Clark finds comfort zone with RMU
Pennsylvania ties or past connections to complete his staff.
But one thing remains unsettled two weeks away from the season opener — his depth chart. With the season scheduled to begin Sept. 1 at Dayton, Clark refrained from naming the 22 players he expects to start on offense and defense before practice Thursday.
After taking over a team that finished 2-9 in 2017, and won just nine games over a four-year span, Clark is embracing the chance to leave a mark. With the season around the corner, “competition” and “consistency” have been his go-to words.
“I think it boils down to you get a guy on the field, and he may be your starter for that week and then he may go out and lay an egg, now what?” Clark said. “That’s why you have to create competition on the football field.
“Once you create competition, that’s when your team is at its best and that’s when your team plays at its best because they’re not competing against the guy on Saturday; they’re competing against the guy throughout the week, and that’s what makes them a better football player.”
Clark joked that he likely aggravated Plungas more than Luvara in the offseason. As a former defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Albany, Clark came to Robert Morris with a reputation on that side of the ball. In 2017, Albany ranked in the top 20 among Football Championship Subdivision teams in total defense (ninth, 282.1 yards per game) and scoring defense (17th, 17.7).
At least two players are sure bets to start on defense this season — linebacker Adam Wollett and defensive tackle Amir Fenwick. The senior duo earned Northeast Conference Football preseason all-conference team selections this year after successful junior campaigns.
Wollett led the NEC with 108 tackles in 2017. Fenwick finished last season on a high note, recording 14 of his 35 tackles in the final three games. Wollett and Fenwick were named to Robert Morris’ Football Leadership Committee Monday.
Fenwick said he has noticed a higher excitement level from his teammates this summer.
“All the coaches and the staff, they’re very welcoming,” Fenwick said. “They know that we’re new to this, so they work with us individually and as units and as a team to try to get us to buy into everything that they’re putting out there. The biggest thing is us buying in, and I think the coaches are doing a great job with that.”
Robert Morris was picked to finish last in the NEC preseason coaches poll, but Clark hopes his back-to-basics approach will work out for the better.
“We’re not going to look past the opponent we’re about to play,” Clark said. “What we’re going to do is take it one play at a time, one game at a time, one day at a time. I’m not being facetious when I say that. That’s the angle we have to take in order to succeed.
“We can’t look past anyone.
“No opponent is too big, no opponent is too small, and that’s how we have to look at it.”