Question Of The Year: Where Is Clowney Going?

For the past several months, the most asked question - literally the first asked question - wherever I go is "where is Clowney going?" "Clowney, of course, being All-American defensive end Jadeveon Clowneyof South Pointe High School in South Carolina. My answer is always the same..."he's seventeen years old so who knows?" The truth is, as an analyst, I really don't care where the kid, or any kid for that matter, goes. I'm more interested with the evaluation phase of the athlete related to ranking them. I don't think it is a secret, however, that South Carolina seems to have a slight edge in landing this stalwart's services. Assuming that he (Clowney) hasn't already made up his mind and is still somehow wrestling with this decision, the factors are pretty obvious in this situation.  Alabama: Clowney's Coach, Bobby Carroll, likes Alabama for the kid. Carroll has been heard saying as much and from those close to the South Pointe program tell me that Clowney is being "strongly encouraged" to choose the Crimson Tide. That could be a huge factor in his decision. The Tide will have Clowney on campus for an official visit this coming weekend and it has been reported that Carroll will join Clowney and his mother on the visit.  South Carolina: There is little doubt that South Carolina has a lot of reasons for feeling good about this situation. First of all, being close to home is a big factor; while Clowney downplays that like many recruits do, when it comes right down to signing, it plays a big part in most of these kids' minds. Clowney's relationship with Stephon Gilmore is a point of interest and to believe that relationship hasn't been "utilized" would be ridiculous. Outside of those two huge leaders are a couple of interesting suitors. Clowney has said that he will visit LSU and Florida State, though he has not set up visits at this time. Obviously, if the Michigan-Les Miles situation begins to carry weight, I would assume that would
be a factor there, and Florida State has a pretty young depth chart at the end position and have already signed the top junior college prospect in the country, Cornellius Carradine.