Clement eager to impress his Badger buddy
Corey Clement took to Face Time to chat with college mentor Melvin Gordon this past week. On Sunday, they go face to face when the Eagles oppose the Chargers at the Stub Hub Center in Carson, Calif.
Clement, the Eagles’ rookie running back, will be forever grateful for the example Gordon set at Wisconsin. Gordon and James White, who plays for the Patriots, set the bar so high it made Clement dig deeper.
“I just said that the time has finally come where we can do battle against each other,” Clement said. “Hopefully I get enough carries to make it a game against him and go out there and have fun. That’s what we’ve been dreaming of.”
Gordon was the consummate example of second effort at Wisconsin. Clement might be on a practice squad, not the 53-man Eagles roster, had he not seen it each and every day of their time at Madison, Wis.
It took considerable effort for Clement to make an Eagles team already committed to veteran running backs Darren Sproles and LeGarrette Blount, and recent draft picks Wendell Smallwood and Donnel Pumphrey.
Gordon was a first-round draft pick. The undrafted Clement performed so well in the preseason the Eagles had to keep him.
The circumstances were similar four years ago, when Clement’s classmates at Glassboro (N.J.) High wondered why he committed to Wisconsin. Gordon and White, the Super Bowl LI hero, already were there battling for carries. Clement went anyway and rushed for 3,092 yards and 36 touchdowns over four seasons.
“When I knew I was going to commit to a scholarship there I knew what I was getting into,” Clement said. “You had your Melvin Gordon and you had your James White. Some people looked at me crazy and said you’re not going to play until year three, if that, or year four. I love to prove people wrong. I got there my freshman year, did what I could and I haven’t looked back ever since. Competing with those guys and watching them excel in the NFL, it told me I could, too.”
Clement, not Pumphrey, was active on opening day and recorded the first tackle of the season for the Eagles, pinning the Redskins inside their 20-yard line on the opening kickoff.
When Sproles suffered a season-ending knee injury last week, Clement got 22 yards on six rushes in a 27-24 win over the Giants, and his role could expand again this week. Gordon, by the way, leads the Chargers in rushing and is second in receiving.
“Melvin said he knew in the back of his mind I would make the team,” Clement said. “A lot of people doubted me, but Melvin always had my back, which is pretty cool. And now, I can’t let him down. So I’m going to keep doing my best. Learning from him and James White at the same time, I kind of got a two-for-one special.”
In a perfect world, the Eagles would have flown out Friday, not Saturday, giving Clement some time to hang out with his Badgers buddy.
Clement is grateful for what it will be.
“I haven’t seen him since last year at Wisconsin,” Clement said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll jersey swap and all that. We talked about it. It will just be awesome to see him. I’ll always remember his running, his vision, his patience and the way he always picked his knees up in the hole. He always was a guy with second effort and he was a guy who knew how to stay off the ground. If I can take anything from him, it’s making sure I use second effort.”
Consider that done.