If there’s one thing Payton Page wants NFL teams to know about him entering the 2025 NFL Draft, it’s his relentless work ethic.
“I want them to know I’m not going to be outworked,” the former Clemson defensive tackle said Thursday, following the Tigers’ Pro Day in the Poe Indoor Facility.
“If any vets are on the team, I don’t care. I’m going to outwork anybody that’s in my position group. I’m coming here for competition. I’m not coming here to make friends at first. I’m here to make brothers, and knowing they are here to compete as well.”
Page’s work ethic is a major reason why he’s where he is today, as a prospect whose stock has been on the rise ahead of April’s draft — especially the hard work he has put in when it comes to transforming his body.
Page remembers when he tipped the scales at nearly 400 pounds at Clemson’s annual “BIG Weigh-In” his first year at Clemson.
It was a humbling moment for Page, who joined Dabo Swinney’s program in 2021 as a four-star and top-40 national prospect from Dudley High in Greensboro, N.C.
After getting that wake-up call at the weigh-in, Page began the process of losing weight, with the help of teammates like former Clemson defensive linemen Bryan Bresee, Tyler Davis and Ruke Orhorhoro.
“Right when I got on that scale and Dabo yelled out ‘395!’ I said, ‘Oh my God. I can’t compete at 395,’” Page recalled.
“I felt like I was real cocky coming in. I was really highly recruited, so I came in thinking I was the junk, I didn’t have to lose no weight. And then, I got humbled really fast when I heard that 395. And I met Bryan Bresee, Tyler Davis, Ruke Orhorhoro. They really put me under their wing during that process.”
Page had to make key changes in his diet and form new eating habits – like always turning right at Clemson’s PAW Bistro, and never turning left.
“We’ve got this bistro. It’s all the food over to the left, and all the salads to the right. I’d always go to the right, and never to the left,” Page said. “So, I just kept eating salads, a little grilled chicken here and there, and I would stop eating around 5 p.m. and I’d try not to eat breakfast till 11.”
Things are starkly different now for Page, who checked in at 291 pounds at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
He weighed in at 303 at Clemson’s Pro Day and said he had to eat more when he returned home from the combine in order to get his weight up to where he wants, as opposed to eating less to lose weight like he used to.
“There was a lot of junk food at the combine. I didn’t want to eat that junk food. It is what it is. When I got back here, I was on my regular meal plan,” Page said.
“I gotta eat now to keep my weight. So, I’m happy for that. It’s crazy I had to lose weight, now I’m eating to keep my weight.”
Page said some of the NFL teams he has met with during the pre-draft process weren’t aware that he used to weigh 400 pounds.
“Telling them, they were very surprised,” he said, “and I could tell they were a little more interested because they knew how bad I wanted it and how bad I worked to get here.”
Page finished his four-year Clemson career (2021-24) credited with 69 tackles (6.5 for loss), a half-sack, two pass breakups and two fumble recoveries across 53 career games (14 starts). He was one of the Tigers’ defensive leaders as a senior last season, when he earned third-team All-ACC honors while posting 36 tackles (2.5 for loss), 0.5 sacks, a pass breakup and a pick-six over 14 games (all starts).
Prior to Clemson’s Pro Day, Page impressed with a strong showing during workouts with defensive linemen at the NFL Combine. He also had the chance to showcase his skills to NFL scouts and a national television audience when he played in the East-West Shrine Bowl — the longest-running college all-star football game in the nation — on Jan. 30 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
The 2025 NFL Draft is set to be held from April 24-26 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Being this close to the draft is surreal for Page, considering all his work to get to this point.
“I feel like it ain’t hit me yet,” he said. “All my life I’ve just been working and working and working. I feel like I’ll finally know my work paid off when I get my name called.”