DESMET`S EJ CLARK HITS RECRUITING TRAIL-GETS FIRST OFFER

Spartan DB EJ Clark 5`10" 190 has had a busy early summer hitting the road for various camps in an attempt to get himself evaluated by schools he is interested in and improve his overall recruiting stock much like many other young men have done. One thing that should help Clark in his recruitment is the fact that he will play on a team with other D1 prospects that colleges will take notice of as well.

EJ `s efforts have paid off with him receiving his first offer recently form SIU-C. We caught up with EJ and asked him about his recruitment and his time on the road checking out schools.And now his first offer.

'Things are going well.  I just picked up my first offer from SIU-C the other day."said Clark. Me and a couple of my teammate, Ray Agnew and Anthony Brown, went down for an unofficial visit and checked out the campus and a facilities. The we talked with the head coach Randy Hedberg in his office and he said that he wanted to offer me. He said that I was their first defensive player offered and I was really surprised. I was speechless for a minute. It`s a nice honor and nice to get that first offer."

Clark attended SIU-C`s camp last month and knew he did well but wasn`t`t expecting this offer now.

"Coaches at the SIU-C camp all told me how well I did and that they liked me. This shows me how much they liked what I did at their camp."

Besides SIU-C EJ has been busy on the road with camps.

"My first one was actually the US Army combine back in January.  I attended the SIU-C camp in June and have made trips to camps at Northern Illinois, Kansas and Wisconsin. All of those went really well, I felt that I had really good camps at NIU and Wisconsin and the Wisconsin coaches seemed to think I did well."

 Wisconsin is among the schools who have been recruiting EJ and they are a school he is interested in. However, he tells us that he is open to all the schools recruiting him.

" I have gotten interest from  Missouri, Wisconsin,Kansas,Northern Illinois, Minnesota,Northwestern,K-State, SIU-C, Indiana and others. I really like Missouri since they are right here at home and it would be great to be able to play for your home school. I have spoken to Coach Ford and he is a great guy. I also like Wisconsin a lot. Coach Doeren is their coach that I speak with and he has said some encouraging things to me. Right now though I like all the schools and I will keep my options open and see what happens."

 Clark missed the Mizzou one day in St. Louis because he was at the Northern Illinois camp.He has taken unofficial visits  to Missouri,Illinois,Iowa,Nebraska and Kansas along with his recent one to SIU-C.

EJ plans on majoring in either civil engineering or business in college. He continues to work hard on his skills and has participated in 7 on 7 with Desmet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. While he plays some LB at Desmet his position in college will be at DB.

" Most schools are looking at me as either a cornerback or safety. I can play either position. I have good strength,can cover people, plan man and I also love hitting people and being physical against the run." Clark added.

EJ Clark  recorded 50 tackles with 3 INTs and 1 fumble recovery in 2007.  His test numbers are reported as  4.5 in the forty, a 310 lb bench press and 400lb squat.