“Yes, I had a discussion with somebody trying to go out there who said that basically if you go then I will be there next year,” Clark said. “So I think they’ve been waiting on somebody else to go there. With how far it is from the city (of Dayton), they don’t know how it would work. So I’m going to be the trial I guess.”
Massachusetts has not exactly been a college football powerhouse over the years, and the campus in Amherst is more than 750 miles away, so what drew Clark to the Minutemen?
A few things actually.
The opportunity to play for UMass head coach Don Brown, who made his name as a coordinator of high-pressure defenses that play a lot of man coverage in the secondary, was one.
“He’s sent 22 DBs to the (NFL),” Clark said. “I feel like that could be a good relationship because connections are everything. So I figured that’d be a good place for me.”
The school joining the Mid-American Conference in 2025 was another because it will mean some road games are much closer to home than UMass home games.
“Yeah that’s the big thing with the question of me committing: Can anybody get to my game?” Clark said. “And while they’re going to the MAC, my family can easily get to the games whether it’s Eastern Michigan or Miami of Ohio or Ball State or whoever.”
Credit: DaytonDailyNews
Then there is Mike McCray II, a Trotwood-Madison grad who is the outside linebackers coach for the Minutemen.
Clark indicated his relationship with defensive backs coach Michael Livingston is more important to him, but having someone who grew up in the same area he did is definitely a plus.
“It’s always good to have a familiar face,” Clark said. “To have somebody that if I do feel lost up there, I definitely got somewhere to go and someone to talk to.”
He also likes the academics at UMass and intends to major in economics.
“I picked UMass because mainly because it was where the love was,” Clark said. “When I went on an official, it definitely showed. I really wasn’t paying attention too much about everything else. It was like could I fall in love with the school? They’ve got high academics. My mom is big on that, about graduating, so I’ve got to go to a good academic school.”
With McCray making frequent stops in the area, UMass appears to be working hard to infiltrate Ohio for talent.
More than 60 players from the state have received scholarship offers according to 247Sports. That includes nearly a dozen from Southwest Ohio, a group that includes uncommitted class of 2025 prospects such as Springfield receiver Jamil Miller, Wayne safety Jussiah Williams-West and Lakota East quarterback J.T. Kitna.
Clark might not be the only player to travel from the Miami Valley to the Connecticut River valley in the next few years, but for now the 5-foot-10, 160-pound Clark is more worried about his senior season.
The three-time state champion Rams have been on the rise after a couple of down years, and Clark expects to be part of that continuing this fall.
“You’re only promised 10 games in a season, so after that you don’t know what’s the next step,” he said. “So it definitely takes a lot of relief and pressure off me this year.”
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