Jadeveon Clowney was a very well regarded recruit. One of the handful of best recruits in his clsss. He was not anointed the greatest football player ever when he was in diapers. He was not named the reincarnation of the Dali Lama by a handful of Tibet Ian monks. He was a top recruit, like top recruits that have come before and will come after. Scout.com, for instance actually has him at seven. I think the Clowney hype machine is trying to sell hhs legend via Wikipedia. You might actually want to check with them.
Who said he was the best recruit ever? I never did. https://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1089925 http://recruiting.scout.com/2/960471.html http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/news/story?id=6035528
I'm not sure how this argument about his high school performance is relevant or why it is dominating this thread, but Clowney was and still is considered one of the greatest high school players ever, and definitely anointed the greatest prep football players ever. He played everywhere on the D-line and also player running back and receiver at times - no one could tackle the guy and no one could block him even with double and triple teams. And you're wrong - Scout.com had Clowney as their best player. He only appears seventh on the list you saw because at the time, Scout.com divided players based on position and wouldn't rank Qb vs. DE in an overrall list. And at the the time they would start with offense and go defense - which is why Jeff Driskel appears first, followed by 1 offensive player at each position (RB, WR, TE, Oline), before they move on to the defensive players. So Jeff Driskel wasn't their number 1 player., he is just listed #1 because his position came first. And if you look at Scout.com articles, pretty much writer considered Clowney one of the best prospects they'd ever seen. In fact, he and Adrian Peterson are the only ones I can remember who were considered top prospects in the nation of all prospects their entire senior year by all recruiting services. If there's one where a workout warrior is indicative of future success, it's defensive line. Rushing the passer and being disruptive isn't rocket science, but you can't teach elite athleticism. Whether or not you think it's a need the Texans should fill with 1-1 is debateable, but it's pretty hard to argue that injuries aside Clowney won't be an impact player in the league.
I'll go ahead and say he might be one of the best recruits of the past 20 years. Who was more of a slam dunk prospect over that period? Adrian Peterson, maybe Vince Young? Cedric Benson and Jimmy Clausen got a lot of hype. Reggie Bush seems good in hindsight, but his game tape wasn't the best. Randy Moss had issues qualifying. Considering his measurables, his production versus competition, the focus on him in high school (triple teams all the time), and what he produced, an argument can definitely be made.
It's time for Clowney to go to the next level and play with the big boys and folks bring up high school rankings to make excuses and overlook Clowney's red flags to talk themselves into believing he's the best player for the Texans to draft and exsolve him of having a final season that produced 3 sacks and allowed 5.9 yards a rush while not facing power house offenses. And Mario was a 4 star recruit so it's not like he came out of nowhere. Difference with Mario is he didn't have a 5h1ty final year.
Well I guess you can certainly make the case. I was just defending and proving that Clowney was the best recruit in his class and to say otherwise is just wrong. Make excuses for what again? He had a great pro-day by all accounts... Red Flags...you mean those same red flags that Moss and L.T had right? No player goes into the draft without some faults. That's just the truth of it.
I remember him being the consensus top defensive player in the country that year according to the services/buzz/whatever - and frankly I don't even follow it that closely. And if you look it up, he's #1 on rivals, #1 on scout from that year, # 1 on ESPN, by a somewhat wide margin according to ESPN and Rivals ( doesn't seem like Scout provides an overall "score") Not really sure why any of this matters? high school was awhile ago, even for him....
Moss had off the field issues and I don't know what the talk on LT was when he came out but neither one of them had a 5h1ty final year in college. 3 sacks is the red flag I'm talking about... And speaking of LT... Mack is a closer comparison to him. Not just his play but his size. Clowney is 6'6 270. That's awfully tall and big for an OLB. How many great OLB that size have you seen running around...??? There's another red flag. Romeo is a 3-4 guy and Steve Spurrier said Clowney should be played with his hands in the dirt... There's another red flag... That's 3 red flags and I'm not even bringing up his questionable work ethic.
The last year was a mystery. The injuries coupled with everyone expecting him to go to the NFL and be the #1 pick could have contributed to that. I don't know...all I know is it is so far a aberration to his career at this point. His latest pro-day also seemed to have wiped out any concerns about his work ethic.
It's really not a mystery though. Teams gameplanned against him completely going all out to not let him be the one to beat him and it helped everyone else out on the line. Also, teams ran away from him and doubled him in almost all passing situations with more than a short drop and his team changed his role having him 2 gap fairly often (which pretty much means you can't rush the passer or shoot a gap limiting your big play potential).....despite all of that, he still led his team in pressuring the QB.
This is why it's very hard to just look at sacks for a DE and say that's it and that's all. I've never cared about that. He's clearly the most talented player in the draft and you have many prominent people saying stuff like this... Then that is HARD to pass on. Even if you trade down you have to have that lingering thought in your head that you are giving up a chance on a special player...and he's one of the special players in this draft and fills a need as well?
Yup, and he would make it to where, barring several injuries, Texans fans would never have to watch a QB be able to do this. After the absolute lack of a pass rush last year when not sending extra help it would be amazing to have 2 guys on the line that command double teams.
Aldon Smith is 6'4 265, Clowney is 6'5 266, not much difference there, 3-4 olb who are strictly outside edge rushers are generally around that size when you're looking for prototype. His weight is not an issue there are tons of edge guys his weight and some of the best are his height. I think Mack will be an all around better linebacker when it comes to coverage and pass rush but Clowney would be more dynamic rushing the passer.
I think a big part of the Clowney decision will be based on interviews. Does he have the desire to be great? Bruce Smith had 22 sacks his junior year followed up by 16 sacks his senior year at Virginia Tech. Teams weren't double or triple teaming him by then? How many pass attempts did Smith face versus what we see in today's offenses? Lawrence Taylor 16 sacks his senior season. Sacks can be overrated, but a transcendent generational DE gets 3 in his final year? Even Mario Williams scratched out 6 in his last season at NC State. If the drive wasn't there in college, is it going to be there when the lifestyle takes hold?
