Iowa football: 30 greatest players in Hawkeyes history
By Andrew Wade
Adrian Clayborn was one of the most dominating defensive ends to have ever suited up for the Iowa football team. In his career, he racked up 192 tackles (37.5 of which were for a loss), 19 sacks and forced seven fumbles.
The giant of a human at 6-foot-3 and 280 pounds was twice named First-Team All-Big Ten and he was named a consensus All-American his senior season.
His junior year though, was arguably more dominant, statistically speaking, as he collected 11.5 sacks and helped lead the Hawkeyes to a 2010 Orange Bowl, which was the biggest win of Kirk Ferentz’s career.
Clayborn’s performance in Iowa’s thrilling victory earned him the Orange Bowl MVP. He had the most solo tackles of the game with 9 and added in 2 sacks, which was not an easy task to do given the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets’ reliance on the run game.
After his Hawkeyes career, he was selected in the first round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and won a Super Bowl last year as a member of the New England Patriots.
Whenever Kirk Ferentz retires, Clayborn will likely go down as the greatest edge rusher to ever play during his tenure (barring A.J. Epenesa doing something crazy this year).