CLEMSON | In one breath, Mike Jones talks a good game about the canyon-sized shoes he's filling.

"Zay is a freakish talent," he said of the guy otherwise known as Isaiah Simmons, otherwise known as Clemson's first Butkus Award winner, otherwise known as Superman.

"But through the teaching of just being around him, I feel like I'm a freak."

It doesn't take long in the conversation for reality to intercede.

Jones is 6-foot and 225 pounds. Simmons is 6-foot-4 and 230.

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Simmons recently ran a 4.39 in the 40. Jones runs -- well, we don't know. But something substantially less than that, by his own admission.

Looming over those measureables is the fact that Simmons just had one of the more remarkable seasons you'll ever see for a defensive player.