This man, isn’t so much of a man, as he is a bear in a man’s body. Get it?

In any event, Iowa’s premier defensive lineman decided to come back for his senior season instead of leaving early for the NFL Draft. This came as a bit of a surprise after having a truly superb Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech. Hawkeye fans, took this as a very pleasant surprise.

Adrian Clayborn redshirted in 2006, served as a backup in ’07, began his surge the following year, and broke out in 2009 with a monster season. He ended last season with an impressive 20 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles. His presence along the line was absolutely remarkable, and even these eye-popping numbers don’t really do him justice.

He’s got a superb motor, and we’re not just throwing this term around to sound like we know what we’re talking about.

What I mean by this, is Clayborn finds himself in spots on the field that he shouldn’t be. And this isn’t a bad thing. He makes plenty of tackles at the line of scrimmage, but he also runs down players and makes an impact down field on plays that get through the 1st and sometimes 2nd line of defense. It’s rare that you see an end his size that can impact plays in other areas of the field. While being able to tackle a running back 8 yards beyond the line of scrimmage doesn’t seem ground breaking, it does a lot about the character of the player.

At 6’4″ and 285 pounds, Clayborn is rather large for a defensive end. Still, he moves unbelievably quick and showcased his overall mental and physical skill set against Georgia Tech’s complex offense. He uses his hands very well and showcased a supreme ability to get off blockers and even take on double-teams. It’s a good thing, because he’ll see plenty of them next year.

He won’t have the same dominating impact that Ndamukong Suh had for the Cornhuskers last season, but I think this comparison is closer than most might recognize. Although Suh played DT at his time at Nebraska, the entire defense revolved around whether he could get off his block and get a push up field. The same can be said about Clayborn, and he will find himself in many backfields come fall.

Mel Kiper already has Clayborn in his top 5 (super duper early) for next year’s big board. While a lot can change in a season, there are already plenty of 3-4 defenses licking their chops at the though of adding this monster to their team.

If he doesn’t get into any trouble  Iowa City <—— might be tougher than most think while looking at the laundry list of IC bar incidents over the last decade, Clayborn could have a monster season for the Hawks. It will be hard for the team to duplicate their overall success this year, but they should still be very solid on defense and get much more help from the offense. Clayborn should still be able to raise hell, even with some key losses in the front seven.

If you don’t believe me, perhaps this Clayborn YouTube shrine will do the trick.