‘Pretty evident that he’s a grinder’

Ja’Kobe Clinton’s path to the pros hasn’t been anywhere near as glamorous as his brother’s.

The aspiring Winnipeg Blue Bombers linebacker had to scratch and claw just to continue playing after high school. Then there’s his well-known sibling, former Pro Bowl safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix — a two-time national champion at Alabama who was chosen in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.

He went on to play eight NFL seasons and made approximately US$20 million in career earnings.

“That set the bar way tremendously high for me. But like I tell everybody, we got two different roads and I kind of took the harder route,” Clinton told the Free Press after Bombers practice on Tuesday.

“Everybody respects me for that because they know that I’m not a guy who just always talks about my brother — I want to make a name for myself.”

Clinton’s road to Winnipeg started on the floor of his grandmother’s home in Orlando, Fla. That’s where he slept for nearly three years after high school while training relentlessly to play at the next level.

“You know how hard it is to grind for two and half, three years knowing you’re not getting results? A lot of people would’ve gave up, a lot of people would’ve quit,” he said.

“I had a bed back at home, but I chose to sleep on the floor just to keep myself humble. I wanted to make sure I won’t ever go back to the bottom again.”

He finally caught a break when he happened to check the spam folder in his email and found an invite to work out for Southeastern University — an NAIA program down the road in Lakeland, Fla.

“The coach eventually liked me, and I told him I’m going to make of the most my opportunity and that I’m gonna get to the league. I didn’t say which one, though — and now I’m here,” said the 24-year-old.

After two seasons at Southeastern, Clinton made his way to the NCAA Division II level to suit up for West Florida. He had an offer to go to Notre Dame for his senior campaign, but he elected to stay put.

It proved to be a wise decision as the six-foot-two, 230-pounder had a sensational season where he was named Gulf South Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2025 after recording 78 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, seven sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery in 12 games.

“That season was very remarkable, but you haven’t seen nothing yet,” said Clinton.

“That was just the beginning.”

Without any NFL offers, Clinton started to explore his options, and he discovered on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that the Bombers owned his CFL rights.

“I told my agent, ‘Hey, get on that,’” he said.

He officially signed on May 5, but to travel up north, he needed to get a passport. Clinton drove three hours to Miami to pick it up and was planning to fly to Winnipeg that same day, but a wrench was thrown into his plan.

“A deer hit my car. Yeah, so, I gotta pay for that,” he said with a laugh.

“I didn’t end up making the flight, but they brought me in the next day.”

Despite being a newcomer, Clinton felt well prepared heading into Bombers training camp. After all, he grew up competing in his own household.

“My brother has always been very strict with me about what I got to sacrifice and what I got to do to be great. The competition level is super crazy between me and him,” he said.

“Even when he was in his prime in the NFL and I was out of school, me and him were still working out and I was going at him hard. Eventually, he saw that I was very serious about this and that I had a chip on my shoulder.”

While the Bombers don’t have any obvious openings at linebacker, Clinton is making a strong case to be kept. He made arguably the play of the game in Saturday’s pre-season loss in Saskatoon when he jumped up and intercepted a Brayden Schager pass and took it 42 yards to the house in the fourth quarter.

“I think it’s pretty evident that he’s a grinder. We like those type of guys,” said head coach Mike O’Shea on Tuesday.

“They generally have a lot of gratitude for being where they’re at because their journey’s been tougher and they usually are not afraid to express that and they show it with the way they attack the day, how they play, and how they run around. I think that’s generally noticeable.”

Clinton will have one last chance to show what he can do when the Bombers close out the pre-season on Friday at Princess Auto Stadium against the B.C. Lions (7:30 p.m. kickoff).

“I just got to show them why they should keep me here on this team and when they do, that’s going to be the best decision they’ve ever made,” he said.

Even though the CFL won’t grant him the same level of fame and fortune that his family experienced previously, he’s eager to stick around.

“This stadium is crazy. I went D2, we didn’t have this,” he said.

“I don’t take this for granted… And looking at those 12 Grey Cup championships up there, I want to be able to contribute to the team and maybe we can go and get another one.”

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