Is Clowney the best to ever play DE ever? In college?

[bigdawg77]

Originally Posted by gamecockphan

Wonder if the refs called holding backthen b/cthey sure as hell do not now.

It was worse and chop blocking and hands to the face were legal

[Go Cocks 29]

I think we have to be sure and not allow pro careers to influence opinions which is always hard to do - my true college performance list of greats in the last 20 years includes (ya'll help me out with some names):

peppers - unc
guy who played for amato at nc state
dude that was a beast at troy
pollack - but let's be honest: we hold him high because he beat us with the play of a lifetime


out of all of these guys, I don't think any of them could outperform clowney in any type of performance based evaluation as sophs in college

I do believe he is better than any DE i have ever witnessed play the college game!

[bigdawg77]

Originally Posted by Go Cocks 29

I think we have to be sure and not allow pro careers to influence opinions which is always hard to do - my true college performance list of greats in the last 20 years includes (ya'll help me out with some names):

peppers - unc
guy who played for amato at nc state
dude that was a beast at troy
pollack - but let's be honest: we hold him high because he beat us with the play of a lifetime


out of all of these guys, I don't think any of them could outperform clowney in any type of performance based evaluation as sophs in college

I do believe he is better than any DE i have ever witnessed play the college game!

Mario Williams-NC st
Osi Umenyiora-Troy

Think about that a min Troy had Osi & Demarcus Ware

[I Bleed Garnet]

Yea Troy could be both Osi and Ware.
Ware was definitely better in college.
He was a true DE in college, but moved to LB in the pros in Dallas' 3-4

[USCremedy]

Clowney, when's it's all said and done will be in the dicussion as one of the greatest DEs to play college football. But THE best? His stats won't add up earn that title.. Unless he bust off like 20+ sacks next year.

If he had gone to a pass happy conference like the ACC or B1G, his numbers would be ridiculous.

[I Bleed Garnet]

Big Ten is not pass happy, think your confusing it with PAC 12

[Dizzy01]

He is definitely one of the best in terms of rushing the passer but to be the best overall I believe he still needs to work on run containment and his tackling overall. When he tackles he doesn't seem to adjust for his height and he's grabbing smaller guys in the shoulders and they can shake him off.

[behindenemylines]

Yes..especially when he wins the Heisman next year...wishful thinking.

[Spurz]

Don't forget about Julius Peppers.

I think Clowney is a generational talent, but I also don't think he's reached his ceiling yet. At this point in time, you can't really say he's the best ever at his position.

[Spurticus]

I think by the time he leaves here next year, he'll be the best DE we've
had in USCs History, but there were a lot of other great DEs that I think
had better careers than Clowney will have.

Hugh Greene from Pittsburg (Late 70s/Early 80s) was the best I ever saw in
my lifetime.

Reggie White, Julius Peppers all these were probably better DEs during
their college careers than Clowney, but it was a different time, and
style of Football then. I think if you put a guy with Clowney's speed and
wingspan and play him against offensive formations and O/Linemen
that the above guys (and others) did, I think Clowney could have gone
down in History as THE BEST to have ever played DE.

[ccured]

I was born in 79 dont have memories of reggie white and bruce smith in college who my dad says was the best he saw. For me it is terrell suggs because i used to watch a lot of pac 10 and all most went to school there he was a stud had something like 46 sacks with 22the in one year.

[Jwilson]

Originally Posted by Flips

Please show me one example where he gets QUADRUPLE teamed. That never happened.

Came from a Lorenzo Ward post game. He said Clowney came off the field and told him they had 4 guys blocking at him. Ward said he told him, "Good, somebody else will be open then".

[Jwilson]

Originally Posted by USCremedy

Clowney, when's it's all said and done will be in the dicussion as one of the greatest DEs to play college football. But THE best? His stats won't add up earn that title.. Unless he bust off like 20+ sacks next year.

If he had gone to a pass happy conference like the ACC or B1G, his
numbers would be ridiculous.

Actually, if they had a stat called "plays affected", JD would already have the record.

[sodacitynate]

I voted no, but he hasn't reached his full potential yet. Considering his foot was injured from the week of the LSU game on, he had an incredible season.

[GetemGamecocks]

Who the "best" is will usually be someone's subjective opinion.

Clowney may not have the stats (an objective measure) some other DEs did, but like Spurt said if you could put him in a different era on a different team, he could be known today as the greatest ever without question. Unfortunately he plays in the SEC with the big boys during a period of SEC dominance. On the bright side, his level of competition will help his NFL stock and in the meantime, our Gamecocks.

[GamecockInHell]

Clowney is still young. Julius Peppers may be the best I've ever seen in college. But by the time he leaves Clowney may well be the best.

[HeadCockFan]

Clowney plays in a tough conference to get sacks. But his conditioning has held him back most from being considered the best ever. Best ever SEC end perhaps if he has another monster year.

[Go Cocks 29]

Originally Posted by bigdawg77

Mario Williams-NC st
Osi Umenyiora-Troy

Think about that a min Troy had Osi & Demarcus Ware

Demarcus Ware is who I was thinking about - remember him being awesome in college and I believe we played them when he was there

[OfficeLinebackerCock]

Originally Posted by DiamondGamecock

My thought.. yes he is. Poll for you guys.

There have been some pretty good ones in the past (and that's just the ones that I remember). The most recent that is probably on par with JC is Julius Peppers. I think they compare favorably.

[Gamecock Rob]

I would say Clowney is on the list of "Ten Best DEs" ever, but I don't think you can rank those ten 1-10 because they played at different times against different styles of play. Kind of like determining whether Manning or Brady is better than Unitas or Montana.