Cameron Michael Clear (born February 25, 1993) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

. He played

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Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, and signed with the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

after going undrafted in the

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. Clear has also been a member of the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

San Antonio Commanders The San Antonio Commanders were a professional American football franchise based in San Antonio, Texas, and one of the eight members of the Alliance of American Football (AAF). The league began play in February 2019. The team played their home g ...

, and

Seattle Dragons The Seattle Sea Dragons (formerly known as the Seattle Dragons) are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. The team is a franchise of the new XFL (2020), XFL and plays its home games at Lumen Field in Seattle. Origin ...

High school career

During high school, Clear played football and basketball at Central High School in Memphis, Tennessee. As a

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to centers. When on offense, they typically play with their ba ...

on his high school basketball team, he averaged 12 points and 4 rebounds a game for a team that ended with a record of 21–9 and finish fourth in the state. On the football team he played tight end and defensive line. For his junior season in 2009, he hauled in a total of 26 receptions, for 412 receiving yards, and 2 touchdown receptions. As a defensive lineman he made 62 tackles and 11 sacks on the season. The following year, he amassed 18 catches, 250 receiving yards, 6 receiving touchdowns at tight end, as well as, 60 tackles and 8 sacks on defense. He finished his senior year ranked as the tenth overall defensive line prospect by

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Top 100 for the class of 2011.

College career

Freshman season

Coming out of high school, Clear committed to

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. As a true freshman in 2011, he played tight end and special teams. Against Middle Tennessee in week 10 he made his only catch of the season for 4 yards. He received his first start during week 12 against Vanderbilt. On May 25, 2012, Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley announced that Clear would be dismissed from Tennessee. This came after he was charged with

felony theft Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

for stealing a laptop from a member of the Vol's baseball team. Before he was kicked off the team, he was expected to be the second tight end on the depth chart behind future NFL Player Mychal Rivera.

Sophomore season

On November 27, 2012, Clear officially committed to play tight end for

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. Due to

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`s student transfer guidelines, Clear had to sit out his entire sophomore season as well as lose a year of eligibility. Since he wouldn't receive a scholarship until he was eligible, Clear transferred to

Arizona Western College Arizona Western College (AWC) is a public community college in Yuma, Arizona. It offers associate degrees, occupational certificates, and transfer degrees. AWC also offers classes in Dateland, La Paz, San Luis, Somerton, and Wellton. Aca ...

for his sophomore year.

Junior season

After attending Arizona Western College and sitting out his sophomore season, he finally debuted for Texas A&M but ended up having a mediocre season for coach

Kevin Sumlin Kevin Warren Sumlin (born August 3, 1964) is an American football coach who is the head coach and general manager for the Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (USFL). Sumlin served as the head football coach at the University o ...

. He finished his junior season with 4 catches, 42 receiving yards, and a single touchdown reception.

Senior season

The following year, he again had a disappointing season, ending his year with 5 catches and 34 receiving yards. After graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in communications and having no eligibility left, his only option was to declare for the

although it was highly unlikely he would be drafted due to his performance during his tenure at A&M.

Professional career

2015 NFL Draft

Although he was expected to go undrafted, Clear was still invited to perform at the

NFL Combine The NFL Scouting Combine is a week-long showcase occurring every February at Lucas Oil Stadium (and formerly at the RCA Dome until 2008) in Indianapolis, where college football players perform physical and mental tests in front of National Footba ...

. After the combine, the

scheduled a pre-draft visit with him and attended his pro day. A lot of scouts were skeptical due to the incident at Tennessee, concern with weight issues, and his lack of playing time throughout his collegiate career.

Pittsburgh Steelers

As expected, Clear went undrafted in the 2015 NFL Draft. On May 2, 2015, Clear announced on his

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account that he had been signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Clear was waived by the Steelers on September 15, 2015.

Indianapolis Colts

On February 16, 2016, Clear signed with the Colts. He was waived on May 2, 2016.

San Antonio Commanders (AAF)

On October 26, 2018, Clear signed with the

of the

Alliance of American Football The Alliance of American Football (AAF) was a professional American football minor league. The AAF consisted of eight centrally owned and operated teams in the southern and western United States, seven of which were located in metropolitan are ...

. The league ceased operations in April 2019.

Seattle Dragons

In October 2019, Clear was drafted by the

in the ninth round of the

2020 XFL Draft The 2020 XFL Draft was the inaugural player selection process to fill the rosters of the eight teams of the 2020 reboot of the XFL. The draft was held on October 15–16, 2019, via conference call, with results released through the XFL's social m ...

. After missing the first two games of the season with a non-football injury, he was placed on

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

on February 18, 2020. He was waived from injured reserve on March 12, 2020.

References

External links

*
Profile at Colts.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clear, Cameron 1993 births Living people American football tight ends Arizona Western Matadors football players Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Memphis, Tennessee San Antonio Commanders players Seattle Dragons players Tennessee Volunteers football players Texas A&M Aggies football players