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posted 04/29/2007
The Packers added another receiver to compete for playing time in 2007, and this one will use his speed to get noticed.
Virginia Tech's David Clowney was Green Bay's fifth-round draft selection on Sunday, taken with the 157th overall pick.
A track letterman as a sprinter, Clowney said he ran a 4.36 in the 40-yard dash at the Scouting Combine on a bad hamstring, and his ability to stretch the field is something the Packers are interested in taking a close look at. He could get a shot as a return man on special teams as well.
"The one thing about him is he has explosive vertical speed," Packers East Coast scout Lee Gissendaner said. "His individual workout, as far as being able to separate from defenders, that's what you look for in receivers, and he has great body control."
Clowney considers himself a football player who also ran track, rather than the other way around. He said track helped with his running form, his speed, and helped keep him in shape when he wasn't playing football.
In each of his last two football seasons at Virginia Tech, Clowney led the team with 34 receptions each year. His junior season, 2005, he averaged a notable 18.2 yards per reception.
"Once he gets the ball in his hands, he's north-south right away," Gissendaner said. "There's no wasted motion. He's trying to make something happen after the catch, and you have to acknowledge his speed, give him respect for his speed."
Clowney has some toughness to him, too, having undergone an emergency appendectomy prior to one of his games last season. He actually asked to have the surgery put off so he could play, and though that request wasn't granted, he returned to the field and played in a game nine days after the surgery.
Clowney is the second player from Virginia Tech the Packers took in this draft, joining safety Aaron Rouse. Unlike Rouse, Clowney was on campus earlier this month when the shooting tragedy occurred.
The Hokies' workout facility was next door to where the first shooting took place, and normally Clowney and some of his teammates would have been working out there at 8 a.m. Because a teammate had a conflict that morning, they had pushed back their workout time a couple of hours and fortunately were not near the shooting.
One of Clowney's other friends had a near-miss as well. He was scheduled to be in one of the classrooms where the shooter opened fire but was running late, and the building was already closed up by the time he arrived.
The campus incident, as well as growing up in a tough neighborhood in Delray Beach, Fla., has taught Clowney not to take life for granted. Those thoughts have helped him keep in check some of his frustration about not being drafted earlier, because he had been hearing he was a likely third-round choice.
"Last night was very frustrating for me, waiting and watching all these other receivers go, a lot of guys I'd never heard of before," Clowney said.
"I was a little upset, just watching the fourth round today, getting even more jittery. But I'm blessed to be in the situation I'm in right now. I can go to Green Bay, with a Hall of Fame quarterback, one of the best ever, and show what I can do."