Rock Hill’s Pro Bowlers

It’s unusual a city of just over 60,000 residents has six active NFL players. It’s even more uncommon three of Rock Hill’s professional football players were selected to Sunday’s Pro Bowl, including two for the first time, Jadeveon Clowney and Stephon Gilmore.

Cordarrelle Patterson

Patterson led the NFL in kick return average (31.7 yards) for the third straight season en route to his second career Pro Bowl appearance.

The Northwestern graduate had two of the five fastest kick returns in the league this season, according to NFL.com, hitting 21.66 miles per hour on a return against the Tennessee Titans in Week 1, and 21.48 miles per hour during a touchdown return against Arizona in Week 11. Patterson is a free agent this offseason.

Jadeveon Clowney

Clowney capped a strong third season by earning his first career Pro Bowl appearance. Due to nagging injuries, Clowney will not play in Sunday’s game. The former South Pointe Stallion put in more than enough work during the season, though, recording a league-leading 17 tackles-for-loss and helping the Texans into the playoffs even without arguably the league’s best defender, J.J Watt.

Stephon Gilmore

Gilmore was added to the Pro Bowl after Marcus Peters pulled out with an injury. It was worthy reward for the cornerback from South Pointe, who intercepted five passes this season - fifth best in the league - and successfully defended 12 more. Gilmore is also a free agent and Sunday’s game may be his last action representing the Buffalo Bills.

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Rock Hill’s Pro Bowlers."