The South Carolina Gamecocks opened up fall camp Friday night with fans surrounding their practice facility … fans who came to see things like a quarterback competition, Steve Spurrier's trademark visor and Jadeveon Clowney flipping blocking sleds.
They got what they came for.
Clowney, the projected No. 1 pick in next year's NFL Draft, and a teammate Gerald Dixon, a redshirt sophomore linebacker, joined forces Friday night to welcome their blocking sled to football season.
Poor sled.
Of course, Dixon has to know that Clowney would get the headlines for this, even if he did make up 30 to 50 percent of the workload -- that's how things work for college superstars who logged 13 sacks during his sophomore campaign and defined college football's offseason highlight reel (and rules changes) with his forced fumble against Michigan in the Outback Bowl.
Watching that video, both players look back at their handiwork almost in confusion. Or perhaps it was simply nonchalance and this sort of thing happens quite a bit.
The helmets make it hard to judge.
And as Clowney repeated as he walked past fans while entering the practice facility, "I can't stop, baby. I can't stop."
There's also this shot of the 6-foot-6 Clowney arriving, which just recaps his past 24 months in Columbia quite nicely.
So could this be the start of Clowney flipping the script on the Heisman, becoming the first full-time defensive player to win the award?
A certain blocking sled probably thinks so.
