Trotwood’s ‘Chunky’ more than just a name
Six-foot-2, 301-pound lineman eager to show he can cause ‘havoc.’
Most of the players INDIANAPOLIS — at the NFL combine hear the same questions during their 15-minute media sessions, but then Chunky Clements sat down and the talk centered more on his name than his game.
And the Trotwood-Madison High School graduate and University of Illinois defensive tackle didn’t mind at all.
“I feel like it separates me a little bit,” he said. “When you look at a name, you’ve got Jim, Jamaal, Pat and then you see Chunky and it’s like ‘whoa.’ It just adds a little more intrigue, that’s all.”
The 6-foot-2, 301-pound Clements, whose given name is Jarrod, got his nickname early in life from his aunt.
“I was a big baby, and she called me ‘Chunk monk’ at the beginning and then it just changed into Chunky and I’ve been Chunky the rest of my life,” he said. “But I’m anxious to show I’m more than just a name out here. I’m actually a player.”
A four-year player at Illinois, Clements appeared in 46 games with 25.5 tackles for loss and six sacks. His ideal fit would be as a three-technique on a 4-3 defense, and he said the Bengals are one of the teams he’s spoken to this week in Indianapolis.
“I’ve played defensive end and this year I played nose and tackle, so I feel like whatever I’m asked to do I feel like I can do it and excel at it,” Clements said. “Penetrate, get in the backfield, cause some disruption, a little havoc for the other team.”
Clements said he watches “a lot of old-school tape,” and one of the players he tries to model his game after is one with his own unusual nickname.
“I like Booger McFarland,” he said of the former Tampa Bay and Indianapolis defensive tackle. “I actually met him in Tampa. We had some chalk work and everything. It was crazy, meeting an idol and everything.”
McFarland retired in 2006 and works as an analyst on the SEC Network. Clements is three credit hours shy of a communications degree, but he said he hasn’t thought much about following in his idol’s post-playing footsteps.
“At this point, I’m just worried about ball,” he said. “One step at a time.”
Worth the wait: When compared with most of the other players here, Centerville High School graduate and Northwestern defensive end Ifeadi Odenigbo comes up short in one category: experience.
Odenigbo didn’t start playing until his sophomore year of high school, and because of that it still feels like he’s playing catch-up at times. But he said he has no regrets.
“The cool thing about me is, when you’re dealing with guys who have been playing since fourth or third grade, when at a young age they’re given a football, they at times get burned out,” Odenigbo said. “For me, because I started late, I still have that jolt of energy. These guys may have six or seven years on me, but I’m still craving more. I think I have more energy and I’m more obsessive than people who have been doing it for a lot longer than me.”
He got by on sheer athleticism at Centerville, and he had so much of it he was one of the nation’s top recruits. But he turned down traditional powers, including Ohio State, because he wanted to earn an economics degree from one of the more prestigious schools in the country, which is something he’ll do in two weeks.
He also got a valuable education on the football field.
“When I was at Centerville, the thing about me was one of my best attributes was that I could run,” said Odenigbo, who also ran track for the Elks. “My coaches would say, ‘Hey, Ifeadi, I just want you to get wide, line up and just try to get to the quarterback.’
“But at Northwestern it wasn’t like that at all,” he said. “It was a complete change of scenery. I had to understand concepts and understand blitzes, understand what the guy next to me is doing, understand what the linebacker is doing and at times understand what the safeties are doing.”
In one of the deepest classes of defensive ends in recent years, Odenigbo said he feels as though he’s flying under the radar. And he doesn’t mind that.
“The mission was to get here, and now that I’m here I just need to take advantage of my opportunities,” Odenigbo said. “I just have to be that silent assassin. I came here for business and I’m ready to do work.”
Despite growing up near Clements, the two didn’t know each other much. But they’ve been spending some time together this week in Indianapolis and no doubt sharing some stories
about Tito Odenigbo, Ifeadi’s younger brother, who was Clements’ teammate at Illinois.
“I asked him what it was like playing with Tito because I know he can be a handful,” Ifeadi said. “And he told me yeah, he is a handful, and now I see where he gets it from.”
Samuel’s speed: Ohio State’s Curtis Samuel clocked an impressive time of 4.31 seconds in the 40-yard dash, but it was overshadowed by what happened a few minutes earlier when Washington wide receiver John Ross ran a 4.22 to break Chris Johnson’s record of 4.24 that had stood since 2008.
Samuel’s time is the second fastest at this year’s combine — .09 quicker than Tennessee wide receiver Josh Malone’s 4.40 — and is believed to be the fastest recorded at the combine by an Ohio State player.
That mark is likely to stand for at least a year after teammate Noah Brown elected not to run in Indianapolis, saying he will do so at OSU’s pro day on March 23.
Buckeyes cornerback Marshon Lattimore could challenge the mark Sunday when the defensive backs and linebackers run, a grouping that includes OSU teammates Malik Hooker, Gareon Conley and Raekown McMillan.