Clowney nation's top defensive player

A sophomore player for the University of South Carolina has been named the nation's top defensive end.

Jadeveon Clowney, of Rock Hill, is the first sophomore to ever win the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award, which was announced in Chicago Wednesday. He is the 11th winner in the award's history.

Clowney earned nearly two-thirds of the final round of votes, setting a new record and beating out finalists Morgan Breslin from USC, Tank Carradine and Bjoern Werner from Florida State, Sam Montgomery from LSU and Damontre Moore from Texas A&M.

Clowney set new Gamecock standards for sacks in a season (13.0), tackles for loss in a season (21.5) and sacks in a single game (4.5 vs Clemson), following his extremely successful freshman season, when he had eight sacks and 12 tackles for loss.