On Saturday afternoon, Clay Webb stood in front of a new cubby inside the Broncos locker room, hoping that the beginning of a dream could prompt the world to move on alongside him.
“I wish everyone respect, going forward, from this,” Webb reflected to The Denver Post. “I hope that one thing isn’t what people judge me by.”
That one thing, bizarre as it was, was enough to displace the career of a high school player once ranked higher than Bo Nix.
In 2018, the 6-foot-3, 312-pound Webb was a five-star offensive lineman and one of the best prospects in the Class of 2019. Talented enough to spawn a last-ditch Southern turf war between Alabama’s Nick Saban and Georgia’s Kirby Smart, both visiting Oxford High to try to land him on the day of his collegiate signing, as reported by Al.com. The Dawgs got him.
And then they stashed him, amid a lack of reps and a federal bullying lawsuit from December 2019 that named Webb as a key defendant after a former Oxford High (Alabama) classmate unwittingly drank Webb’s semen from a sports drink bottle.
Six years later, after a winding road in football had brought him to three standout seasons at Jacksonville State, Webb’s agent sent all 32 NFL teams a legal brief in the lead-up to April’s draft. One word in the body of a two-page decision from a judge in Alabama’s Calhoun County was capitalized and bolded.
The Court finds that summary judgment is due to be GRANTED for Defendant Webb.
Still, after being widely projected as a Day 2 talent, Webb fell undrafted in April. The Broncos snapped him up as a preferred free agent, eventually inking him on a three-year deal worth a total of $3 million, according to Spotrac. The decision was based on two key factors: the Calhoun County decision not finding Webb liable for any charges, and extensive pre-draft scrutiny from the Broncos’ brass about Webb’s character.
“We spent a ton of time with him,” Payton said when asked about Webb’s signing at Saturday’s rookie minicamp. “He’s the best. Obviously, he made a mistake.
“And he was fantastic, just in discussing it with us, and going through it with us. And we feel really good with where he’s at.”
On Oct. 8, 2018, Cole Hapach — a former baseball player at Oxford — walked into the baseball team’s locker room and noticed a Powerade bottle on top of a teammate’s locker. Hapach asked the room whose drink it was, as alleged in the original complaint and recounted by Hapach in a conversation with The Post. A teammate told him he could have it. He drank it.
The room began laughing, and a teammate told him that Webb had ejaculated in the bottle, Hapach recalled.
“This is just a horrible situation,” Hapach said. “I wouldn’t pray it on my worst enemy, what I’ve been through with this.”
Hapach told The Post he was the target of constant homophobic slurs at Oxford after the incident, and students tossed a Powerade bottle at his house on at least one occasion. He transferred to private Coosa Valley Academy about an hour away in Harpersville, Ala., and he and his father still believe Webb’s actions caused it all.
“Somebody needs to pay for what happened,” Hapach told The Post. “I mean, you just don’t go around doing that to other people.”
The key to this case, however: Webb did not specifically target Hapach or have any intention of doing so — a fact agreed upon by all parties. Webb had brought the bottle to school and announced that fact to Oxford’s football team, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post. At some point, Hapach said, a teammate had taken the bottle from the football locker room to the baseball locker room.
The Calhoun County judge ruled in favor of Webb because — as Hapach’s lawyer, Eric Artrip, said — there was no credible evidence to tie any subsequent bullying specifically to Webb. And law enforcement took no criminal action throughout the process, Artrip said, for the same reason.
As of now, the case isn’t completely closed. The Hapachs and Artrip intend to appeal the case to the Alabama Supreme Court.
The Broncos organization, though, has little concern about Webb’s character. Both Payton and general manager George Paton sat with Webb to inquire about details of the incident in the pre-draft process, a source told The Post. Denver hosted Webb on a top-30 visit and met with him at a number of other events. Webb was “truthful with the organization,” he said Saturday.
And six years later, Webb will have a legitimate shot to crack Denver’s roster as high-upside young depth on a veteran offensive line.
“I hope everyone can look past that,” Webb said of the lawsuit, “and just kinda like — on my career.”
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