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Apr 28, 2022

Clemson 2022 NFL Draft Central

Clemson Football • 2022 NFL Draft
Round 2, No. 42 Overall (Minnesota Vikings) • CB Andrew Booth Jr.
Clemson Football • 2022 NFL Draft
Round 7, No. 231 Overall (Buffalo Bills) • LB Baylon Spector
Clemson Football • 2022 NFL Draft
Andrew Booth Jr. Gallery Item
Baylon Spector Gallery Item

Saturday: Spector Selected by Bills on Day 3 of 2022 NFL Draft

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Buffalo Bills selected Clemson linebacker Baylon Spector in the seventh round (No. 231 overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft on Saturday.

Spector was a two-year starter at weakside linebacker for Clemson from 2020-21 during his five-year Clemson tenure. The two-time All-ACC Academic team honoree played 53 games with 21 starts and finished his career credited with 210 tackles (22.0 for loss), 9.0 sacks, four forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, three pass breakups and an interception in 1,456 defensive snaps.

“Baylon Spector, as you saw at the Combine, can really run. You don’t see many guys his size that can run like that,” Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney said. “Very athletic. Baylon is a true Will [linebacker] that can really cover and play on the edge but also can move in and play Mike. I think that he’s got outstanding Day 1 potential with his size, with his speed, with his experience, with his knowledge of the game, but also his ability to be a Day 1 starter on special teams on all core teams. Another graduate, a fifth-year player that has a ton of championship experience that he’ll bring with him.”

Along with the Vikings’ selection of cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. in the second round on Friday, Clemson’s newest additions to the NFL extended the Tigers’ streak of consecutive drafts with at least one selection to 20 since 2003, representing the second-longest streak in school history behind a 24-year streak across the 1951-74 NFL Drafts. Clemson has produced multiple selections in each draft in its active 20-year streak.

With Clemson’s pair of selections in the 2022 NFL Draft, Swinney pushed his career total for draft picks in his head coaching tenure to 71. His 71 draft picks produced are the second-most by any coach in the nation — active or inactive — since the 2009 NFL Draft.

A number of Clemson standouts will now enter the priority free agent pool. Among the group is wide receiver Justyn Ross, whose remarkable comeback from injury earned him a share of the ACC’s 2021 Brian Piccolo Award given to the conference’s most courageous player(s). Ross finished his collegiate career with 2,379 yards and 20 touchdowns; only nine of the 28 wide receivers selected in the 2022 NFL Draft reached both the 2,000-yard and 20-touchdown marks for their careers.

Friday: Vikings Select Booth with No. 42 Overall Pick

CLEMSON, S.C. — The Minnesota Vikings made cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. the first Clemson product selected in the 2022 NFL Draft, picking the athletic defensive back in the second round (No. 42 overall) on Friday.

Booth’s selection at No. 42 gave Clemson at least one Top 50 pick in all but two drafts since 2006. He becomes the 17th Clemson defensive back drafted during Dabo Swinney’s head coaching tenure and the third drafted by the Vikings in that span.

“They are getting, first of all, a great person with a great spirit to him,” Swinney said. “[He is] a guy that loves to play. From a football standpoint, they’re getting a rare corner: long, explosive, fast, a physical tackler at the corner position, which is really not always the case, with great ball skills. Very instinctive guy, and I think a guy that helps the team right away.”

From 2019-21, Booth appeared in 35 career games at Clemson with 15 starts. He finished his collegiate career credited with 75 tackles (5.5 for loss), 10 pass breakups, five interceptions, a sack and a fumble recovery (which he returned 21 yards for a touchdown) in 981 defensive snaps. Last season, he earned first-team All-ACC honors as he and teammate Mario Goodrich comprised the first single-school duo to sweep both first-team All-ACC cornerback honors since 1997.

The 2022 NFL Draft will resume at noon ET Saturday with Rounds 4-7.

On Andrew Booth Jr.:

Head Coach Dabo Swinney: 

“They are getting, first of all, a great person with a great spirit to him. [He is] a guy that loves to play. From a football standpoint, they’re getting a rare corner: long, explosive, fast, a physical tackler at the corner position, which is really not always the case, with great ball skills. Very instinctive guy, and I think a guy that helps the team right away.”

NOTES ON THE SELECTION OF ANDREW BOOTH JR.

