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Freshman basketball player Willie Clayton has burst onto the college
basketball landscape in his first season with the 49ers.
A gentle giant away from the hardwood,
let's find out what makes Willie flip the switch for game time
I started playing basketball when I was six years old
at Thomasville YMCA
and
I found out about it when they came to my elementary school. I went
to Scott Elementary School
and so they came to the elementary school and they wanted some players
and so they left little forms for us to fill out
over and so I took one home to my mother
and I told her, you know, I was real about basketball
because she played basketball and so
that was my first time expressing myself to my mother that I wanted to play basketball.
I actually did want to be a guard, but
but it turned around to be that, you know, I'd start growing and growing and growing and then
I never worked on my like ball handling skills and so all of sudden I was like bigger and
stronger than all of the kids I grew up with
and so you know I was just like, you know, watching NBA and watching college
and like those guys are big just like I am
I'm physical just like they are so
I was just like I'm going to turn it big I'm going to start playing big.
I just try
to stay out of Willie's way and make sure he knows which end we're shooting on
but Willie's being Willie
he's rebounded
probably when he was two years old he was rebounding he's probably freshman year
in high school he could rebound.
What makes a good rebounder?
A guy that knows the rim
like you've got to know where the ball is at all times like the when point guard
shoots the ball, you've got to know where it's going to land.
Rebounding is one of those things that really doesn't have a whole lot to do with
coaching. Guys have a nose for it. He's got a gift
quite honestly and
but he's a high character kid as well so what you see is this consistency
because of who he is as a person
and you're seeing some results in terms of what he is as a player.
There is no finesse, it's straight monster.
It's like you don't want to play me on an angry night, that's it.
And then growing up I watched Dennis Rodman a lot and there was just something
about him that I liked, like
he knew his role.
That's the same way I see myself on this team I know my role. So
my role is to get rebounds and you know if a couple of points fall my way, they fall
my way, that's just how it is. But I know my role I like that.
Let's go. Game time! I think what they're learning that you didn't have in high school
in high school physically they could either overpower someone or
they could just catch a ball against a 6'4" guy and turn, jump up and dunk it and
I think it's a great learning experience for them to have to now go through
the guy behind you that's a lot like you
and so it will encourage them to be
more crafty in what they're doing, which is I think will be nothing but a good thing.