Vikings Take Pittsburgh Offensive Tackle T.J. Clemmings
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings used the first three rounds of the NFL draft for help on defense.
Then they turned to the offense for the final day, starting with right tackle T.J. Clemmings in the fourth round.
Clemmings has made that same switch in focus. He's two years into the transition from one side of the ball to the other.
Clemmings was taken 110th overall, the first of seven picks the Vikings piled up for Saturday. The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Clemmings, a first team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at Pittsburgh, started all 26 games at right tackle the past two seasons. He was a defensive end, until his junior year.
"I wasn't having the success that I wanted on defense. I just wanted another opportunity, and the opportunity came for me," Clemmings said.
Opportunity was what steered him toward the sport in the first place.
Clemmings was a basketball star at Paterson Catholic High School in New Jersey, with scholarship offers from Providence and Seton Hall. He played only two seasons of prep football, his participation prohibited by his mother, Fay, and her fear that it was too dangerous.
"She changed her mind my junior year when I asked. My dad said, 'Hey, let him play,' and they allowed me to," Clemmings said.
His size and athleticism triggered more interest from major football programs than basketball. Duke would've given him the chance to play both, but Pittsburgh was his choice. That's where Clemmings began to grasp the intricacies of blocking. He said he developed a "nastiness" he never had while playing defense, but the learning curve was steep.
"I had to spend a lot of time. It was almost as if I was playing catch-up," Clemmings said.
Both of Minnesota's starting tackles, Matt Kalil and Phil Loadholt, struggled in several games last year, and by the end of the 2016 season both of their contracts will be up. Clemmings was widely projected as a higher pick, and he said he thought he might even go late in the first round. His shaky performance the week of the Senior Bowl game didn't help, though, and there were concerns by teams about a stress fracture in his foot.
"It's an old injury and an old issue," he said, "but I've never had any problems. I have no concerns with it and I'm not worried about it. I'm ready to work."
As usual, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman was in swap mode in order to accumulate extra selections. After trading down twice in the third round on Friday, netting a fifth-round pick from Detroit and a sixth-round pick from Kansas City, the Vikings gained a sixth-round pick from Atlanta by swapping spots in the fifth round on Saturday.
They took Southern Illinois tight end MyCole Pruitt and Maryland wide receiver Stefon Diggs in the fifth round.
The 6-foot-3, 255-pound Pruitt was an Associated Press first team FCS All-America selection in each of the past two seasons. His 221 receptions for the Salukis are the most in program history. Pruitt turned in a 4.58-second 40-yard dash time and a 38-inch vertical jump at the NFL combine, both the best marks at his position, to follow up a strong showing in practices leading up to the East-West Shrine game.
"I was just able to get open against some of the top talent out there and make the catches, whether it was tight coverage or manned up. It showed the scouts that I could really get things done," Pruitt said.
The 6-0, 190-pound Diggs was a three-year starter who led the Terrapins with 52 catches and 654 yards and five touchdowns receiving as a senior. That included 10 receptions for 138 yards in the Foster Farms Bowl loss to Stanford after missing the last two games due to a lacerated kidney.
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