Clemson football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

For as many terrific NFL players that Clemson football has produced, there are still many stars for the Tigers who were letdowns at the next level.

Whether it’s contemporary players such as Deshaun Watson and DeAndre Hopkins or historical greats such as brothers William Perry and Michael Dean Perry or Brian Dawkins, Clemson football has never had an issue producing NFL talent. That was true a while ago and has undoubtedly been true since head coach Dabo Swinney took over the program in the late 2000s.

But under Swinney and otherwise, the Tigers are among every program in college football that has their fair share of players who were outstanding when suiting up in Death Valley but never quite realized their potential or the hype once they made it to the NFL. Some were busts while some just never panned out.

These five Clemson football greats fit that billing as players who starred for the Tigers but never quite had the same success in the NFL as they did in college.

Atlanta native James Davis had his pick of virtually every big-time college football program in the south coming out of high school but ultimately chose to suit up for the Clemson Tigers. And the program knew they had a special talent right away as he won the starting running back job as a true freshman. He showed his value right away, setting a freshman single-season touchdown record with nine scores while rushing for 879 yards and 165 carries.

The following season, Davis was even better with one of the best single years in the history of the program. He rushed for 1,187 yards and 17 touchdowns on the year, the latter tying the single-season record at Clemson, and was named a First-Team All-ACC player. He continued his success as a junior with 1,064 yards and 10 touchdowns. After an offseason injury prior to his senior campaign, he had a down year by his standards but still produced with 751 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Davis ranks third all-time at Clemson in career rushing yards and second all-time in career rushing touchdowns. Coming off of his less than ideal senior season, however, he fell to the sixth round of the 2009 NFL Draft before he was selected by the Cleveland Browns. While he bounced around practice squads and rosters for several years, Davis only appeared in nine career games, rushing for just 75 yards on 28 carries in those limited appearances.

Suffice it to say he was not the same player in the pros that he was at Clemson.