Michael Clay sees everything.
He is Oregon’s starting weakside linebacker, so of course he’s adept at reading gaps and predicting routes. But that’s not his special ability.
No, what makes Clay stand out, what his coaches and teammates rave about, is his unique ability to read the entire field at any given time. Not only does he know where he needs to be at all times, he can also peer through the facemask of his helmet and tell you where cornerback Cliff Harris should line up, whether safety John Boyett is assigned to blitz or fall back into coverage.
It is this all-encompassing knowledge of the game, and Oregon’s defensive schemes in particular, that has become Clay’s calling card as he prepares for his first season as a full-time starter. Casey Matthews and Spencer Paysinger, longtime stalwarts in the linebacker corps, have departed for the NFL. Beginning Saturday in Dallas against LSU, the 2011 season provides Clay and his clairvoyant eye ample opportunity to shine.
Luckily for him, he has been preparing for this moment since he arrived in Eugene.
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Don Pellum saw it the moment Clay arrived on campus. That first day of practice, where the first impressions are the only impressions, the freshman stood out immediately to Oregon’s linebackers coach.
This guy was there to work.
“Just the way he ran around and how he listened in the meetings and going to film,” Pellum says of what he saw. “You talk about some situation with chalkboard or in the film session and you go out on the field, and he’s performing these things right away at a high level. And that tells you that this is a pretty special person.”
The consensus from Pellum and others alike that day was simple:
“This kid’s going to be good.”
Just how good, and how soon he would play, remained a mystery.
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Michael Vincent Clay’s football journey began where most do: in the backyard. His father, Rodney, was a former player himself, and introduced Michael to football at the tender age of six.
Soccer was Clay’s first love, and he played the defensive position of sweeper until eighth grade. But football tugged at the San Jose, Calif., native every time he attended a Raiders game at the Oakland Coliseum, or just messed around with his father. When Clay’s body finally began to catch up with his passion at the start of high school, football became his one and only sport.
In the beginning, he was slated as a fullback, but it quickly became apparent that, like in soccer, his true talents were on the defensive side of the ball. By his junior year at Bellarmine Prep, he had become a star, racking up 110 tackles and earning recognition as the West Catholic League Linebacker of the Year. He won the award again during his senior year, and the team finished 12-1.
Clearly impressed, Scouts.com awarded Clay a four-star ranking. Oregon coaches took notice, and on January 13, 2009, Clay committed to play for the Ducks.
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The surprise wasn’t that Clay earned playing time during his freshman year. Pellum had seen potential from the moment he arrived on campus. The shock, you see, was how Clay found his way onto the field.
The Ducks were in need of a long snapper, and it so happened that Clay had fulfilled that unique role back in high school. He ended up snapping each and every punt during the 2009 season, embracing an assignment that other heralded recruits might have bristled at.
“I took it as a beneficiary for me,” Clay says. “Come out here as a true freshman long snapper, help the team win special teams-wise.”
He also managed 32 tackles and a sack, enough to earn the team’s Len Casanova Award “as the first-year player who best exemplifies ideals of competitiveness, team inspiration and outstanding performance.”

His star only brightened during his sophomore year, as the Ducks roared through an undefeated season and earned a spot in the BCS National Championship Game. Clay played a key role in Oregon’s unparalleled success, placing third among the team’s linebackers with 42 tackles. More memorably, he was the centerpiece in one of the season’s most unforgettable plays: a 64-yard run on a fake punt that changed the tone against Oregon State.
That specific play may have been a result of being in the right place at the right time, but most of Clay’s achievements have come simply through hard work. He studies the game maniacally (says Pellum: “He’s just always engulfed in football.”), and has used his mental acuity to his advantage.
“Obviously he’s gotten bigger, and he’s gotten stronger,” Pellum says. “But he’s really elevated his game from a mental standpoint.”
The tone in Pellum’s voice jumps, as if he’s found the perfect way to describe it.
“He thinks like a coach on the field. He really does.”
This is Clay’s calling card: his ability to think and, more importantly, see like a coach would from the sidelines. Only, he is not accompanied by a clipboard or a headset when he steps between the lines. He has only his eyes, those eyes that miss nothing when they survey the field. For fellow linebacker Josh Kaddu, this is more than enough.
“He’s a real smart player,” Kaddu says. “He can tell other people what they’re doing, knows what’s going on all the time. Mike is just on top of his game. He just knows what’s up.”
Which isn’t to say, of course, that any of this has come without a struggle.
“I feel I’ve grown a lot,” Clay says. “There’s always growing points. Freshman year, I’m just out here trying to learn the system. Now, two years under my belt, now I gotta know the system front to back. And I feel like I’ve taken the right steps to getting there.”