Nebraska, UCF vie for Dr. Phillips standout.
Braxton Clark said it was pretty darned cold this past weekend in Lincoln, Neb., when he took his official recruiting visit to Cornhuskers land.
“Yeah, it was cold up there. It was real cold. I got on the plane and it was 86 degrees and when I got there it was like 2 degrees,” Clark said. “It was my first time seeing snow, so that was cool. It was different, but sometimes different is good.”
Nebraska is hoping it’s good enough. The Huskers aren’t the only ones recruiting him heavily. UCF wants him to stay home. Ole Miss is on him, as is Louisville and Oregon. Virginia Tech, the school he pledged to attend last spring, is still chasing him even though he decommitted in December.
Clark’s sudden popularity among college recruiters is understandable from several aspects. The first is simple. He just flat-out looks the part. The second, however, took some time. He didn’t seem to be quite ready for big-time college football last spring.
I watched college football coaches drooling as Clark walked on the practice field at Dr. Phillips High, wondering out loud, “Who is that?”
It’s easy to understand. He catches the eye. He has the size and athleticism in a high-school player that coaches are looking for at the next level, especially as a cornerback who is 6-foot-3, 190 pounds.
But for me, he was just lacking that one thing.
He didn’t seem as aggressive as other Dr. Phillips defensive players. He lacked that reckless “dawg” mentality that head coach Rodney Wells instills in his players. Clark seemed to shy away from contact.
I came to understand why.
Clark had surgery on a torn labrum in his shoulder in 2016 and he missed the final eight games of the season. So when he came back for spring football, it would be understandable if he was perhaps a little timid in putting a shoulder into an opposing ball carrier.
To his credit, Clark said that wasn’t the case, even though no one would have faulted him for being a bit uneasy with the thought of hitting someone.
Clark never used the injury as an excuse.
“Nah, playing football, when you go out there you just have to play and you can’t be thinking about that too much. I tried to avoid that and just play my game,” Clark said. “I feel good about my game and I feel like I’m under-rated, but at the same time, I’m just always going to try to be the best I can be and try not to worry about anybody else.”
Through the course of his senior season, Clark started to become the player everyone thought he could be — and should be. He improved greatly from the first game all the way up to Dr. Phillips’ state championship victory over Delray Beach Atlantic. He had 47 tackles, 10 pass break-ups and two interceptions this past season. His cover skills improved greatly and his aggressiveness started to come out as well.
Now he’s less than a month away from signing a National Letter of Intent with a big-time football school. He’ll get bigger, stronger and even better at the next level. Nebraska’s coaching staff under Scott
Frost is said to be quite optimistic about landing him. Clark said he had a great visit to Nebraska despite the cold.
“I had a lot of fun on my visit. The players there are real friendly and the coaching staff too, and I liked the city itself and the fans, they love Nebraska football,” he said.
Nebraska coaches started recruiting Clark heavily in mid-December, but they were already quite familiar with him.
“They came in the picture probably a week after states. Coach [Erik] Chinander, defensive coordinator, hit me up and coach Frost hit me up, asking me if I was still looking for a home and if I was interested in Nebraska,” Clark said. “I wasn’t that surprised because they saw me play at the UCF 7-on-7 last summer and they offered me and Tanner Ingle there. They’ve always been high on me.”
What helped Nebraska make a bigger impact on Clark was the success the former UCF staff had while in Orlando, especially after defeating Auburn in the Peach Bowl.
“I felt like right after they won that Peach Bowl against Auburn, that was a big statement,” Clark said. “Coach Frost is a good player’s coach and I feel like I can go up to Nebraska and play early and I think it’s a good opportunity.
“Coach Frost, he changed the [UCF] program around with just the culture and the vibe that he has and I liked it.”
But Nebraska isn’t the only school in the mix and UCF is still pushing to keep him in Orlando. Knights cornerbacks coach Corey
Bell has been in his ear. “Coach Bell is on me a lot and he talks to me a lot,” Clark said. “They said I’m a big priority and they’d like me to come on an official visit, but I haven’t scheduled anything.”
He could commit to Nebraska before UCF even gets a chance to make its big pitch. Clark said he will be sitting down to talk things over with his family this week.
“My mom, she’d probably like to see me stay home, but everyone, they’re all the same. They just want what’s the best situation for me,” Clark said. “We just gotta decide, but Nebraska is looking good.”