Hello: Chris Clark Comment Count

Ace



via greenwichtime.com

Despite initially planning to announce his decision at The Opening, four-star Avon (CT) Old Farms TE Chris Clark committed to Michigan today, choosing the Wolverines over Michigan State, North Carolina—where he briefly committed earlier in his recruitment—and Ohio State. Clark becomes the eighth member of Michigan's 2015 class and the first at tight end.

Clark committed while visiting campus today, one day after checking out Michigan State and two days removed from a trip to Columbus. Instead of choosing between those three schools at The Opening as planned, Clark will be recruiting for Michigan while he's there, per Steve Wiltfong:

"Just the fact I want to have the opportunity to recruit at The Opening," Clark said, "I want to let people know I'm at Michigan and I'd like to tell people they're building big things at Michigan and tell them to be part of it.

"I just feel so good at Michigan. I thought it would be a great day to do it with my mom and dad here."

Well played, young man.

GURU RATINGS

Scout Rivals ESPN 247 247 Comp
5*, #1 TE,

#26 Ovr
4*, #4 TE,

#146 Ovr
4*, 83, #3 TE,

#108 Ovr
4*, 93, #6 TE,

#191 Ovr
4*, #2 TE,

#101 Ovr

There's a pretty sizable disparity in Clark's rankings, but that isn't so much a concern when the disparity is between "very good" and "awesome"—ESPN's #191 overall ranking represents the former, Scout bestowing him a fifth star the latter. Average it all out and he comes in just one spot outside the composite top 100 overall, and second among tight ends.

Every site save Rivals lists Clark at 6'6", 247 pounds; Rivals gives him an extra six pounds. Unlike some other recent Michigan tight end recruits, Clark should have little problem playing with his hand in the dirt from day one with that size.

SCOUTING

Well, sure, I'll happily start this section with Bucknuts' Duane Long raving over Clark's game while listing him as Ohio State's third-most important 2015 target (behind only Justin Hilliard and Jashon Cornell) in an article published... yesterday ($):

3. Chris Clark, Tight End, Avon (Conn.) Old Farms: If I was building a tight end he would look like Clark. Great looking, big body. Hands are exceptional. Runs great. There is an argument that tight end is the biggest need in the class. Jeff Heuerman is a senior. Nick Vannett is a junior. Marcus Baugh is … Marcus Baugh. Three players at the position - one being a senior and another is one misstep from Coffeyville - says tight end is a real need in this class.

With that delicious morsel of schadenfreude out of the way, let's go to Scout's free evaluation, which contains considerable praise about an aspect of Clark's game that should excite Michigan fans:

Clark is a complete tight end who can block, get out and catch the ball and also be a factor in the red zone. He has very good hands and is a red-zone threat. He does a nice job running routes and he is a big, physical player. He also embraces the blocking portion of the game, and does a good job getting off the line of scrimmage cleanly. All around, Clark is a complete tight end who should havea big impact quickly in college. -- Brian Dohn

That "catch the ball" stuff is nice and all; as we've learned, having a tight end who's willing and able to hold up as a blocker is just as important. With Jake Butt and now Clark, Michigan has a couple very nice traditional tight end types set to man the position for a while.

ESPN's evaluation also praises Clark's blocking, albeit while noting he can improve technically in that regard, and goes in depth on his ability as a pass-catcher:

Flashes a good burst and not a true vertical threat, but enough speed to challenge downfield. Height and leaping ability make can make him a tough match-up and a red-zone target. Has experience lining up in various alignments. Needs to continue to develop as a route runner, but flashes good ability to work through traffic. Isn't overly elusive, but good size and runs hard and flashes some ability to make the first defender miss.

Good hands and confident pass catcher that displays ability to consistently snatch the ball away from him frame. Displays good body control and can adjust well to throws outside his frame.

That comes from an updated scouting report that's a good deal more positive than his junior year evaluation, which said he had good upside but was "not a top prospect" at the time. Now ESPN concludes that while Clark still has aspects of his game to develop (who doesn't?), he "can grow into a very good and well-rounded college TE."

Clark earned his invite to The Opening after a standout performance at the New Jersey NFTC; according to 247's Steve Wiltfong, linebackers simply couldn't stay with him:

The Avon (Conn.) Old Farms Top247 tight end certainly backed up the fact he’s one of the nation’s top players at his position, with a consistent performance during 1-on-1s. Linebackers didn’t stand a chance with his athleticism, and the sure-handed receiver knows how to get open.

