Clayborn accepts draft invite
Posted on 29. Mar, 2011 by admin in Iowa Football
By Brendan Stiles
HawkeyeDrive.com
On Tuesday, former Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn announced via Twitter that he had accepted an invitation from the NFL to attend the 2011 NFL Draft and will be in New York City for the event on April 28, when the first round is scheduled to take place.
The news of Clayborn’s decision to attend comes shortly following news that the recently decertified NFLPA would have its own event for the draft, but that it would no longer conflict with the actual draft itself. Since the NFLPA’s decertification, there has been an ongoing lockout in the NFL between the players and owners.
Clayborn appeared on “SportsCenter” Tuesday evening and in an interview with ESPN’s Linda Cohn, he said the lockout didn’t play a factor in his decision to go to New York City for the draft.
“It came down to if I wanted to be with my family in St. Louis, or go to the draft and walk across the stage and shake the commissioner’s hand, and my family said it was O.K. for me to go,” Clayborn said during the 6 p.m. Central edition of “SportsCenter” that aired on ESPNEWS. “I’ll have my mom, my brother and my sister there, so it’s going to be a great time.”
As far as any potential ramifications from Clayborn’s decision, he said he hadn’t heard what other rookies were planning to do, and he also doesn’t expect any sort of backlash from any current NFL players.
“I’m pretty sure they understand that it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it’s going to be great for us rookies to go through it,” Clayborn said.
Clayborn is the second Hawkeye in as many years to be invited to New York for the NFL Draft. Last year, former offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga was invited and he would be selected 23rd overall by the Green Bay Packers.
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