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RICK STROUDTop pick and "clean-cut guy" Michael Clayton hopes to make impression with play, not antics.
ST. PETERSBURG - Except for the diamond studs he wears on each ear and the national championship ring on his left hand, there's nothing flashy about Michael Clayton.
Appearing at a news conference Monday for the first time since becoming Tampa Bay's No. 1 pick, the LSU receiver remarked on his faith, family and football.
He stood straight as uncooked spaghetti in a neatly pressed black suit, looked more people in the eye than an optometrist and put some squeak back in the clean of the Buccaneers.
Asked if he would perform an end zone celebration in the NFL, Clayton wrinkled his nose.
"No, I'm a clean-cut guy," Clayton said. "I've always been coached to act like you've been there. When I cross the goal line, my first thing is to thank God because I know I'm here for a reason. His reason. A simple point in the air is all you'll see from me."
If you think Clayton, who led the Southeastern Conference in receiving, is too good to be true, consider his story.
Kid grows up in Baton Rouge and never attends a game at Tiger Stadium. Instead, after his youth game every Saturday morning at 10, his parents pile him, his two brothers and sister into a car for a 21/2-hour drive to Alcorn State or wherever the Braves are playing. His uncle is on the coaching staff and he and his cousins serve as ball boys, occasionally catching footballs from quarterback Steve McNair.
"He was a god at Alcorn," Clayton said. "He was everything. If you didn't have a Steve McNair shirt, you were not allowed in the stadium.
"He probably didn't know who I was. But as I got older, I was able to come in contact with him and he sent me an autographed ball for Christmas. When I asked him, "Do you remember me?' He said, "Yeah, I remember you. You were a little bright-skinned kid, it was a long time ago.' But being put in that situation where everybody is looking up to Steve McNair and to have that personal one on one ... throwing me his gloves, throwing me his wristbands, tossing balls to me. That kind of just set the tone."
Clayton's entire family are Alcorn alums, but his talents outgrew the program. He planned to follow other Baton Rouge prep stars such as Warrick Dunn and Travis Minor to Florida State. But Tigers coach Nick Saban sold him on the idea of being the hometown star.
"When Coach Saban came in, he said just think of what you can accomplish here in the city of Baton Rouge if you come here and have success, all the doors that will open, the opportunities," Clayton said. "Who knows what can happen.
"When you have success, which I did as a freshman when we won the SEC, it really sets the tone. When you win a championship, the next season you want to win a championship again. Who's to say it's going to happen, but that's just the level that you're on. You talk about pride. Once you win a championship, it's there. It's embedded in you. You have that spirit. You've had a taste of it and you just want to go out and get it again, every year."
What Clayton will produce his NFL rookie season is uncertain. But at 6 feet 3, 197 pounds, he is the type of receiver for whom Gruden wakes up early to design plays.
"I like size. The bigger the better," Gruden said. "They're bigger targets, more forgiving. It's harder to hit a little guy. You can use these guys as blockers. They can block linebackers or defensive ends and they can get up after they're hit. Because they do get hit when they go over the middle. Generally, they're more durable guys, they're bigger surfaces to throw at and you can use them a little bit more creatively sometimes because of that."
Gruden is quick to note that Clayton wasn't picked No. 1 to simply block.
"I think he's a hell of a player," he said. "He's got rare size-speed combination. Not a lot of guys can make you miss or just knock you out."
But there must be a speck of dirt in Clayton's past, a hiccup in his character?
"Oh, my goodness, I'd tell he and his brother not to do things and leave the house and they would do them anyway," said Clayton's mother, Marjorie. "He would play in the house and jump from the stairwell onto the sofa and tear the house down."
So he did get in trouble?
"No, he'd have it rebuilt when I got back," she said. "And when he got older, he told us everything he had done."