Ohio State recruiting: Chris Clark, 2015 TE, talks OSU offer

Ohio State's coaching staff has handed out quite a few offers over the past couple of days to players in the 2015 and 2016 recruiting classes.

That trend continued last night when the staff extended an offer to Avon (CT) Old Farms tight end Chris Clark, who is one of the best tight ends in the 2015 recruiting class.

The offer came as a bit of a surprise to the 6-foot-5-inch, 245 pound tight end as he hadn't had much contact with the coaching staff going into the day. Obviously all of that changed very quickly as the Bucks became the 10th team to offer Clark.

"I got a Facebook message from Mark Pantoni this morning telling me that he really liked my tape and was trying to get Coach Hinton to take a look at it, but he was in practice at the time," the newly offered Clark said. "I got a message later in the day from Pantoni telling me to call coach Hinton. Coach Hinton told me that he really liked my tape and told me I was just what they were looking for at the tight end position. He said they really wanted a good tight end in the 2015 class because they probably weren't taking one in the 2014 class. Then he offered me."

While he's from the East Coast, he said he knew a little bit about the Buckeyes and is looking forward to learning more now that he's received an offer from the Bucks.

"I know a lot about the football program, but I hadn't heard from the coaches until today," he continued. "I know they're a big time school and a big time football powerhouse."

It's still pretty early in the process for him, so he hasn't been on too many recruiting trips, but that will change as he wants to see a lot of schools in the next couple of months.

"I've checked out Syracuse twice, most recently for the Boston College-Syracuse game, but that's about it," he told Land-Grant Holy Land. "I want to get out to see some schools in the next couple of months, but I'm not sure on the dates just yet. I really want to see Georgia, Ohio State, and a couple of the other schools who have offered me."

Every school who is recruiting Clark likes him at the tight end position, but he could be used in a couple of different ways when he reaches the college level.

"A lot of coaches have told me they would also use me in the slot, which is one of my strengths," he continued. "I'm also a pretty good blocker, so I would still be used in blocking situations."

Recruiting is just starting to pick up for Clark, so he doesn't have any leaders as things currently stand, but he does have an idea of when he would like to make his college decision.

"Right now I'm just trying to take things in and look over all of my options, so I don't have any leaders or top schools," he told Land-Grant Holy Land. "I definitely want to make my decision sometime before my senior season gets under way, but I don't have an exact date right now."

When he does sit down to make his college decision, there will be a couple of factors that will weigh heavily into the decision.

"I just want a place where I can excel academically and on the football field," he said. "I want to find a place where they use the tight end a lot and a place where the coaching staff is going to be around for awhile. I don't want to go to a school where the coach is going to leave for another job after a year or two."

Every school that has extended him an offer is recruiting him pretty hard, but there are a couple of coaches he has been able to develop good relationships with early in the recruiting process.

"All of the schools who have offered are recruiting me pretty hard and so are schools like Nebraska, Arizona State, and a few others who are close to offering," he told Land-Grant Holy Land. "I've started developing good relationships with coach Lilly at Georgia and coach Leonard at Boston College because they've been around me for the longest period of time."

Clark has many strengths on the football field, but there are some things he would like to improve in his game in order to become the best player possible.

"The strongest parts of my game are definitely my hands and my ability to get open," he said. "I would like to improve my route running and blocking ability. I'm good in those areas, but I think there's a lot of room for improvement."

In addition to his offer from Ohio State, he holds offers from Boston College, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Temple, Texas Tech, and Virginia.