Just a week after that performance, Scout bumped Clark into five-star territory, and their head of scouting gave an "eeeeeeeeee"-worthy report on his game:

One of the best words I can use to describe a football player is 'tenacious', and Clark is absolutely tenacious,” Scout.com director of scouting Scott Kennedy said. “It doesn't matter if he's lining up at defensive end, outside linebacker, blocking tight end, or slot receiver, he does everything with the mindset of dominating his opponent.

Looking at the combination of his size and athleticism, his non-stop ability to attack, and his skill of playing different positions from blocking, catching, disengaging from blockers, or occupying double teams, we're looking at a five-star college prospect, and the best tight end I've seen this year.

Yes, I couldn't figure out what not to put in bold in the second paragraph, so ALL BOLD EVERYTHING.

Clark could be headed into similarly lofty territory on Rivals after excelling at their invite-only (and Rivals-reporters-only) Five-Star Challenge a couple weeks ago. He earned top tight end honors despite getting dinged up on the first day of camp, and after it was over Mike Farrell listed him as one of the ten prospects who most helped their stock ($):

Clark is a huge tight end who can move and catches the ball well. He has a rumbling running style and you can tell he's a load to bring down when he reaches top speed. He showed soft hands, he was a big target and he was tough coming back from an injury day one to be the most productive tight end on the event's second day.

In Farrell's post-camp awards column, Clark earned honorable mention for most physically impressive and best work ethic, and Farrell suggested he's in line to move up when Rivals updates their rankings.

Michigan's tight end recruiting has been focused in recent classes on three types of players: lanky receiver types (Devin Funchess, Ian Bunting), smaller fullback/H-Back types (Khalid Hill, Wyatt Shallman), and all-around guys who can hold up on the line while still providing plenty in the passing game (Jake Butt). Clark definitely falls into the last category.

OFFERS

In addition to his finalists, Clark held offers from Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Auburn, Boston College, Cincinnati, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami (YTM), Mississippi State, Mizzou, NC State, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Penn State, Pitt, Purdue, South Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas Tech, UCF, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, among a few others.

Rather prestigious list, that.

HIGH SCHOOL

Avon Old Farms is a private school with a history of producing players who end up mostly at academically-inclined East Coast schools. You're familiar with one of the exceptions: former Michigan running back Mike Cox, who eventually transferred to UMass to finish out his career.

STATS

Clark caught 39 passes for 417 yards and six touchdowns in his junior season, breaking out as a receiver despite adding 40 pounds after his sophomore season.

FAKE 40 TIME

Rivals lists a pretty darn reasonable time of 4.72 seconds, which I'll give two FAKEs out of five.

VIDEO

Junior highlights:

Single game cut-ups from his junior and sophomore seasons are available on his Hudl page.

PREDICTION BASED ON FLIMSY EVIDENCE

Clark looks like one of the likeliest candidates in the 2015 class to make an immediate impact when he gets to campus, as he already boasts the size to play tight end as a junior in high school. Jake Butt will be a junior when Clark is a freshman, so he should be able to slowly work his way onto the field as a freshman as he gets a grasp on Doug Nussmeier's offense and the college game as a whole. When Butt graduates after the 2016 season, Clark is the clear-cut candidate to take over as the every-down tight end.

UPSHOT FOR THE REST OF THE CLASS

Michigan now has eight spots filled for the 2015 class; our best guess is this class will be around 16 players in total. Top priorities include running back, wide receiver, defensive end, outside linebacker, and a cornerback to replace Shaun Crawford in the class.

Comments

Caveman Bob

June 19th, 2014 at 5:48 PM ^

It's not an average of the rankings on the 4 sites. Instead, they average out the rankings on the 4 sites, then re-rank everybody based on that score.

For example, imagine that Player A and Player B are the two best prospects in the country.

On the 4 services, Player A is ranked 1, 2, 3, and 4. That averages 2.5.

Player B is ranked 2, 2, 4, 4. That averages 3.

Player A has the lowest score in the country (2.5), so he's ranked #1 in the composite. Player B is #2.

pearlw

June 19th, 2014 at 5:55 PM ^

ACE or someone - 

That depth/scholarship chart you reference in the article desperately needs to be fixed.

1) It still shows Crawford as a commit.

2) Terry Richardson is listed in wrong class - he should be redshirt sophomore.

3) Scott Sypniewski is not a walkon..he is on full scholarship.

