafah (far right) carries the ball for his little league football team. He played for now-Clemson safeties coach Mickey Conn, who was the head coach at Grayson High, from ages 7-12 with Conn's son Brodey. Courtesy photo/Phil Mafah
Mafah, the son of immigrants from the Ivory Coast, started his athletic career in his church's third-grade soccer league. But he inevitably wanted to run with the "other" football, like the rest of his friends.
"I'm seeing this 7-year-old kid who'd be looking through that face mask at me, like, 'What is this coach saying to me right now?'" Conn said.
"Just give me the ball and let me run."
Conn was flashing back on pro day. To the kid who dreamed of the NFL, to the spiritual soul who reunited with him at Clemson, to the stoic senior who rushed for 1,000-plus yards despite physical and emotional burdens few understood.
Every snapshot converged in this 22-year-old prospect, sweat glossing his skin as he sprinted, cut and sprinted some more.
"Here he is," Conn said. "He's still going."
Where does time go? It moves forward, as consistently and stoically as Mafah, who moves toward an NFL dream that some in his family consider destiny.
Everything, they say, "was written in the stars."
A father's frame
The very moment Phil-Ceasar Mafah was born, his father Eugene knew he was going to be an athlete.
Phil had big nostrils, like his father.
"He tells me that all the time," Phil said, flashing a polite smile, only slightly embarrassed.
The concept is simple: The more oxygen flowing through those nasal passages, the more fuel there is to run.
Mafah was gifted physicality. Eugene himself wasn't an athlete — more artistic in orientation — but as Phil's uncle Jeff Bouadou would put it, Eugene "put a few wounds on people" in his younger days.
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Suzanne (left) and Eugene Mafah (right) are natives of the Ivory Coast. Phil was their youngest son, but the Clemson running back also had six siblings. Courtesy photo/Phil Mafah
He's a big, big man, with a big personality, who initially landed in New York City and traded in African art and fabrics. Eugene soured on the city because of issues with drugs and crime. It just didn't feel safe.
Eugene found greener pastures, literally, in the Georgia suburbs. Better for his growing family, which started with a household of four daughters and continued with three straight sons.
But their string of boys was nearly two. While Suzanne was pregnant with Phil, doctors were concerned about his development. At one point, they recommended terminating the pregnancy because of a "malformation."
A quiet but prayerful mother stood firm, even signing a form, Eugene said, to take ultimate responsibility for the baby's condition.
"I want my baby," Eugene recalled his wife saying.
Phil would be accepted, big nostrils and all. Even easier to love because of his peaceful temperament. Hand him a book and he would just sit there and read.
His calm nature was his mother's.
A mother's heart
Suzanne was so loving, she would be told not to cook anything for a special occasion, and she'd prepare a feast.
Phil loved his parents' chicken and rice with peanut butter sauce.
He loved his mother's lessons even more.
If there was any book Suzanne put in front of Phil the most, it was the Bible. She taught him how to apply scripture to his life.
His favorite verse was John 13:7, as Jesus said to Peter, "You do not understand now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
mafah suzanne phil
Phil Mafah and his mother, Suzanne, was an important part of the running back's life growing up. Courtesy photo/Phil Mafah
In hindsight, the pieces of Phil's story fit.
He'd share a backfield with Will Shipley for three of his four seasons at Clemson, but they emerged as best friends, not rivals.
Eugene and Suzanne, most of all, taught their children to share. Not only with each other but also guests their exceedingly generous parents took in.
"Somebody comes to town," said one of Phil's sisters, Ines, "we already know one of us is sleeping on the couch."
"John can testify," sister Sonia said, battling through chuckles, "his whole life was about giving up his room for people to stay."
"Me and Phil had to share shoes, clothes," John said. "Everything was written in the stars."
Everything worked out. Conn joined his former Alabama teammate Dabo Swinney at Clemson in 2016 but kept an eye on Mafah. Conn heard Grayson's ninth-grade coaches were repping his wingback at defensive end.
He intervened, telling his compatriots at Grayson, "Hey, y'all got a running back over there that might be one of the best ones in the whole county."
Mafah was so mild-mannered, he never protested.
"Once they figured it out," Conn said, laughing, "that was the end of it."
The unexpected
In due time, two of Conn's favorite parents from the Rams, the social animal, Eugene, and the hugger, Suzanne, were accompanying Phil on recruiting trips to Clemson.
There was so much warmth, these visits felt more like family reunions.
Phil trusted Conn and Clemson with his NFL dream. Despite split carries with Shipley, he never wavered, waiting for moments like his 186-yard outburst versus Notre Dame his junior year.
mafah notre dame
Clemson running back Phil Mafah (7) had 186 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Notre Dame during the 2023 season. File/Travis Bell/Sideline Carolina
Mafah's big Ivorian family sat around a table that offseason, counseling him on whether to cash in on the Notre Dame buzz or stay at Clemson another year.
Suzanne made clear: It was Phil's decision.
He couldn't have known he'd tear a labrum in his shoulder in the second game of his senior season. During that family meeting, Suzanne couldn't have known why she was feeling a pain in her stomach.
Phil's uncle, Jeff, a doctor, laid her on a couch and examined her. A week later, her gallbladder was removed. Soon after, a mass was found.
Cancer wouldn't allow Suzanne to attend a single game Phil's final year.
In January, she died.
"It almost feels like Moses, not getting to see the Promised Land," Jeff said. "It eats at us all, the bittersweetness of it."
Why did it happen? Phil doesn't know. He trusts, one day, he will.
Until then, he had to return to chasing his dream. He just stoically waited on Spiller's next loud clap on April 8, taking another sprint around cones and through step-over pads laid out in Clemson's practice facility.
His fiancé yelled, "There you go, babe" as he went.
Onward, toward whatever destiny is written in the stars.
(This is the first in a three-part series of articles on Clemson running back Phil Mafah and his journey to the NFL draft. The story continues on April 24.)