Former Texas signee Devonaire Clarington enters NFL supplemental draft

Remember the #FreeDevo tweets and the Florida Five?

Miami product Devonaire Clarington never made it to Austin after signing with the Texas Longhorns in 2015 — he was declared ineligible and forced to retake the ACT before signing with Blinn the following year.

Now Clarington is hoping for a chance in the NFL after becoming the third player to declare for the NFL supplemental draft in July.

A US Army All-American and a consensus four-star prospect who bounced around to numerous high schools during his prep career, Clarington was one of five Florida prospects to commit to the Longhorns during the 2015 cycle. Unfortunately for former head coach Charlie Strong, safety Tim Irvin flipped to Auburn before National Signing Day and wide receiver Gilbert Johnson never qualified. Then linebacker Cecil Cherry left Austin after several practices during preseason camp. So only Davante Davis ever appeared in a game for Texas.

After a year at Blinn, Clarington reportedly transferred to Iowa Western in 2017, then eventually landed in northwestern Minnesota at Northland C&T College in Thief River Falls. Clarington had a productive season there, recording 48 catches for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Now Clarington is hoping an NFL team selects him in the supplemental draft, which allows underclassmen who are ineligible to play college football to petition the league for entrance. Teams are then split into groups and place blind bids on players. The highest bid wins the player’s rights and that organization then forfeits a selection in the next NFL Draft.