Jadeveon Clowney downgraded to ‘slower than a speeding Corey Moore’

South Carolina defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward can’t seem to make up his mind about how Jadeveon Clowney’s speed off the ball compares to that of former Virginia Tech standout defensive end Corey Moore. Ward had this to say on the matter Monday:

That’s a bit of contrary to this statement, which he made in January:

“The only guy I’ve seen close to Clowney getting out of his stance in a pass-rush mode is Dwight Freeney and Corey Moore (at Virginia Tech),” said first-year USC defensive coordinator Lorenzo Ward. “Clowney is probably better than both of them.”

(via Chase Goodbread)

Ward was a coach with the Hokies during Moore’s time in Blacksburg, so he would know, but why the sudden change of opinion? It’s probably just one of those motivational tactics that coaches like to employ from time to time, which I suppose isn’t a bad idea considering Clowney may be the best player in college football and if he unlocks some higher level of performance as a result of all this, South Carolina will win every game by 100 points, recording an average of 23 sacks per contest***.

(***Highly elaborate and not-at-all fake formula used to generate scoring margin and sack estimates.)

Or maybe Clowney is really 32 years old and he’s fooled everyone into believing he’s merely 20; he’s on the wrong side of the aging bell curve and he’s beginning to show signs of deteriorating reflexes. This is of course assuming Ward’s baseline estimate of Moore’s true speed off the ball has remained constant over time. Additionally, ... hey, where’s everybody going?

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