Ralph Clayton

Ralph Darrell Clayton (born September 29, 1958) is a former professional American football wide receiver who played for the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League during the 1981 NFL season. He had been drafted in the second round of the 1980 NFL Draft by the New York Jets with the 47th selection overall. In college he had played for the Michigan Wolverines football team of the Big Ten Conference. He attended Redford High School in Detroit, Michigan.

Michigan
He wore #22 and earned varsity letters for the 1977-1979 teams after wearing #26 on the junior varsity as a freshman. He started eight games as a sophomore, ten as a junior and twelve as a senior. The 1977 and 1978 teams won the Big Ten Championships and went to the Rose Bowl. The 1979 team went to the Gator Bowl. In the January 2, 1978 Rose Bowl he led all Michigan receivers with 5 receptions and 84 yards. Although he did not start any games and did not earn a varsity letter, he played in several games as a Freshman for the 1976 Big Ten Champions. He carried the ball in six different games with a total of nine carries for 52 yards. In two of those games, he caught a pass. He returned a kickoff in another one of them and made a tackle in another. In 1977, he caught the first touchdown of the season in which they defended their Big Ten Championship.

Statistics
At Michigan he accumulated 1393 yards receiving on a total of 67 receptions and had eleven touchdowns. When his Michigan career ended he was fourth in career receiving yards and second in career receiving touchdowns. He also served as a kick returner and had a 20.4 yards/return average for 20 returns. He carried the ball occasionally and totaled 159 yards on 31 rushes, including a 27 yard touchdown run against the Wisconsin Badgers football team in 1978. He led Michigan in receiving in both 1977 and 1978 with Rick Leach as quarterback, but finished third behind Doug Marsh and Anthony Carter as a senior with John Wangler at quarterback.