Ralph Darrell Clayton (born September 29, 1958) is a former professional

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 ...

player. A native of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, Clayton played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a " wingback" for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1976 to 1979 and was the leading receiver for the

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

team in both 1977 and 1978. After being selected by the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

in the second round of the

1980 NFL Draft The 1980 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1980, at the New York She ...

, Clayton missed the

1980 NFL season The 1980 NFL season was the 61st regular season of the National Football League. Prior to the season in March 1980, fellow NFL owners voted against the proposed move by the Raiders from Oakland, California to Los Angeles. Raiders team owner ...

due to injury. He later signed with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

and appeared in seven games for the Cardinals during the

1981 NFL season The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26–21 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. Draft The 198 ...

Early years

Clayton was born in

Highland Park, Michigan Highland Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,977 at the 2020 census. Along with its neighbor of Hamtramck, Highland Park is an enclave city surrounded by the city of Detroit. History The area tha ...

, in 1958. He attended

Redford High School Redford High School was a secondary school in Detroit, Michigan. A part of Detroit Public Schools, the school opened in September 1921 and ceased operations in June 2007. Staffed and operated by the Detroit Public Schools; Redford High School ser ...

in Detroit.

University of Michigan

Clayton enrolled at the

in 1976 and played

as a " wingback" for head coach

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...

teams from 1976 to 1979. As a freshman in 1976, Clayton was listed as a "junior varsity" player, though he did appear in six games for the Wolverines as a backup running back and compiled 52 rushing yards on nine carries and 13 receiving yards on two catches.(to retrieve information for a particular season, go to "Games & Totals by Season" and select the year for which statistics are to be retrieved)

1977 season

As a sophomore, Clayton started eight games at the wingback position for the

1977 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1977 Michigan Wolverines football team was an American football team that represented the University of Michigan in the 1977 Big Ten Conference football season. In its ninth year under head coach Bo Schembechler, the team compiled a 10–2 ...

that compiled a 10-2 record, tied for the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship, and outscored opponents 353 to 124. In the fourth game of the season, Clayton caught three passes for 99 yards, leading some to compare him to Michigan's recently graduated All-American receiver Jim Smith. Clayton also led all Michigan receivers with five catches for 84 yards in a 27-20 loss to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

in the

1978 Rose Bowl The 1978 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game, played on Monday, January 2, and was the 64th Rose Bowl Game. The Washington Huskies, champions of the Pacific-8 Conference, defeated the favored Michigan Wolverines, champions of the Big Ten Co ...

. Teamed with

Rick Leach Rick Leach (born December 28, 1964) is a former professional tennis player and a coach from the United States. A doubles specialist, he won five Grand Slam doubles titles (three at the Australian Open, one at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open) ...

as Michigan's

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, Clayton was Michigan's leading receiver in 1977 with 24 receptions for 477 yards and two touchdowns.

1978 season

As a junior, Clayton started 10 games at wingback for the 1978 Michigan team that again compiled a 10-2 record, tied for the Big Ten championship and outscored opponents 372 to 106. On October 21, 1978, in a 42-0 victory over

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, Clayton scored two touchdowns, one on a 27-yard run and the other on a 65-yard reception from Rick Leach. Three weeks later, Clayton caught five passes for a career-high 122 receiving yards and two touchdowns in a 59-14 victory over Northwestern. For the second consecutive year, Clayton was Michigan's leading receiver, totaling 25 receptions for 546 yards and eight touchdowns. Clayton's eight receiving touchdowns in 1978 tied a Michigan school record.

1979 season

As a senior, Clayton started all 12 games at wingback for the 1979 Michigan team. On October 6, 1979, Clayton had a career-high 66-yard game-winning touchdown catch from B. J. Dickey in 21-7 victory over

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

. In his final game in a Michigan uniform, Clayton had a 50-yard reception from

John Wangler John "Johnny" Wangler (born c. 1958) is a former American football quarterback. He played for the University of Michigan from 1977 to 1980. During the 1979 and 1980 seasons, Wangler and Anthony Carter formed one of the most successful passing c ...

in the 1979 Gator Bowl. Clayton finished the season with 16 receptions for 357 yards and one touchdown. While Clayton had led Michigan in receiving in 1977 and 1978 with Rick Leach at quarterback, he finished third in receiving for the 1979 team (behind Doug Marsh and Anthony Carter) with Dickey and Wangler at quarterback.

Career statistics

In four years at Michigan, Clayton accumulated 67 receptions for 1,393 yards and 11 touchdowns. When his Michigan career ended, he ranked fourth in career receiving yards and second in career receiving touchdowns. He also served as a

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

and averaged 20.4 yards for 20 kickoff returns. He carried the ball occasionally and totaled 159 yards on 31

rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

es.

Professional football

Clayton was selected by the

in the second round (47th overall pick) of the

. He sustained a stress fracture to the left

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

in August 1980 and did not appear in any regular season games during the

. He returned to the Jets for pre-season training camp in 1981 but was released in late August 1981. Clayton was then signed by the