John Clark wanted to stay in the Pacific Northwest.
On Sunday, the Marysville-Getchell football player turned down a handful of scholarship offers and committed to the University of Washington as a preferred walk-on, ending his recruitment just days before national-letter-of-Intent day on Wednesday.
A first-team All-Wesco 3A North selection on the offensive and defensive lines, the 6-foot-4, 255-pound Clark said he will play on the defensive side of the ball for the Huskies.
“I wanted to stay in Washington,” Clark said. “I didn’t want to be crazy far away. I’ve always wanted to be a Husky. That was the thing for me.”
Just committed to play football at the university of Washington! #GoDawgs #OKG #GodIsGreat pic.twitter.com/JX8XYpDw6m
— John Clark (@John_Clark42) February 1, 2015
Clark, who was named to The Herald’s 2014 All-Area second team as both an offensive and defensive lineman, had several schools show interest in him, including Washington State, Utah, Eastern Washington and the University of Texas-El Paso. He visited Washington last weekend and knew by Sunday that he wanted to be a Husky.
The Huskies first reached out to Clark in the spring, inviting him to one of their camps. Clark said he had a strong showing and remained in contact with UW’s coaches throughout the summer and fall.
Now, he’s happy to be done with the recruiting process.
“It’s a blessing but it’s a curse at the same time,” Clark said. “Between the phone calls and texts all the time, it gets tiring after awhile. It’s nice to know where I’m going now and I can prepare for that.”
Clark is expected to be joined at Washington by Austin Joyner, who played for Getchell’s crosstown rival, Marysville Pilchuck. Joyner has made a verbal commitment to UW.
“When he first came to Washington from Florida, we were on the same youth team,” Clark said. “It’s kind of cool being on the same team again.”
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