Name: Jeremy Clark
Location: Madisonville, KY
Position: Safety
Ratings: ESPN – 3* (76), Scout – 3*, 247 Sports - 3*
Recruitment: Clark is a bit of a sleeper prospect, as he doesn't have that many offers but clearly has some serious talent. He impressed the UM coaches early on, but not enough to earn a full scholarship for 2012, as Michigan was already in on Allen Gant and Jarrod Wilson at the time. Clark still committed, but the view at the time was that he would jump on a real offer from another school. However Clark's stellar senior year meant the Wolverines couldn't afford for that to happen, and they gave him a 2012 scholarship offer instead of the grayshirt.
Offers: Michigan, Illinois, N.C State, Akron, Ball State, and other MAC schools.
Stats: Currently stands at 6’4 and around 200lbs, with a 40 yard dash time of 4.47 seconds. As a junior he racked up 75 tackles, 3 interceptions, and 8 pass breakups.
ESPN Analysis: Clark is a tall and rangy free safety prospect with a lot of production. Very lean without a lot of bulk, strength and power to his frame right now but we like his upside and room for development as an overall player.
Will definitely play free safety in college because of his good range and awareness in deep coverage. Reads the quarterback well and uses his size to his advantage, going up and grabbing the ball at its highest point.
Needs to improve his man coverage, which is a weakness at the moment. His height makes it difficult for him to make tight, fluid turns in coverage, but he does flash the ability to stay with his man and break quickly on the ball.
Could do with improving his tackling technique in order to become more of a presence in defending the run. Overall a good prospect who has the natural instincts required, just needs some coaching up on technique.
Improvements: Man coverage is highlighted by ESPN, as was tackling ability.
Film Highlights: None available on youtube, I believe it got taken down.
Final Thoughts: Clark seemingly has great size and speed, with good instincts. These are promising tools for any young free safety. Clearly the coaching staff like this guy a lot, firstly to offer him a grayshirt, and secondly to upgrade the offer just so they don't lose out on him. And given the improvement of our defense this year, I trust Hoke and Mattison's judgment 100%!!!
A redshirt year is likely, and in the years after he'll probably be competing with his classmate Jarrod Wilson for playing time.
As for the rest of the class, this certainly shakes things up a bit. Would UM dare take 6 defensive backs if Yuri Wright came calling? And if they do, would one of them leave due to the level of competition? Will they forgo taking a 6th OL now that Zach Banner is looking like a longshot again? Or will they only take one WR?
It's killing me, especially to see so many high profile visitors visit Notre Dame..
ReplyDeleteI think that the coaches may take more then 26, like the full 28 allowed. especially seeing such a young player like greg brown leave it could mean more will leave too. also there are a couple guys who may not be asked back for a 5th year. this could lead to Michigan taking as many players as possible to compensate for the lose of so many people and available roster spots
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHuHXlcHU94 here's a video with him
ReplyDeleteThe video of Jeremy Clark seems solid. There are a couple things that Hoke/Mattison will fix. The first you can tell he likes to lay the big hit but not to wrap up. This was a sticking point in Hoke's bye week presser. The other is that he seems to over commit himself on runs. A couple of times in the video he found himself below the linebackers in the middle of the field and fortunately made it out to the edge in time to make the stop. Hope he still have the speed necessary to do this in college but better pursuit angles would help. It's going to be great having a tall safety patrolling the secondary though. He seems to have great ball skills. Good pick up Blue!
ReplyDeletesports bookmakers say that Jeremy Clark is still a promising player; however, he has not shown his true skills yet
ReplyDelete