Last month 2024 defensive lineman prospect Corey Clark had full intentions of returning to the Magnolia State juco ranks and playing another season at Northeast Mississippi Community College. But all of that changed in a major way following his Mississippi State camp appearance on Saturday afternoon.
Mississippi State’s staff wanted to see the Alabama native in person at camp before deciding on whether to offer Clark. Once he produced a good camp showing, Clark collected an offer from head coach Jeff Lebby and quickly committed to the Bulldogs. Mississippi State had one scholarship spot open on the 2024 roster and Clark took that spot on Saturday.
“Man, tears were coming out of my eyes,” noted the 6-foot-3.5 and 295-pound Clark. “I always wanted to play Power 5 football and being in the SEC, that was an even bigger blessing. Coach Lebby was the one who offered me and I committed right away. He saw me doing well at camp and I was doing what I was supposed to do. He saw me in the drills, saw me finish well. He said I deserved the offer and earned it. So now I am just waiting to report in July.”
Clark also held offers from Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, Coastal Carolina and UAB among others. The former Minor (Ala.) High School product began his college career at North Alabama, where he redshirted, before playing at Northeast Mississippi Community College last season. In his lone juco campaign, Clark totaled 23 tackles with 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
“It went well in my only year at Northeast,” recalled Clark. “We had a good team and I was able to make some plays. It was a good experience and I mostly played at three-tech. After redshirting the year before, it was just good to get back on the field again making plays.”
During that juco campaign, Clark mentioned that Mississippi State started showing interest before communication faded a little bit. But over the past couple of weeks, the recruiting pace picked up in a big way for Clark and the Bulldogs.
“Mississippi State was recruiting me during the season last year and we talked then,” Clark explained. “Things then kind of fell off. But an opportunity opened up for me last month and they wanted to see me at camp first to see how I would do. So I took that opportunity and made the most of it.”
As Clark began his day on Saturday, he had one goal in mind and that was to take advantage of the opportunity he was given. Saturday’s camp experience was also his first time to work with defensive line coach David Turner. Of course, now he will get a lot more opportunities to improve his game under Turner’s direction.
“It was really good at camp,” Clark said. “I knew I had to go out there, run around and play full speed. I had to play at the best of my ability and I did just that. It was my first time to be around Coach Turner and he’s a good guy. Out of all the defensive line coaches I’ve been around, he seems like the best one. I can’t wait to get up there so I can play under him.”
Once camp concluded, Clark also enjoyed the feedback he received from Turner regarding his performance on Saturday. And that conversation led to a life-changing moment for Clark.
“Coach Turner told me I did exactly what I told him I was going to do,” Clark mentioned. “He told me if I do my job then I would get an offer. He wanted to make sure I could plan and wanted to see how I could run. Afterwards he said I earned it and now I get to prove to him every day that I was worth that offer.”
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