Claytor: Johnson's offense anathema to pro prospects

Tech offensive lineman Nick Claytor, who announced Wednesday that he would skip his senior season to declare for the NFL Draft, has explained the rationale for his decision in an article published by the GTAA.

Claytor apparently feels that continuing for another year in Johnson's scheme will not improve upon his NFL draft prospects. This despite being projected by the NFL advisory board as maybe a potential 5th to 7th round selection. In other words, Claytor prefers to risk not being drafted at all rather than playing for Johnson one more season.

An excerpt from the article:

"As a large lineman, you get used to being big, used to dominating with your size," Claytor said. "I cut that part of my skill set out. My skill set was pass blocking and being bigger than people. I had to learn how to run block."

(...)

In the summer of 2008, some nine or 10 months after Johnson was hired, it was almost startling to see Claytor when summer practice began. Had you not anticipated Tech's linemen returning lighter, you might have thought he'd been sick.

"I lost like 45 pounds when that transition happened," said Claytor, whom I seem to recall saying he was down to 278 that summer. "I think it shows what kind of player I am. I was willing to stay, sacrifice, and work harder than I ever worked in my life."

An interesting sacrifice by a player who some Tech fans were quick to throw under the bus as a "troublemaker" the second his draft intentions were made known. We wish good luck to Nick Claytor in the pros. One can only hope that Johnson's offense hasn't irrevocably claimed the NFL dreams of another unwitting victim.

Claytor breaks from "jail"

According to Georgia Tech's SID, starting RS-junior offensive lineman and Gailey recruit Nick Claytor will declare for this year's NFL Draft. It is unknown at this point what prompted Claytor's decision, whether it be favorable draft prospects, financial reasons, academic troubles, or simply a desire to escape the Single Option before it completely eradicates his pass blocking skills.

Predictably, CPJ Toadies have quickly worked in spinning the news to help exonerate Coach Johnson's lost season, citing this turn of events as evidence that Claytor was a "troublemaker" and "poison" to the team. In their eyes, it's always the fault of the player, and never the fault of the coach.

Claytor was a heavily-recruited prospect and part of Chan Gailey's bountiful 2007 class that included stars such as Josh Nesbitt, Jonathan Dwyer, Morgan Burnett, and Derrick Morgan, the latter three of which all declared for the draft following last season. He joins the pair of Clyde Yandell and Joseph Gilbert, who transferred after Johnson failed to get them admitted to graduate school at Tech, as Gailey offensive linemen which have been lost early in the past two seasons.

Johnson likes to blame Gailey's recruiting for the poor offensive line play on his 2010 team, but he clearly has no one to blame but himself. What other schools have players of significance jumping ship to the FCS for their senior year because their coach can't pull a few strings to get them admitted to graduate school? Now with Claytor gone and paper-thin depth along the offensive line, the excuses will surely be flying faster than ever as we head into the already ill-omened 2011 campaign.