Jadeveon Clowney weighs in at 270 pounds. He is 6’6” tall and has been timed in the 40 yard dash at 4.50. Were he eligible, he would most likely be the number one draft pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. The only problem is that he has just turned 20 years old this past Valentines’ Day and will be entering only his junior year at the University of South Carolina at Columbia.
Clowney is already a great football player. He was the SEC Freshman of the Year for 2011 and a USA Today High School All American before that in 2010. For 2012 he garnered a lot of attention by being named a Unanimous All American and a Runner Up for the Heisman Trophy. He was also the winner of the 2012 Hendricks Award and was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
Do you begin to see why more than a few professional football scouts and coaches are taking a very close look at Jadeveon? He is already the premier Defensive End in NCAA football just going into his junior year in college.
Although Clowney himself has not said anything about it, there is much speculation in the press these days as to whether the NFL should suspend its famous 3 and out rule that requires college athletes to remain in college at least three years before qualifying for the NFL Draft.
While there is some logic in this, it should not be enough to sway the NFL into granting an exemption in this case……and they should not. It’s a good policy and it produces better educated, more well rounded athletes to play in the NFL when their time comes. Three years on a major college campus is not going to hurt anyone.
The specter of getting hurt or even sustaining a career ending injury must be on the minds of Jadeveon and his family and friends. Obviously, he is a top shelf athlete and he will sign a contract valued in the millions of dollars when the time comes.
One need only to remember the horrific injury to team mate Marcus Lattimore in 2012 to bring to mind “what could happen”. To that end Jadeveon and the Clowney family have taken out an insurance policy through the NCAA for $5,000,000. Let’s hope that he does not need it!
