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The Final Cockdown: #54 Clayton Stadnik

To most Gamecock fans, he was viewed as a throw-in with his more highly recruited twin brother, Brock, but Clayton Stadnik is just an injury away from competing for playing time as a redshirt freshman.

247Sports.com

Clayton Stadnik
True Freshman Offensive Center
6'3", 283 lbs.
Greensboro, NC

Recruitment:
3 stars, 18th overall offensive center in the 2012 class
Other offers: East Carolina, N.C. State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

College Career:
Stadnik redshirted during 2012.

2013 Outlook:
Fellow redshirt freshman Cody Waldrop has the inside track to inherit the starting job at center, but the fact that a player with no career playing time is expected to take over from day one is both a statement about the coaching staff's confidence and Waldrop and the potential volatility at the position.

Should Waldrop get injured or not pan out for whatever reason, I would anticipate that a reserve guard would slide over to the center position before Clayton Stadnik would be pushed into the starting role, but the possibility remains that the freshman could get on the field a good bit during his second year in the program.

Trivia:
Brock and Clayton's father, John, played center at Western Illinois before going on to play five professional seasons, one with the San Diego Chargers and four in the USFL.

Social media scouting report:
A recurring theme among the South Carolina football players is that they mostly use Twitter to communicate with friends and offer observations about their immediate surroundings. Clayton Stadnik is no exception.

Possible Todd Ellis play-by-play call:
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Clayton Stadnik was the lead block and runs all the way down the field, staying out front of the back the whole time and delivering the blow to Jordan Jenkins inside the 10 yard line to spring Mike Davis the rest of the way into the end zone. The 93,000 fans in attendance here tonight at Sanford Stadium had no idea they had bought tickets to the CLAYTONA 500.