By the end of the 2013 college football season, Jadeveon Clowney was one of the most talked about players. The star defensive end out of South Carolina put a hit on a Michigan player during the team's bowl game that no sports fan will forget. NFL scouts immediately began talking about his skill set and how he is one year away for entering the draft. The idea of being the next No. 1 draft pick came up and the potential of being a future Heisman winner came into play. Then talk of him sitting out the 2013 season was brought up and South Carolina fans began to panic.
The Charlotte Observer began toying with the idea that Clowney would sit out the 2013 season in order to protect himself for the 2014 draft. Clowney will be three years removed from high school at the end of next season and eligible to enter into the NFL. Clowney will assumedly be a contender for the first pick in the draft, unless an injury was to hit him during the next season. While it is a fair point to make, South Carolina's head coach Steve Spurrier laughed off the idea.
"Well, I hope he plays this year, and I certainly believe he should play. Now if money was his only goal in life, then he couldn't play. And he might not get into a car before next year's draft, so he wouldn't be in a car wreck and get injured. He would be just very, very careful for a year not to have any kind of injury," Spurrier said to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The idea of Clowney not playing is not that crazy. This past season, he watched teammate Marcus Lattimore have a season ending, and possibly career ending, leg injury just a few games into the season. Lattimore was thought to be the top running back to head into the NFL draft after playing in college. Any player being projected as a very high draft pick is smart to be cautious.
"But Jadeveon likes football. Football players play football. They don't wait around on this, that or the other. He's really good about avoiding injuries and so forth. He knows how to get out of harm's way if there is a big pileup around a tackle. I think the odds of him getting hurt as not nearly as much as a running back or somebody like that," Spurrier said.
It is safe to assume after hearing the old ball coaches comments that Clowney is a lock to be on the field come the 2013 season. It is expected he will leave for the draft in 2014, but until then, South Carolina fans can watch their defensive star one more year. Even Clowney himself took to twitter to guarantee he will be there.