4) This one is more of a judgment call. You have Glasgow on scholarship but Kerridge as a walkon. Both were walkons that received scholarships last year and were essentially starters. I would think that they should therefore be treated similar in the chart..either they are both counted or neither. Currently one is counted.

5) Doesnt include Ty Isaac. I know we dont know which class he is in but he has to count against the total somewhere.

Conclusion: I think numbers are much tighter than you have them because of some of these issues.

 

jmambro13

June 19th, 2014 at 6:07 PM ^

With Chris Clark committing today, (Welcome to the family, i'm excited to see a fellow northeast kid rip it up in AA!) who are the recruits the guys will be after now? 

Does this do anything to the Justin Hilliard recruitment? Weren't Clark and Hilliard really close?

My order:

1. KLS 

2. Harris

3. Weber

4. Roseboro

5. Cole

 

True Blue Grit

June 19th, 2014 at 6:25 PM ^

I see Clark coming in and making a Jake Butt-esqe impact his freshman year.  With those two guys at TE, plus Williams, Hill, and Bunting, we should be in superb shape for a number of years.  

funkywolve

June 20th, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^

Maybe Clark has that kind of impact, but Butt had a couple things working in his favor.  The first is Butt enrolled early.  Butt had spring ball to learn the offense and show the coaches what he could do.  The second thing in Butt's favor was the depth chart at TE was pretty lean.  For the most part he had Williams and Funchess ahead of him. 

Funchess moving to more of a wr role was partly because Butt showed he could play and the coaches wanted to get him on the field and move Funchess to more of a wr role.  When Clark is a true frosh, the depth chart will be Williams as a Sr, Butt as a Jr - two guys who will have seen significant playing time and in Butt's case, I think most of us are figuring on him being a stud.  In addition, Bunting will be in his second year in the program. 

restive neb

June 19th, 2014 at 6:32 PM ^

Ace, I haven't seen the comparisons of recruiting classes across the Big Ten hit the front page in a long time. I miss it. Is it gone for good? I'm hoping not.

Ace

June 19th, 2014 at 6:50 PM ^

The 247 Composite team rankings made them totally redundant, and those posts took longer to put together than any of my other regular posts, recruiting roundups included. Updating every rankings change for every commit from 14 different teams is a lot of really boring work, and 247 now does it automatically.

FYI, Clark's commitment moved U-M up to fifth in the Big Ten team rankings, one spot behind Ohio State. Penn State is assembling a very strong class at the top, but Wisconsin and Nebraska (#2 and #3, respectively) are ahead based on sheer volume of commits at this point.

funkywolve

June 20th, 2014 at 10:08 AM ^

Does the 247 composite have an averagestar ranking per class composite?

When looking at a rivals or scout, I usually focus more attention on what the average star ranking of a class is rather then the overall ranking because as you mention with Wisky and Nebraska, the amount of recruits can influence where a team is ranked.

Looking at rivals 2014 team rankings, they have UM 31st but if you look at the average ranking of the recruit UM is in the Top 15.

WolvinLA2

June 19th, 2014 at 7:24 PM ^

I've heard some saying Wheatley at OT, because he can get that huge and still be athletic.  

I was (somewhat) buddies with Joe Staley in high school, and he was initally recruited at CMU as a TE.  He was moved to OT and I remember hearing from mutual friends how he was pissed about it.  Then he was a first round pick.  I could see Wheatley doing something similar, assuming someone can sell him on it.

woodfeld

June 20th, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^

Honestly, I'm surprised more tall TE's don't do this.  If you can add good weight and are athletic enough to play TE, chances are you could end up a dominant OT.  I think OT's careers last longer (and are generally better compensated) than TE....limited limelight though.

rederik

June 19th, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^

When you're picking up commitments from guys with offers from so many of the top schools in the game (Alabama, Auburn, Florida State, LSU, Mizzou, MSU, Nebraska, Notre Dame, OSU, Penn State, etc.), you know you're doing something right!

Avon Barksdale

June 19th, 2014 at 7:41 PM ^

Would love to see us end with:

RB - Weber

WR - Boykin

DE - Wheatley, Lucier-South

CB - Cole



Would be a solid class. That'd be 13 prospects. We could probably find room for the two best available who we're ready to commit after that.

woodfeld

June 20th, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^

M is recruiting Cole at WR.  Of course, they could change their minds on that.

