Omar A. Clayton (born July 30, 1989) is a former

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

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Footb ...

at the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

Early life

Clayton was born in

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city in Macon County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, to parents Dameon Clayton and Kelly Bradford. He attended Normal Community High School, where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

during his freshman year. His family then moved to Texas, where he attended

Plano East Senior High School Plano East Senior High School (commonly known as East, Plano East, or PESH) is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas, serving grades nine through 12. It is part of the Plano Independent School District. Students at Plano East attended one of ...

, which employed a

spread offense :''"Spread offense" may also refer to the four corners offense in basketball.'' The spread offense is an offensive scheme in gridiron football that typically places the quarterback in the shotgun formation, and "spreads" the offense horizontal ...

. He returned to Illinois and Normal Community for his senior season, where he led the team from the

I-formation The I formation is one of the most common offensive formations in American football. The I formation draws its name from the vertical (as viewed from the opposing endzone) alignment of quarterback, fullback, and running back, particularly wh ...

. That year, he recorded 82 completions on 144 pass attempts for 1,080 yards and 13

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s, and had 128 carries for 630 yards and 10 touchdowns. Clayton led his team to the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

(IHSA) 6A state championship and a perfect 14–0 record. ''

The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is ...

'' named him the Player of the Year. Clayton was also named the Big 12 Conference most valuable offensive player and an all-state selection.Player Bio: Omar Clayton
, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, retrieved August 4, 2009.

College career

Clayton enrolled at the

, where he is studying

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. In 2007, he walked onto the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

, and during the preseason, secured a position as the third-string quarterback. By Week 8, he was promoted to the starting position, and Clayton started three games before he fractured his hand. During the season, he recorded 58 completions on 95 attempts for 618 yards and four touchdowns, and 179 rushing yards and two touchdowns. His 61.1% completion rate set the school record for a freshman. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Clayton completed 152 of 258 pass attempts for 1,894 yards, 18 touchdowns, and four interceptions, before he suffered an injury that forced him to miss the final three games. Prior to the 2009 season, Clayton is ranked 13th in terms of passing yards for a UNLV quarterback after having played in just 16 games. ''Athlon Sports'' named him a preseason All-

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

(MWC) second team. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' predicted UNLV to reach

bowl eligibility Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

largely because of Clayton, who when healthy, "can score enough points to keep the team in most games".Paul Myerberg
The Quad Countdown: No. 84 U.N.L.V.
''The New York Times'', June 9, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, Omar 1989 births Living people People from Decatur, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois UNLV Rebels football players American football quarterbacks