Jadeveon Clowney motivated himself before games at South Carolina by watching highlight films of J.J. Watt, the Texans’ dynamic defensive end.
He can get rid of those clips now — the South Carolina phenom will be learning firsthand from Watt after he was taken with the first overall pick by Houston in Thursday night’s NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall.
“I always said if I ever get to play with this guy, I’ll get a lot of sacks,” Clowney, said of Watt, the NFL’s 2012 Defensive Player of the Year. “They love to double-team J.J. Watt. It’ll take a lot of pressure off of me, and I can take pressure off of him.
“Both of us will be meeting at the quarterback in the future.”
The pick was hardly a surprise, even if the Texans attempted to inject suspense into the opening of the draft by using their full 10-minute allotment. There were reports Houston had a hefty asking price of multiple first-round picks for the top choice.
Clowney, the first defensive player to go first overall since the Texans took Mario Williams in 2006, insisted he wasn’t sure he was going to be No. 1, making the moment that much more precious.
“I’m just overwhelmed to be in the NFL and to be the No. 1 pick, man,” he said. “It’s just the greatest feeling in the world.”
The sculpted and unnaturally speedy 6-foot-6, 270-pound Clowney, the top-ranked player in the country entering college, was pegged as a possible top pick as far back as his sophomore year.
Despite questions about his work ethic and passion following a subpar junior season in which he produced just three sacks, Clowney, 21, was the overwhelming favorite to be taken first overall, a spectacular athlete with an 83-inch wingspan and 10-inch long hands who ran the 40-yard dash in 4.53 seconds at the NFL combine, faster than half of this year’s running-back group.
Clowney played down the criticism he received leading up to the draft — accusations he didn’t give his all this past season in an attempt to stay injury-free and not hurt his draft stock — but addressed it Thursday night. It was nothing new, he said, and has fueled him for a long time.
“I grew up the hard way,” Clowney said. “A lot of people said I’m not going to be nothing. I kept telling myself I’m going to be something great, I’m going to do something great for my family. Now I’m heading to the NFL, hopefully to be a Hall of Famer one day.”