CB Clarke enters transfer portal

Midway through fall practice, the Hurricanes lost some cornerback depth.

Third-year sophomore cornerback Marcus Clarke said Friday that he has entered the transfer portal, announcing his intention to leave Miami on his Twitter account.

“It was lack of reps; things weren’t really working out at the new program,” Clarke told the Sun Sentinel on Saturday. “I just wish the best for the guys that are there, working their butts off. I just needed a fresh, new start in a new place to find that.”

Miami is deep at cornerback entering this season, returning Tyrique Stevenson, Al Blades Jr., DJ Ivey, Malik Curtis, Te’Cory Couch and Isaiah Dunson. The Hurricanes also added key transfer Daryl Porter Jr. from West Virginia and freshmen Khaumari Rogers and Jaden Harris.

Clarke has seen the field at Miami in his first two seasons, playing in 12 games and starting four last year. He was on the field for 265 total defensive snaps. In those 12 games, he had 24 tackles, three pass deflections and one interception. He earned a 69.6 coverage grade and a 70.2 overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus.

In his first season with UM, Clarke played six games, making five tackles with one interception. Clarke, a Winter Park native was a three-star prospect coming out of high school and was rated the No. 55 cornerback in his class, according to the 247Sports composite ranking. He said the biggest lesson from his two seasons at Miami was about staying focused.

“Just always stay humble, never pay attention to the media because people will always have things to say,” Clarke said. “I have to really learn about staying off the social media, take some social media breaks just to work on myself, learn about myself because this is around the time where I’m developing as a human, as a young man, so I just have to really think and take time away from the social media to discover myself.”

Clarke said he’s staying openminded about potential programs to join, but he said he wants to find a team that runs a similar defense to what Manny Diaz ran while at Miami.

Clarke said he will be eligible to play this season if he enrolls at a new school in time for the fall semester.

“[I am a] just a hard-working man,” Clarke said. “Just really want to put the team before myself, honestly. So I just want to take the time and tell people that whichever school I go to, just know they’re going to have a baller coming and [I] want to make a big impact on the team.”