  • Booth became the 70th player to have played for Head Coach Dabo Swinney to be drafted into the NFL, including the 11th second-round pick of Swinney’s tenure.
  • Booth became the 17th defensive back (and 10th cornerback) to be drafted in the Dabo Swinney era.
  • Booth became the sixth defensive back under Swinney to be selected in the first two rounds of an NFL Draft, joining Marcus Gilchrist (2011, Round 2), Mackensie Alexander (Round 2, 2016), T.J. Green (Round 2, 2016), Trayvon Mullen (Round 2, 2019) and A.J. Terrell (Round 1, 2020).
  • Booth gave Clemson at least one Top 50 pick in 15 of the last 17 NFL Drafts, dating to 2006. The only drafts in that span in which Clemson did not produce a Top 50 pick were in 2009 and 2018.
  • Booth was Clemson’s first selection in the 2022 NFL Draft, marking the fourth time in the last five drafts that Clemson’s defense has produced its first selection. A Clemson defender was the Tigers’ first selection in every draft from 2018-20 (LB Dorian O’Daniel in 2018, DE Clelin Ferrell in 2019, LB Isaiah Simmons in 2020) until QB Trevor Lawrence was selected first in the 2021 NFL Draft.
  • Booth became the first cornerback to be Clemson’s first selection in a draft since 2006, when the St. Louis Rams selected Tye Hill with the No 15 overall selection. That was the second of consecutive drafts in which a corner was the first Clemson player off the board after the New York Jets made Justin Miller the first Clemson product selected in the 2005 NFL Draft.
  • Booth became the ninth Clemson player selected by the Vikings all-time, joining G Brian Butcher (1983), LB Edgar Pickett (1984), RB Terry Allen (1990), LB Ed McDaniel (1992), LB Ashley Sheppard (1993), LB Chris Jones (1999), CB Mackensie Alexander (2016) and S Jayron Kearse (2016). Each of the Vikings’ last six selections from Clemson has come from the defense, including the last three from the defensive backfield.
  • Booth became Clemson’s first selection with the No. 42 overall pick all-time.
  • Clemson has now produced a second-round pick in four consecutive drafts, its longest active streak in any round.

On Baylon Spector:

Head Coach Dabo Swinney:

“As you saw at the Combine, he can really run. You don’t see many guys his size that can run like that. Very athletic. Baylon is a true Will [linebacker] that can really cover and play on the edge but also can move in and play Mike. I think that he’s got outstanding Day 1 potential with his size, with his speed, with his experience, with his knowledge of the game, but also his ability to be a Day 1 starter on special teams on all core teams. Another graduate, a fifth-year player that has a ton of championship experience that he’ll bring with him.”

Notes on the selection of Baylon Spector:

  • Spector became the 71st player to have played for Head Coach Dabo Swinney to be drafted into the NFL, including the sixth seventh-round pick of Swinney’s tenure.
  • Spector became the 30th Clemson linebacker selected in the Common Draft era and the sixth Clemson linebacker selected since 2015.
  • Spector became the first Clemson linebacker to be selected in the seventh round since eventual All-Rookie selection Kavell Conner was selected by the Colts in the seventh round in the 2010 NFL Draft. Conner served as an unpaid coaching intern on Clemson’s staff last season and is now in a defensive player development role at Clemson.
  • Spector became the second Clemson player ever to be selected with the No. 231 overall pick in an NFL Draft, joining LB O.J. Childress (Giants, 1999). The Houston Oilers selected T Ron Osborne with the No. 231 overall pick in the 1962 AFL Draft.
  • Spector became the 13th player to be selected by the Bills in a professional draft, including two selections in the AFL Draft, one selection in the AFL Redshirt Draft and 10 selections in the NFL Draft. Previous Bills selections from Clemson include T Lou Cordileone (1960 AFL), T Harold Olson (1960 AFL), T John Boyette (1965 AFL Redshirt), WR Jerry Butler (1979), WR Perry Tuttle (1982), RB C.J. Spiller (2010), T Chris Hairston (2011), S Jonathan Meeks (2013), WR Sammy Watkins (2014), LB Tony Steward (2015), DE Shaq Lawson (2016) and WR Ray-Ray McCloud (2018).

In Case You Missed It

2022 NFL DRAFT DETAILS

CLEMSON PRE-DRAFT NOTES:
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: 2022 NFL DRAFT

WHAT: 87th Annual National Football League Player Selection Meeting

WHERE: Las Vegas, Nev.

WHEN: 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 28 (Round 1); 7 p.m. ET on Friday, April 29 (Rounds 2-3); Noon ET on Saturday, April 30 (Rounds 4-7)

TIMING: Round 1: 10 minutes per selection. Round 2: Seven minutes per selection. Rounds 3 through 6, including compensatory picks: Five minutes per selection. Round 7, including compensatory picks: Four minutes per selection.

TELEVISION: The 2022 NFL Draft will be televised nationally by NFL Network, ABC, ESPN and ESPN Deportes. Live audio coverage will be provided by SiriusXM (Rounds 1-7), Westwood One (Round 1) and ESPN Radio (Rounds 1-7).

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