Clark battles through dark, off to Chargers
Jerrod Clark was in his living room in Dorchester, family by his side, when he picked up the phone and learned that the daughter he was expecting didn’t make it because of a miscarriage.
“Everybody was just looking at me while I was crying,” Clark said. “It took so long for me to get the words out. I felt like I kept choking on my words.”
That was in December 2018, when Clark was a freshman at Coastal Carolina. He struggled to find playing time, struggled academically, and struggled to manage his depression as he endured an impossible loss. Clark gained 85 pounds in the offseason and fell into a slump, on and off the field.
When he finally snapped out of the funk and started to feel like himself again early in fall camp, he tore the plantar fascia in his right foot.
He came extremely close to quitting football entirely. Instead, Clark reinvented himself, switching from tight end to nose tackle, making the Dean’s list, and blossoming into a star. Clark garnered All-Sun Belt third-team honors, graduated in December 2022, and earned an invite to the East-West Shrine Bowl and NFL Combine.
On March 27, 2023, he welcomed his daughter, Nalani Rose Clark. Just more than a month later, Clark signed with the Los Angeles Chargers as an undrafted free agent. NFL Network reported the deal includes a $5,000 signing bonus and $100,000 guarantee.
“I know what it is to not have anything or feel like you’ve lost everything,” Clark said. “I know what it is to cherish the game. I hit a roadblock where I didn’t love the game. I know what it feels like to not have the game anymore. I don’t ever want to lose it again.”
Long before Clark was NFL-bound, he discovered football through his father, also Jerrod Clark, around age 7. Football was always an escape, as was basketball, where he led Brighton High to a state title his junior year.
Brighton football helped him learn the value of earning his spot, yet arriving at Coastal was a humbling experience. Sitting on the bench didn’t sit right, and Clark felt a shell of himself.
Losing the daughter he never got to meet was by far the most agonizing heartbreak of all.
“I didn’t think something so small, something I hadn’t even held yet, would hurt so bad,” Clark said. “It still hurts. Some days are harder than others. She still crosses my mind, where I wonder, ‘What would she look like? What type of personality would she have?’ ”
Clark had a role model who he viewed as an older brother, Ronald Singleton, who was killed in September 2016. All the loss sent him spiraling.
He knew he had to make a change, and switching positions in the summer of 2019 was a start. Former teammate and current Buffalo Bills defensive tackle C.J. Brewer suggested moving Clark to defensive line. It wasn’t an easy transition, but Clark embraced it and realized it was best long-term.
A herniated disc in his back and ensuing surgery sidelined him temporarily in 2020-21, but those around him could tell he was more stable mentally, and on the verge of a breakthrough.
“If he would have had that injury while he was going through those dark times, he probably would have folded and never played again,” then-Coastal defensive line coach Skylor Magee said.
Clark stopped letting his depression anchor him down. He cut ties with everything negative in his life, took accountability, and made the conscious shift to become something new.
“Life wasn’t going to stop moving forward with me still being depressed,” Clark said. “If there’s anything I can do, it’s just to let all my emotions out on the football field. Something had to change, and to be honest, it was me.”
Now, as he holds his daughter in his arms, Clark is proud of how far he’s come. He knows he wouldn’t be here without the unwavering support of those around him.
Clark acknowledges that he’s more prepared for fatherhood at 23 than he would have been at 19. He believes that he’s the man his daughter deserves. It wasn’t his time then, but it is now, and he couldn’t be more grateful.
His journey toward becoming a father parallels his journey toward becoming an NFL player and encapsulates how far he’s come.
“It’s so surreal,” Clark said. “Holding my little girl when she first was born, it just hit me in the blink of an eye. I’m really a dad. My little girl is finally here.”
Other players with local ties also earned opportunities, including: Jaiden Woodbey (Boston College safety, Los Angeles Rams); Chibueze Onwuka (Boston College defensive tackle, New York Jets); Liam Anderson (Holy Cross linebacker, Indianapolis Colts); and Sean Coyne (New Hampshire wide receiver, Kansas City Chiefs).