Gamecock great Jadeveon Clowney finishes NFL season with a bang

Jadeveon Clowney finished the best season of his NFL career with a bang.

The former South Carolina Gamecocks star delivered a big performance in his last game of the season with the Houston Texans.

Clowney, who has been selected to start in the Pro Bowl, finished the 22-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts with seven tackles,  1/2 a sack and a quarterback hit.

The Rock Hill native, who plays defensive end and linebacker for the Texans, established career highs this season with 9.5 sacks, 59 tackles, 21 for a loss, 21 quarterback hits and two forced fumbles.

Perhaps the former No. 1 overall draft pick’s most impressive statistic this season was games played. In spite of nagging ailments that landed him on the Texans’ injury report much of the season, and a spate of injuries that sidelined some of Houston’s highest-profile players, Clowney started all 16 games in 2017.

Clowney briefly left Sunday’s game, but as he has all season, played through the pain – even with no hope of making the playoffs.

Clowney built a strong body of work at USC. During three seasons with the Gamecocks before turning pro, he was a two-time All-American and two-time All-SEC First Team selection. That includes 2012, when he was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and also won the Ted Hendricks Award.

This story was originally published December 31, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Gamecock great Jadeveon Clowney finishes NFL season with a bang."