South Carolina to Move Jadeveon Clowney All Around on Defense
University of South Carolina’s head coach Steve Spurrier is a wizard when it comes to offensive game plans but it may be a defensive decision that propels the Gamecocks to SEC success this season.
While speaking to the local media following Monday’s practice Spurrier suggested that he plans on moving star defensive end Jadeveon Clowney to multiple positions within the defense to utilize his full athletic ability. Spurrier mentioned that he could move Clowney to any one of the linebacker positions to make him a more dynamic pass rusher and to get him out in the open in order to make plays.
Here’s Spurriers’ full quote to the gathered reporters:
“We’re going to move him all over the place, we have to put him where hopefully he’s most of the time one-on-one with somebody – inside, outside, middle linebacker. There are all kinds of things you can do. It’s a pass rush game out there now, as everybody knows.”
Allowing Clowney to roam around in the open field to make plays will only make the opposing team’s offensive coordinator job that much harder. Opposing team’s will now have to game plan for him down on the line and amongst the linebackers coming on blitzes and stunts. It’s hard enough to stop the guy when he’s down on the line, now he’ll have the opportunity for one-on-one’s and single blockers? Good luck with that.
Clowney, if you remember, was the number one overall prospect coming out of high school a year ago. He didn’t quite live up to the enormous expectations that came with his ridiculous recruiting hype but he still was named SEC freshmen of the year in the best conference in college football. He finished last season with 12 tackles for loss, eight sacks and five forced fumbles while playing second fiddle to All-American Melvin Ingram.
Clowney is one of the elite talents in college football and freeing him up to roam around and make plays is a nightmare scenario for opposing offenses. It looks like SEC offensive coordinators will be losing a lot of sleep this upcoming season, even more than they normally would.
