Jadeveon Clowney: Watch the Best Highlights from South Carolina's New Commit

South Carolina Lands the Nation's Most Coveted HS Football Recruit

When Jadeveon Clowney appeared on SportsCenter this morning to announce where he would be playing his college football, he sported the colors of the University of South Carolina.

It was almost as if he was saying, "Hey, I'm going to be a Gamecock"—and that's exactly the program he chose.

The 6'6", 250-pound defensive end chose to stay close to home at South Carolina rather than head to fellow in-state school Clemson or go further down south to Alabama.

A huge coup for the Gamecocks, Clowney was the No. 1 overall recruit according to ESPN, and there are plenty of reasons why.

In fact, let's let the videos do the talking.

10. No Clownin' Around

Let's start off with something short and sweet, shall we?

At the Under Armour Football All-America Game, even the nation's best offensive tackle recruits couldn't block Clowney.

The result: a safety that showed just how much of a nightmare this guy could be at the college level.

9. How Did He Just Do That?

The first play of this video just about sums up why Clowney is the nation's top high school football recruit.

It appears as if the opposing wide receiver is just going to waltz into the end zone, but Clowney somehow comes all the way from his defensive end position to make the touchdown-saving tackle.

How many other D-ends have I seen do that? Exactly zero.

Clowney had no business making that tackle. But he did, and all SEC offensive coordinators are now thinking, "Oh crap."

8. Can't Be Stopped

One word to describe Clowney? Relentless.

Seriously, the dude's motor just does not stop at any point of the game, and even if it did, he'd probably still somehow manage to make the play.

As an LSU alum, I'm suddenly a little nervous about the prospects of the Tigers trying to block this guy somewhere down the road.

7. Unblockable

If Clowney isn't the guy making the tackles, it's because one of two things (or both things) is happening.

One, he's creating so much pressure and attracting so many blockers that he allows other defenders to make the play.

Or two, he's being held, kicked, punched or flat-out harassed by offensive linemen who just can't find a way to legally block him.

I'm actually still wondering how he ever gets blocked, but maybe that's just me.

6. Age Limit

Wrap your brain around this for a second: Jadeveon Clowney is 16 years old in this video.

Let me repeat that: He is 16 years old and playing like he's 25 years old.

The kid was undoubtedly better at sacking the quarterback than driving at this point in his life.

5. 3A State Championship

You can pretty much sum up how good Clowney is by watching his performance in the South Carolina 3A State Championship.

Yeah, as unbelievable as it seems, all the highlights from this video are from one game against one of the state's best teams.

You would think Clowney was playing against the local pee wee football team.

4. How Fast Is Too Fast?

At 12 minutes long and encompassing Clowney's entire junior season (2009), this video is 12 minutes of pure goodness.

It's actually made me really wanna see a three-way race between Clowney, Terrelle Pryor and Cam Newton.

They're all huge (similar in size, too) and faster than my brain can fathom, so I can't even imagine who would win this mythological dream race.

But even though these highlights come against high school defenders, I'd probably still put my money on Clowney.

3. He's Fast—He's Real, Real Fast

I've been watching football since I was like five years old, but I don't know that I've ever seen a guy that would make Road Runner look slow.

Until I saw Clowney.

He literally gets to the quarterback in less than half a second. OK, maybe not. But it damn sure looks like it.

2. Run, Jadeveon, Run

After contributing to a fourth-down stop on his team's 3-yard line, Clowney stayed on the field for the team's first offensive play...and lined up at running back.

Imagine Julius Peppers doing his best Chris Johnson impression, and that was the result of Clowney's lone offensive snap.

The quarterback handed the ball to Clowney, who bounced it outside and just flew past everyone on the opposing team's defense.

The defensive end ran basically untouched for a 97-yard score. Wow.

1. He's Like Dynamite: Explosive

It's almost unfair how ridiculously easily this guy gets into the backfield.

I mean, it's almost like watching a horse race when one horse is allowed to explode out of the gate five seconds before the rest of the field.

Then, once he does, no one really has any clue how to stop him.