First-and-10: Jadeveon Clowney drawing red flags

Published Wednesday, Oct 9, 2013 at 11:56 am EDT
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The irony of it all is too rich to ignore. Jadeveon Clowney has invited into his world the very thing he was trying to avoid in his final season of college football.

Questions about his NFL future.

"With every week that passes," says one NFC scout, "we see more and more red flags."

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From a player who should sit out his junior season at South Carolina to preserve his standing as the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, to the player who seemingly hasn't embraced an ailment or distraction that couldn't help him do just that.

Look, the only person who really knows if Clowney is injured -- there's a difference between injured and hurt; players play hurt -- is Clowney. Not South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, not the Gamecocks' medical staff, not you, I or anyone else who has Clowney's ear (we'll get to that later).

Ultimately, the decision to play or not to play is Clowney's. And the decision to draft or not draft is the NFL's.

"This is an investment," says one AFC scout. "You're talking about millions upon millions of dollars for a player who will be the face of the franchise; a decision that will hang around a club's neck for years -- good or bad."

Now, consider this: while you've been force fed Clowney's star power by a television network that continues to replay a blown blocking assignment in last year's Outback Bowl, there have always been concerns among NFL personnel departments about Clowney's growth at the next level.

Specifically, there's the overwhelming concern that Clowney saves himself -- or in the cliché of our times, "takes plays off." Been a concern since he first stepped on the field at South Carolina, and looks much worse now.

Again, we don't know if Clowney is hurt, but we do know this:

-- He was out of shape for the season opener against North Carolina, which leads to this significant question: how in the world, if you're the best player in the game, are you not ready Day 1?

-- He made little impact in a loss to Georgia in Week 2, and later said the South Carolina staff has to move him around on the field so he can make plays -- and avoid teams running their offense away from him. 

-- He missed practice time the following week with bone spurs in his foot; an injury he says he has had since high school -- and an injury he says has been bothering him all season.

-- Two weeks ago, he needed an IV before the UCF game because he had a stomach virus.

-- Before last week's game against Kentucky, he waited until before the game to tell coaches he couldn't play because of a bruised rib.

Now, I ask you: does this look like a player saving himself -- or just mounting circumstantial evidence that really translates to a whole lot of nothing?

"He's getting some bad advice right now," another NFC scout said, "and it's going to hurt him in the long run."

It doesn't really matter who is giving the bad advice -- friends, family members, aspiring sports agents (hello, Jay Z) -- when the results will cost Clowney millions. And they will.

The NFL is slowly evolving into a character-based league -- especially with critical Top 5-10 picks. Why was an offensive tackle from Central Michigan picked first overall last year?

Because he was the safest pick on the board.

NFL teams aren't going to pay $30-50 million to select a rush end (the second-most important position in the game behind quarterback) with the No. 1 overall pick unless he's spotless. And right now, Clowney has multiple questions about consistent effort, commitment and character.

Maybe he should have taken the season off after all.

2. The search

Dear USC search committee:


Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter: "We're going to score 100. He's going to get what he deserves."

Not this:

Syracuse coach Scott Shafer: "@#$*! you, Dabo, you mother &@$!"

MORE: Exit Poll: Picking a 4-team playoff | Week 6 photos

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly will be on the CFB selection committee and that shouldn't be a problem. (AP Photo)

3. Meatheads unite!

The names are filtering out and the football-fueled knuckle draggers are out in full force.

Apparently, if you haven't played "the game" or coached "the game" you're not worthy to sit on a committee to determine what four teams should play next season in the new College Football Playoff.

Because, really, who better to vote on the CFP committee than the men who got us to this point in the first place?

You know, the guys like Nick Saban, who used his coaches poll vote in 2011 to place his Alabama team at No. 2 in the final regular season poll. He then voted Oklahoma State -- the team Alabama had to beat out to get to the BCS National Championship Game -- at No.4.

Or all of those coaches who play protect your conference (and therefore, your job) by voting their conference teams ahead of others year after year in the soon-to-be-replaced BCS. These are the men that we want on the CFP committee because they have played and or coached "the game."

You really think former coaches or players wouldn't be any different? This isn't about playing the game as much as it is about integrity.

It's not rocket science, people. You watch games, you look at statistical evidence, you make a decision.

Want to know why Condi Rice is perfect for the committee -- other than she loves football and follows it religiously? Because she has been through a few critical negotiations in her professional life, thank you.

