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Adrian or A.J.?

FreddyUI

FreddyUI

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What will it take for A.J to surpass Adrian Clayborn as the best #94?
A.J. would need to be a Consensus First-team All-American to equal Adrian.

I apologize if I have overlooked another Hawkeye great that wore #94. If so who would that be?
 
Adrian has 4 years of playing on his college resume with really good junior and senior years. Multiple-time first team all Big Ten. Multiple time all-american recognition including a consensous 1st team season. AJ will need at least as dominant of a season as Adrian's senior year to have a shot at surpassing him if he goes pro after this year. And that still probably doesn't put him past Devries's career at Iowa.

If for some reason he comes back for his senior year with a similarly dominant performance he could go down as one of our best defensive linemen ever. Up there with Tippett, Smith, and Karras as the best.
 
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Aj is named after Jared devries.. aj has a lot of work to catch up what Jared accomplished at Iowa but he is well on his way
 
I think AJ’s biggest (maybe only) limiting factor is time. Hard to make the top of that list in one season as a starter, regardless of previous reps, and he will have a tough choice to make after this year. As others have said though, he is well on his way.

That is of course assuming he stays healthy. Sky is the limit for this kid.
 
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If you are talking about how good AJ will be when he leaves Iowa, I don't believe that there is any question that he will be the most talented and possibly the most lauded player at his position the year he leaves. Has any other DE from Iowa been a top-10 draft pick? Top 5?
 
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Herky T Hawk said:
Adrian has 4 years of playing on his college resume with really good junior and senior years. Multiple-time first team all Big Ten. Multiple time all-american recognition including a consensous 1st team season. AJ will need at least as dominant of a season as Adrian's senior year to have a shot at surpassing him if he goes pro after this year. And that still probably doesn't put him past Devries's career at Iowa.

If for some reason he comes back for his senior year with a similarly dominant performance he could go down as one of our best defensive linemen ever. Up there with Tippett, Smith, and Karras as the best.
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Actually I believe Adrian had a great junior season, and a bit of a down year as a senior because of regular double teams. AJ may see a lot of the same this season. I'd probably give AJ the nod on pure explosion off the snap, (although AC was no slouch, and I think his overall strength is a notch better as well given AC's issues with not ever having a fully functioning arm....
 
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BBHawk said:
Didn't AJ do that last season against NE?
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No. He did score on a fumble recovery against Illinois. Not quite the same as forcing and recovering and scoring against the number 5 team in the county at their house while trailing in the 4th quarter though
 
kceasthawk said:
Actually I believe Adrian had a great junior season, and a bit of a down year as a senior because of regular double teams. AJ may see a lot of the same this season. I'd probably give AJ the nod on pure explosion off the snap, (although AC was no slouch, and I think his overall strength is a notch better as well given AC's issues with not ever having a fully functioning arm....
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Adrian’s senior season stats were worse, but his senior year was better regarded as a consensus first team All American.

Adrian was the kind of guy that was so good that you couldn’t take off the field, which was good with our lack of DL depth back then, but also hurt him as he ended up playing too many reps and was gassed by the end of games. Hopefully our current DL depth allows us to pull AJ enough to keep him fresh for when it matters while he also improves so that he plays more running downs. He obviously had enough in the tank last year to play more downs than he did. We just need to find the sweet spot of effectiveness without overwork.
 
Herky T Hawk said:
Adrian’s senior season stats were worse, but his senior year was better regarded as a consensus first team All American.

Adrian was the kind of guy that was so good that you couldn’t take off the field, which was good with our lack of DL depth back then, but also hurt him as he ended up playing too many reps and was gassed by the end of games. Hopefully our current DL depth allows us to pull AJ enough to keep him fresh for when it matters while he also improves so that he plays more running downs. He obviously had enough in the tank last year to play more downs than he did. We just need to find the sweet spot of effectiveness without overwork.
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Not to argue, but part of the reason he didn't come off the field as you stated was we just didn't have anyone nearly as good to step in as we did last year with AJ. adrian was seriously gassed in the second half of alot of games. We'll see what happens with AJ this year......
 
Herky T Hawk said:
Adrian’s senior season stats were worse, but his senior year was better regarded as a consensus first team All American.

Adrian was the kind of guy that was so good that you couldn’t take off the field, which was good with our lack of DL depth back then, but also hurt him as he ended up playing too many reps and was gassed by the end of games. Hopefully our current DL depth allows us to pull AJ enough to keep him fresh for when it matters while he also improves so that he plays more running downs. He obviously had enough in the tank last year to play more downs than he did. We just need to find the sweet spot of effectiveness without overwork.
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didn't he also suffer a minor knee injury against Wisconsin that hampered him a little at the end of the season?
 
87alum87 said:
I think there is a guy named Tippett who might be in that GOAT conversation.
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Agreed, I still think AJE ends up being the best ever which says a lot of his ability. All-American and potential #1 or #2 pick and has never started a game. To be in the same sentence as Tippet is pretty great.
 
AC was an absolute monster his junior year.... was a different player his senior year.

AJE is going to destroy college football this year.. can't wait
 
I know the discussion is of the GOAT of Iowa DEs, but I don't think you can have a Mt. Rushmore without some poor soul having to carve out Matt Roth's big ugly mug.
 
i'll always love Aclay the most because he was just the type of character that many people loved. His iconic dreads and plays will remain ever iconic to all of us. But AJE will be better then him because he is a bit more explosive and quicker then Aclay was. AJE is something special and will be a beast when playing on sundays.
 
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