KLS is the biggest need at this point I think.  I would love to get Harris back in the fold, but he shockingly (given his M fandom) seems to be more and more of a Buckeye every day.  In the end, it sure looks like it's going to be a solid class.  Maybe no 5-stars (unless they can snag KLS or Harris), but still a lot of top 250 talent.

funkywolve

June 20th, 2014 at 10:17 AM ^

It'll be interesting to see how that unfolds.  I think part of the reason for the Funchess move to more of a wr role was two fold.  One, Butt emerged and it allowed the coaches to move Funchess there, and two, outside of Gallon there really weren't any other play makers at the wr position.  If some of these younger wide receivers (Darboh, Chesson, Harris, etc) develop into legit playmakers, it reduce the need to have Bunting move into a Funchess role. Depth at TE is still a little lean imo.  Heading into the fall you're looking at Williams, Butt and a bunch of guys who have never played. 

uncleFred

June 19th, 2014 at 8:44 PM ^

After a truly lousy day where I had to cancel a celebratory dinner because folks got stranded at various airports. A critical server rebuild blew apart in a very ugly way. After a long and gnarly day I come home to such wonderful news.

Welcome Mr. Clark! May your time at Michigan be among the very best years of your life and open vistas for you that you never imagined. 

 

woodfeld

June 20th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^

To be fair, MSU is being mentioned by way more top 250 guys than I can remember in the past.  A number of which could realistically end up there (Weber, Cole, Scott, Cornell).  They might be trying to cash in on their B1G/Rose Bowl champs cred by going after the big boys first before going to the high end 3-star guys they normally get.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

June 19th, 2014 at 9:04 PM ^

Obviously a talented guy and seems like a good fit. Hopefully the commitment is solid this time so the coaches can focus on the few remaining spots. 2015 class is outstanding so far.

Mich1993

June 19th, 2014 at 9:29 PM ^

I'll be honest.  Now that the roster is so loaded with 4* at nearly every position, I like seeing new recruits come in to fill in depth down the road, but not many of the individual new recruits are game-changers to me these days. 

This one is a huge deal to me.  I'm a big fan of TEs that can block and catch because of the mismatches they create to begin with, and Clark's got the size, athleticism and apparent want-to that will make a big difference in Ann Arbor before he's done.  Not only that, it looks like he'll be college-ready in terms of size when he walks in the door.

My new favorite 2015 recruit and into my Top 5 for 2014 and 2015 (Peppers, Canteen, Mone, Clark and Cole) 

Mr. Yost

June 20th, 2014 at 12:11 AM ^

QB - Alex Malzone

RB - Mike Weber

WR - Brian Cole

WR - Auden Tate

TE - Chris Clark

OT - Grant Newsome


OT - (3-star automatic redshirt to gain weight type)

OG/OC - Jon Runyan Jr.

DE - Tyrone Wheatley Jr.

DT - (Word is we're not taking a DT, but I think we should take one every year...I'm holding out for a Willie Henry late bloomer type or an overweight project that will be a situational run stuffer)

LB - Darrin Kirkland Jr.

LB - Tyriq Thompson

CB - (Under the radar Stribling type or flip a commit)

DB - Garrett Taylor 

DB - Tyree Kinnel


K - Andrew David

17th: LB or S: (Hillard/Wheeler/McMillion/Masina/Baker/Bilal/ or Englemon late bloomer type safety to fill final spot late in recruiting cycle)

Right now I really hope we start getting the guys that are in-state + Wheatley so we can focus on filling the last few slots with a number of names/prospects.

alum96

June 20th, 2014 at 1:14 AM ^

Definitely need WRs in this class somewhere.

I hope one of these DEs come through - the guy who spent 3 days here (Roseboro?) is not on your list, you'd think we are in a top 3 for him if he spent that much time here.  Not as high of hopes for KLS due to distance.   Are we not in top 3 for Hilliard? I thought things were going pretty decent there. 

I don't see us getting Weber right now as we are not in his top 3 and yes that can change but ... don't get the feel he is hot on us.

I would think we could get low 4 star types at tackle/guard and corner.

We really need stud DEs - KLS, Roseboro, whomever...someone needs to get in here and give us our first serious threat to the QB on every play since Graham.  That Hand loss really sucks in that regard. Hoping Charlton shows us something this year to be truly excited about for the next 2 years and maybe they flip out Wormley to an end and he can do it too.  Poggi let's hope there is some diamond there as well.

(p.s. on 247 Roseboro is listed as 293 lbs? hmm)