Clayborn's indelible mark

PHOENIX -- A member of Iowa's sports information staff held Adrian Clayborn's pulled pork sandwich while he conducted an interview.

It started warm, but as the questions kept coming, the sandwich started to lose heat. And then his bus pulled out of the Corona del Sol High School parking lot.

This interview was maybe doomed from the start.

"Damn," he said as his bus pulled away, with his iconic dreadlocks pulled back in a ponytail.

Now, where were we? Oh yeah, was this worth coming back to?

A lot has happened since last December. Remember, those halcyon days?

Just before the Hawkeyes took off for the Orange Bowl, Clayborn announced that he would return for his senior year at Iowa. He was a first-team all-Big Ten defensive end with 20 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks. Just a few weeks after announcing his decision, Clayborn earned Orange Bowl MVP honors in Iowa's 24-14 victory over Georgia Tech.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz spent six seasons as an assistant coach in the NFL. The Iowa football complex is open to NFL scouts. Ferentz knows the league and said Clayborn would've been a first-round pick.

Clayborn came back, but the 2009 Hawkeyes were nowhere to be found in 2010.

You know the rest. You know it by heart. You might have developed a facial tic over the Hawkeyes' 1-3 November that punctuated a 7-5 season and spot opposite No. 12 Missouri (10-2) in the Insight Bowl.

Was it worth coming back?

"Oh yeah, definitely," Clayborn said. "I accomplished some things I wanted to accomplish. I got my degree last Saturday and I'm glad I got that. I wouldn't regret coming back."

He graduated with degrees in recreation management and entrepreneurship in business. During an interview this summer, he said he always had good grades. His only academic scare was “Gender in Society.”

“There were about 300 women and three guys. It was interesting,” he said. “We got bashed every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We looked at each other everyday. Underneath the class in the catalog, it read ‘women's studies.' We didn't read the fine print.”

Tracie and Ricky Clayborn, Adrian's parents, came up to Iowa City with the whole family for the graduation ceremony. Adrian said he relished the moment.

"It was a great experience," Clayborn said. "I didn't know if I wanted to walk the stage with everyone, but I'm happy I did it. It was a great experience."

Big picture, the diploma is what it's all about. But you didn't pay whatever it is to get into Kinnick Stadium to see Clayborn walk across the stage in a mortarboard.

You paid to see sacks, tackles for loss and general devastation and disruption. What you often got was double and triple teams. You got a defensive end who had his knee bent in a 90-degree angle after a hit by a Wisconsin fullback on Oct. 23. Clayborn's frustration after that bitter 31-30 loss spilled over into tears during the postgame interview, a side of himself he vowed never to show again.

It wasn't the year he expected on the field, but he's not looking back.

The 6-foot-3, 285-pounder said he saw mental and physical improvement out of himself this season, but it was more about finishing what he started at Iowa.

"I got to finish with the guys I came in here with," he said. "That meant more to me. We obviously wanted to win more games, but I came back for the total package and I'm glad I came back."

There is something about this 7-5 season that seems to have left everyone Hawkeye a little skewed.

Clayborn has been a target in cyberspace on Iowa websites a few times this season. Complaints ranged from fitness to hustle to the lack of tackles for loss.

On a Big Ten Network bowl special last week, former Minnesota coach and BTN analyst Glen Mason twice slapped a yellow circle around Clayborn. It was the fourth-and-10 scramble that Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor made to basically beat the Hawkeyes on Nov. 20.

The first circle went up, Mason explained, for Clayborn being out of position. The second circle went up because Clayborn jogged after Pryor after he broke the line of scrimmage.

Maybe the only thing this means is if you stay somewhere five years, everything comes into view.

Still, a year later, everything Clayborn had in front of him a year ago is still there.

A year later, Clayborn is still going to be a first-round pick. In a mock draft posted Wednesday, The Sporting News had the St. Louis native going No. 7 to the San Francisco 49ers.

A year later, Clayborn was named a consensus all-American by the NCAA. He was a finalist for the Ted Hendricks and Rotary Lombardi awards. He was named to the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and Walter Camp all-America teams. He again was named first team all-Big Ten by both league coaches and media.

The consensus all-American honor means something at the University of Iowa. It's sort of a big deal.

This means Clayborn will have an oil painting of his portrait hung in the Hayden Fry Football Complex, along with Iowa's 20 other consensus all-Americans.

Some of the other portraits framed along the hallway to Iowa's lockerroom include Nile Kinnick, Cal Davis, Alex Karras, Andre Tippett, Reggie Roby, Larry Station, Chuck Long, Tim Dwight, Dallas Clark, Robert Gallery, Nate Kaeding and Shonn Greene, who was the last to go up in 2008.

That's indelible. That's why it was worth it.

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Consensus All-America

The players listed were listed on the most first team All-America teams competing against players at that position only. Ten players were unanimous choices by the five organizations used in the consensus chart - American Football Coaches Association, Associated Press, Football Writers Association of America, The Sporting News and Walter Camp Foundation. Note: Each of the five teams has a different way of listing the returner or all-purpose player. For the purpose of the Consensus All-America team those categories were treated as one position.

Offense

WR-*Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St., 6-1, 205, Sophomore

WR-Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma, 5-11, 183, Junior

TE-Lance Kendricks, Wisconsin, 6-4, 241, Senior

TE-Michael Egnew, Missouri, 6-6, 235, Junior

OL-*Rodney Hudson, Florida St., 6-2, 282, Senior

OL-*Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin, 6-7, 327, Senior

OL-Nate Solder, Colorado, 6-9, 315, Senior

OL-Lee Ziemba, Auburn, 6-8, 319, Senior

C-Chase Beeler, Stanford, 6-3, 285, Senior

QB-Cam Newton, Auburn, 6-6, 250, Junior

RB-*LaMichael James, Oregon, 5-9, 185, Sophomore

RB-Kendall Hunter, Oklahoma St., 5-8, 200, Senior

PK-Josh Jasper, LSU, 5-11, 171, Senior

Returner/All-Purpose- Cliff Harris, Oregon, 5-11, 180, Sophomore

Returner/All-Purpose - Eric Page, Toledo, 5-10, 180, Sophomore

Defense

DL-*Da'Quan Bowers, Clemson, 6-4, 275, Junior

DL-*Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue, 6-4, 263, Senior

DL-Nick Fairley, Auburn, 6-5, 298, Junior

DL-Stephen Paea, Oregon St., 6-1, 311, Senior

DL-Adrian Clayborn, Iowa, 6-4, 285, Senior

LB-*Greg Jones, Michigan St., 6-1, 240, Senior

LB-*Luke Kuechly, Boston College, 6-3, 235, Sophomore

LB-Von Miller, Texas A&M, 6-3, 243, Senior

DB-*Patrick Peterson, LSU, 6-1, 222, Junior

DB-*Prince Amukamara, Nebraska, 6-1, 205, Senior

DB-Quinton Carter, Oklahoma, 6-1, 200, Senior

DB-Tejay Johnson, TCU, 6-1, 212, Senior

P-Chas Henry, Florida 6-3, 215, Senior

* Indicates unanimous first team selection; Bold indicates consensus repeater from 2009