Jadeveon Clowney had modest stats in his final season at South Carolina after recording 13.5 sacks and 23.5 tackles for a loss as a sophomore.

"When I walked into the meeting rooms, all my coaches said, 'You're playing' and 'Keep playing hard,' " Clowney told Yahoo! Sports. "If you watch our tapes, everybody can see I'm playing hard. Guys that don't know anything. ... People expect me to get five sacks, 10 tackles for loss every game, but that wasn't going to happen the way teams were playing me.

"I'm taking 80 snaps a game, all our snaps per game, I'm playing them all. Coaches were like, 'Keep playing the way you play. We love the way you play.' "

Clowney said criticism directed toward him, especially early in the season, was unwarranted.

"I kind of laughed at it," Clowney told Yahoo! Sports. "People are going to say what they want to say. I bet half of the people that are talking can't play football. They just see what they see, or don't know nothing about the game. I just get a laugh out of it.

"(My thought was) just keep winning football games. They're going to keep talking. We're going to keep winning games and try to win the SEC East. That was one of our goals this year. We fell short, but finishing No. 4 in the country has to be the best finish in South Carolina history."

David Shaw is one of the most desired coaches by NFL teams, but he has already rebuffed overtures from multiple top franchises.

The Washington Redskins were very interested in Shaw as a replacement for Mike Shanahan.

Shaw went to Stanford in the early nineties and appears completely uninterested in leaving Stanford at this point in his career.

Ron Zook will return to coaching as special teams coach for the Green Bay Packers.

Zook was fired as head coach of Illinois after the 2011 season. 

Zook received a $2.6 million buyout from Illinois, which according to his contract was completed last year.

Jameis Winston has won the Heisman Trophy and a National Championship, but he might play two more seasons of college football.

Winston will be eligible to declare for the 2015 NFL Draft. Winston almost certainly would be a first round pick this season and would be in the conversation to go first overall.

Winston is also playing baseball this season as Florida State's closer.

"Obviously, I'm not even worried about the draft and stuff like that," Winston said Thursday. "I'm worried about winning championships here at Florida State."

Jadeveon Clowney is widely considered the best prospect in the 2014 NFL Draft and he believes he should go first overall. 

"I just think I should be the No. 1 pick taken in the draft, overall. So we'll see how that goes," Clowney said Thursday on the Dan Patrick Show.

Clowney plans to be a full participant in the combine and hopes to run a 4.4 40.