South Carolina football's greatest moments from National Signing Day
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Football's Top National Signing Day Moments:
Jadeveon Clowney Was Worth the Wait
One of the beautiful things about National Signing Day of years past is that it was so big that prospects sometimes conducted their signings on a different day. ESPN and the newspapers (yes, you read that correctly, newspapers) didn't mind because it created a big news story on a different day and lightened the load on the busy NSD.
One such player who didn't sign on National Signing Day was Jadeveon Clowney.
The nation's #1 player in the class of 2011 (and the highest-rated prospect of all-time), Clowney elected to wait nearly two weeks until his birthday on Valentine's Day to hold his signing ceremony.
Heading into the highly anticipated event, South Carolina, Clemson, and Alabama appeared to be the top schools in the running for the Rock Hill native, and with ESPN filming the signing live on SportsCenter, Clowney picked the Gamecocks to thunderous applause.
Clowney lived up to the hype in college, becoming the best defensive end to ever wear garnet and black. He set multiple school records, and to this day, no player has ever had more sacks at Clemson's Memorial Stadium in one game than Clowney's 4.5 in 2012.
Clowney went on to be taken #1 overall in the 2014 NFL Draft, and he has had a very good professional career despite dealing with a slew of injuries.