It also goes to why he thrived as a special teams gunner at Syracuse, and why he will likely continue to do so in Dallas, namely because the young safety loves rattling the oppositions’ teeth.
“I get to just play free, and then it’s just violence at the end,” Clark smiled and said. “Whoever is the most violent is going to win the rep.”
An added plot twist exists in his Week 12 story though, and it’s one that shows just how interwoven things can be in the NFL. As noted, Clark grew up in Camden and, in the days preceding the Cowboys’ matchup against the hated Eagles, there was a viral video of elementary school children punching bags in the school hallway that had faces of Cowboys taped to them.
As it turns out, that school is attended by Clark’s nephew, Jyion, and the security guard in the video is a former security guard at Camden High School, where Clark is an alum. His nephew did not participate in the punching bag session and instead immediately called his uncle to make sure that was understood, and Clark used what he saw — including the presence of the familiar security guard leading the hate-filled charge — to power up even more.
“I was just looking like, ‘OK, we’re going to show y’all when we get the chance,'” he said. “Yeah, a little extra boost to me.”
That boost launched him right through the chestplate of the Eagles and onto every teaching tape in the nation from that day forward.