On Thursday, August 29, Jadeveon Clowney will meet some folks from Chapel Hill.

Never heard of him? Google him (I’ll wait…….)

So Jadeveon Clowney is the most famous college football player in America who isn’t a Heisman Trophy winner. Grown adults gush about him: “he’s a freak of nature,” “he’s otherworldy,” “he’s just so daggum athletic.”

I admit it. I am one of those gushing adults. I love college football. And since I love college football, I love Jadeveon Clowney.

Not in a weird, creepy, stalker way – I just love his physical talent. As a football fan, I am in awe of any man who is 6′ 6″, 275 pounds, and runs the 40 in 4.46. For those of you who aren’t football fans, people his size almost never run 40 yards that fast. And then at the end of running that fast, Jadeveon Clowney hits people. Want to see “The Hit,” the most famous play in college football last season? Go to YouTube, put in his name and “The Hit,” and you’ll find it.

I read this lengthy profile about him in the local paper this weekend and even though I now know a lot more about his childhood and the development of his physical gifts, I don’t know him. Beyond the hype. Beyond the labels. Who IS Jadeveon Clowney, really?

See, I used to work in NC State’s Academic Support Program for Student Athletes. For a while, I worked with the men’s basketball team. What I learned from that experience is that you can’t see who these people really are by watching them on TV. Yes, you get glimpses. You might see persistence and heart – you might also see impatience and flashes of temper.

But who these people really are gets lost in the statistics, the instant in-game analysis, and the sound bites in the locker room. I think back to my time with the “guys,” as I still call them, and I remember conversations we had about leadership….about how to treat people who are very different from you…about how to be gentle with children who – literally – look up to you…about handling heavy family expectations….about dealing with success and failure. I still think about those conversations from time to time.

Today I am friends with a number of them on Facebook. I get to see them being caring husbands, patient fathers, generous businessmen, and inspiring coaches.

I love them. And that love has nothing to do with physical talent. It’s about who they really are.