And frankly, in a room full of testosterone, a woman isn't such a bad thing.

Want to know why former sportswriter Steve Wieberg is the perfect candidate for the committee? He analyzed college football for the better part of three decades and can bring a unique, I'm not too close that I can't see what's important approach to it.

Bottom line: the committee will be what it is, and whining and crying won't make it different. That and one more thing:

You wanted it your little "playoff," you got it.

And everything that goes with it.

4. Fumble, what fumble?

Ladies and gentlemen, your Big 12 officials:

5. The Weekly Five

Four new bowls will be added in 2014 to the already crowded bowl postseason. Five that didn't make the cut:

1. The Kiffin Bowl, Siberia: First team to complete two passes in a row gets to come home.

2. The Tijuana Bowl: Come for the cheers, leave with Montezuma's Revenge!

3. The Stillwater Bowl: A swag bowl like no other.

4. The Scranton Bowl: Why Scranton? Because Shreveport already has a bowl.

5. The Pat Dye Bowl: Burqa required.

HAYES: Carlos Hyde should have never played vs. Northwestern

6. Instant controversy

The coaches all make millions of dollars. The universities make millions, too.

Yet with all of that money rolling around, with all of that revenue driving the mantra of bigger and better everywhere we look on college campuses, we're still stuck with this. And this. And, of course, this.

There's too much at stake in the second-biggest sport in the nation to let something as manageable as instant replay still cost teams games. If it takes another camera angle or two, use it. If it takes another official in the box to help analyze the video, use it.

It's no longer acceptable to say it's the "human element" of the game, and blindly move forward. There is a human element, all right -- and it's time we use it to find a better replay system. 

If we're smart enough to completely change the college football postseason, certainly we're smart enough to find a way to get critical calls correct.

7. The inevitable decision

I'm not sure what's harder: winning at the untenable situation that is Minnesota, or making the decision to keep or let go of a coach who has proven he can win, but whose doctors can't seem to figure out the right combination of seizure medications to keep him on the field.

A good coach, a better man, an awful situation. Jerry Kill deserves better.

Missouri QB James Franklin is a different player than he was a season ago. (AP Photo)

8. Missouri's moment

So now we're hearing that Missouri is just this week's version of Maryland.

You know, start the season with a bang, and fizzle when you play a team with a backbone. Before you start to believe that nonsense, understand this: Missouri has a guy named James Franklin.

That's why Missouri can beat Georgia this weekend. That and Georgia, at some point, has to be emotionally spent from multiple four-quarter fistfights over the first five weeks of the season.

Before Missouri played its first game in the SEC last season, then-Tigers offensive coordinator David Yost said Franklin would be the best quarterback in the SEC. Then injuries happened on the offensive line; then Mizzou coach Gary Pinkel botched the handling of Franklin's injured shoulder and the next thing you know, the Tigers were out of the postseason for the first time since 2004.

Now look: after five games last year, Franklin was completing 61 percent of his passes, had 4 TDS, 2 INTs and was averaging 6.7 yards per attempt.

This season after five games, Franklin is completing 68 percent of his passes, has 13 TDs, 3 INTs, and is averaging 8.4 yards per attempt.

Drastically improved numbers for a drastically more confident quarterback -- going against a battered defense that has given up at least 30 points in four of five games this fall.

And maybe a new favorite in the SEC East Division after this weekend.

MORE: CheerleadersAP Top 25 | Coaches Poll 

9. Falling down

I may be completely off and this might be a wild stab in the dark, but if Stanford isn't faking injuries last year to beat Oregon in Eugene, I'm pretty sure it didn't happen last weekend against Washington.

"I don't care what (Washington coach) Steve Sarkisian thinks he saw," said Stanford coach David Shaw.

Sarkisian insists Stanford players were faking injuries, and Shaw shot back at Sarkisian on the Pac-12 conference call by saying "the only assistant coach I know if in the Pac-12 hat has had players fake injuries is at Washington, not Stanford."

Three years ago, Washington defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi -- then at California -- admitted to having his players fake injuries in a 15-13 loss to Oregon. This new revelation, of course, can only mean one thing:

Sarkisian just blew Lupoi's cover for this week's game against Oregon.

10. Big Tex

If I'm Mack Brown, and my Texas team somehow beats Oklahoma this weekend in the Red River Rivalry, I'm walking to the podium and letting fly with two simple words:

Suck it.

Then walking off into the burnt orange Texas sunset.