Clark, Poets to open bid for state title No. 4
Devin Clark won’t be getting much sleep Friday night.
The Dunbar senior is much too eager to get on the football field Saturday morning when the three-time defending state Class 1A champion Poets kick off their season on the official first day of fall practice for Maryland public school teams.
"Wow, it’s a lot of excitement," said Clark, a 6-foot-4, 260-pound defensive end/right tackle. "Basically, this year is like everything to me, because ... I want to make a big impact. This is my last year and I’ve got to let people know who I am on and off the field."
A lot of people already know who Clark is. He didn’t start playing football until the eighth grade, but he has scholarship offers from UNLV, Towson and Morgan State. Set to be a four-year starter, he could become the Poets’ first four-time state champion.
Clark is always looking to improve his game. He went to several camps over the summer, including those at West Virginia, Lafayette and Temple, but, he said, the Poets’ summer training regimen was tough.
"The offseason workouts? It was crazy. I thought practice had started," he said with a laugh. "Oh my goodness. I think we’re in shape now.
"The first day of practice, I think is going to be a little different compared to other years. In other years, we would just run, do push-ups all day, all the drills. This year, I think it’ll be a little different, because everybody they want to play is in shape. We’ll probably jump right into it and start breaking apart people like who can do this and who can do that. I feel relieved that [the conditioning] is off my shoulders and now I’ve just got to get through the season."
The Poets will have a new look this fall. Gone is the big-play offensive ability of running back Tavon Austin, who took his collection of state records and headed off to West Virginia. Now the Poets have an exceptionally strong linebacking corps, which coach Lawrence Smith said some college coaches have pegged as the best in the country, at the heart of their title hopes.
But even with 22 seniors gone from last year’s squad and only five returning seniors, Clark said, the team is certainly aiming for a fourth straight title. Six transfers and a group of guys up from a JV team that went 11-0 and allowed only six points all of last season should help.
For Clark, winning state title No.4 would be the perfect end to his Dunbar years.
"That would be a God’s gift," Clark said. "That’s what I would call it, because just winning two alone shocked me. And then for the third time? That was amazing. That was a whole other planet. Just getting the fourth one, I would cherish it a lot. Even if we don’t make it, I’m still going to cherish my year, because I know how far I came and how far the program came. But it would make me real happy in the future to look back and think, 'I won four state championships.'"
Maybe he’ll dream about that Friday night -- if he ever gets to sleep.
-- Katherine Dunn
