BATON ROUGE — LSU’s Michael Clayton became the school’s 24th first round NFL Draft pick as he was taken with the 15th selection in the 2004 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday.
Clayton, a Baton Rouge native who prepped at Christian Life Academy, becomes the first Tiger selected in the opening round of the NFL Draft since Tampa Bay picked Anthony McFarland in the first round in 1999.
“I’m very happy to be selected by Tampa Bay,” Clayton said from the sidelines of the LSU spring game on Saturday. “I want to thank (LSU) Coach (Nick) Saban and the rest of the LSU coaching staff along with all of the wonderful LSU fans for all that they have done for me and my family.”
Clayton, who was one of three Tiger juniors that opted to skip their senior season, capped his LSU career ranked first in school history in touchdown receptions with 21 and second in receptions with 182. Clayton, who helped lead the Tigers to the 2003 national title and a pair of Southeastern Conference championships, caught at least one pass in all 40 games of his collegiate career.
Clayton finished his career with 2,582 yards receiving, which included 1,079 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2003. He’s only the fourth player in LSU history to have a 1,000-yard receiving season and he’s the only player in school history to record at least 700 yards receiving in three straight seasons.
In addition to his receiving abilities, Clayton earned a reputation as being a special teams standout, recording 32 tackles during his career.
“I am just so happy that Michael got picked 15th,” LSU coach Nick Saban said. “I thought he would probably get picked between 15 and 25 so he got picked on the top end of that which is really good and we are very pleased for him. He has done as much for LSU as any player we have ever had here and I know he will continue to represent us all well wherever he goes in the future.