Adrian Clayborn
Football (2007-10)
Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2024
The induction into the UI Athletics Hall of Fame is something Adrian Clayborn feels is “a stamp on my career.”
Clayborn, a three-year starter at defensive end, was one of the best defensive players in Iowa football history. He was a two-time first-team All-Big Ten selection, the most valuable player of Iowa’s 2010 Orange Bowl win over Georgia Tech, and a consensus All-American the following season.
The last three Hawkeye teams Clayborn played on went a combined 28-11, but the 2007 team that went 6-6 and didn’t play in a bowl game also had an impact on him.
“Seeing both ends of it, and finishing it on the positive side, was really cool,” Clayborn says.
Clayborn is best remembered for his blocked punt that he returned for a touchdown in the 21-10 road upset of the top-five ranked Penn State team in 2009. It’s a topic that comes up a lot when Clayborn meets Iowa fans.
“The majority of people just tell me where they were for the Penn State play,” Clayborn says. “That one or the Orange Bowl—that’s another big one.”
Coming to Iowa, the St. Louis native says, “just felt right.”
“Ron Aiken, my position coach, he sold me on it,” Clayborn says. “Coach (Kirk) Ferentz, same thing. And then my official visit was the best one I took. So that’s why I committed there.”
Clayborn has fond memories of this time at Iowa.
“My teammates—all the countless times of just hanging around the dorms, or my house where I lived, or in the locker room—that’s probably number one,” he says. “That’s what we always talk about when we get back together, not necessarily the games. And then, just the memories of making plays on the field and celebrating after a play with the teammates.”
Clayborn was selected in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played 10 seasons in the NFL, winning a Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in 2018.
“It was definitely different than college; it was more of a business,” Clayborn says. “But I had some fun years. I really enjoyed my teammates. It was fun winning the Super Bowl, playing in front of the whole world when everybody’s watching. It’s a pretty cool feeling.”
Clayborn currently coaches football at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, Illinois, while also managing properties that he owns.
“I like the teaching part of it,” he says of coaching. “Most of these kids don’t know exactly how to pass rush or how to take on the run block the right way. So just teaching them from scratch and seeing them do it, catching on to it, is pretty cool.”
By John Bohnenkamp