Jadeveon Clowney wants to make a run at Derrick Thomas’ sack record, doesn’t remember Derrick Thomas

March 8, 2013

Read

Jadeveon Clowney is so good some people believe he has a chance to top Derrick Thomas’ single-season collegiate sack record of 27. Clowney is also so young that he told reporters Thursday he doesn’t remember the former Alabama standout.

“I’m going to try to break that, hopefully,” Clowney said of Thomas’ 27, via The Post & Courier.

The Post & Courier’s Darryl Slater says that when asked, Clowney said he did not remember Thomas.

Ouch.

Thomas was a star linebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1989-1999. He amassed 126.5 sacks in 169 games, including 20 in the 1990 season — seven of which came in one game against the Seattle Seahawks, which is an NFL single-game record. The Hall of Famer was in a car accident on Jan. 23, 2000 and died because of a blood clot two and a half weeks later on Feb. 8.

Clowney, who is turning 20 and entering his junior season as a DE at South Carolina, was only six years old when Thomas died, so it’s understandable why he wouldn’t remember the Chiefs legend. Clowney also said during an interview with ESPN this week that he considers LeBron James the best basketball player because he didn’t really see Michael Jordan play. That’s the difference between a youngster like Clowney and someone like LeBron; James is a sports fan who has taken time to study the history of the game. Clowney could stand to do some of that so he’ll know more about some of the people whose records he will be breaking on his way to a likely Hall of Fame career. And then maybe he won’t make many of us feel so old in the process.

For those who forgot about the awesomeness of Thomas, here’s a video showing his seven sacks against the Seahawks: