MOBILE, Ala. - When Joey Jones was hired to lead the University of South Alabama's brand new football program in February 2008, he brought with him experience guiding a start-up venture at Birmingham-Southern after helping the Panthers return to the field for the first time in decades the previous fall.
One of the key areas he wanted to address following a 3-7 campaign in his only season at BSC was making sure that the Jaguars would field a somewhat experienced squad when games began in 2009. In Birmingham, Jones' initial team had only 11 players on the roster who weren't freshmen, and he has since stated that oftentimes on the field his players would look around wondering who were the leaders to follow.
Jones addressed the issue immediately, taking in 33 transfers from four-year schools - including eight from Birmingham-Southern - who would end up on the roster when the Jags practiced for the first time last spring. As part of the program's initial recruiting class, he added 10 junior college transfers prior to the start of the spring semester.
That group included seven offensive linemen, five of whom are still with the team this fall. According to Jones, not only was the reasoning behind that as much for mental reasons as it was physical, but because of the available talent pool.
"The plan was to get as many junior college kids as we could the first couple of years because of their physical and maturity level," he said. "First, when you go into a college football game as a true freshman on the offensive line, you're not ready to play most of the time, so that was why we started there. The second reason was there were a lot of offensive linemen available - especially to us - in junior colleges last year.
"I think the plan worked out perfectly."
And when opening day arrived, four of those former junior college players - Chris Brunson, Jon Griffin, Brian Krauskopf and Cory Pittman - made their way into the starting line-up. The fifth, Levi Slaydon, has been a valuable reserve seeing plenty of action as well.
At the center of it all though, literally, is a redshirt freshman.
Trey Clark has been on the field for 186 of the Jaguars' 244 offensive snaps as USA has jumped out to a 4-0 start this fall. As a center, his responsibilities include more than just opening up holes for running backs and protecting the passer.
"To an extant it's harder to play center," stated Clark. "You have to identify the defense and make certain calls so it's a little more vocal. I take responsibility for trying to recognize blitzes, and there is a certain amount of pressure involved in doing that. At the same time, I believe that I thrive under pressure.
"But, as far as blocking goes, it's no harder than guard or tackle."
"Playing center, you are the quarterback of the offensive line," John Turner, who coaches the Jags' centers and guards, added. "You have to be the leader of the group because you have to be able to identify the defenses and get everybody going in the right direction. And there's the added element of just snapping a football, and firing off the ball and having to block somebody right in your face - at center, the only separation you have between you and the defender is the length of the ball. When you're in that kind of close quarters and you have to make a perfect snap - because so much of what we do is dependent upon that - it adds another dimension in what we are asking Trey to do.
"Center is a valuable position, and guys that can play there with those qualities really make themselves valuable to our offensive line."
"One thing that Trey does very well is identifying defenses and getting everybody on the same page," stated Jones. "That's critical for a center."
The experience surrounding Clark has made the job easier, though, in his first season on the collegiate level. "Those guys beside me make me look good," he explained. "They're great, I am so thankful to have four experienced guys beside me. They know what they are doing, so it definitely helps me with what I do.
"I love those guys to death."
Actually, having so many junior college transfers on the field is a reason that the coaching staff has had little trouble inserting Clark into the lineup in the middle of the group.
"When you look around, he has experience everywhere around him including at tight end and H-back," Turner said. "All these guys around him add to his comfort in knowing that he can rely upon them. They do a good job of helping him and alerting him to things that he may not have seen with his experience level. They give him a hard time, and I do too, because he gets the credit for being the quarterback of the line."
With USA gaining over 400 yards and almost 40 points per outing, most of the attention has been focused on the individuals who have reaped the results of the offensive line's productivity. Brandon Ross has rushed for 361 yards and eight touchdowns, while Courtney Smith has made 11 receptions for 193 yards and two scores of 60 yards or more.
That doesn't bother Clark and his linemates, however. He believes that the work of the offensive line in helping the Jaguars rack up those number has been appreciated.
"That's never been a problem with me," Clark commented. "I'm not someone who likes attention that much. I just like going out and playing the game."
As such, one will find that Clark is a fairly relaxed individual off the field. "Among our linemen, a lot of guys like fishing. We like to tone it down outside of practice," he stated. "When you're going hard every day at practice, you really don't have much time or energy for anything too demanding.
"We are tight on and off the field. We've become really great friends who like to spend time together."
That is reflected when Clark is at home as well, where he likes to watch movies in what little spare time he has - he favors comedies over the thriller or action genre.
Clark has been playing football since he was seven years old. All but one of those have been as part of the offensive line.
"My first year I played on the wing, but after that I have always been on the offensive line," he recalled.
Even though at 6-foot-1 and 265 pounds he is the smallest starter on the line for the Jags - "I enjoy it from the standpoint that every day I have to make sure that I'm fundamentally sound and perfect technique-wise," he said - the reason he has spent virtually all of his time at the position is because that wasn't the case. "In little league I was usually one of the bigger guys, but ever since I got to high school I have been one of the smallest," he said. "Fundamentally I have always been decent, so I guess that's why they decided to leave me on the line."
When he got to Prattville High School, where he played for current USA assistant coaches Bill Clark, Chuck Dunn and Duwan Walker, becoming one of the smaller players up front didn't prevent Clark - or the team, for that matter - from experiencing tremendous success. The Lions would make the state 6A playoffs in each of his four years, culminating in a state championship in 2006 when he served as a team captain his senior season.
By that point in time, winning was old hat for Clark.
"I won three or four little league championships, and we made the playoffs every year at Prattville including going undefeated my senior year," he stated. "I've been very blessed."
Still, all that success didn't translate into much interest from colleges. Only Navy recruited Clark seriously at the Division I level, and he wound up spending the fall 2007 semester at Navy Prep. "I knew that by going to the prep school, if I decided I didn't like it and wanted to pursue something else it wouldn't count against my eligibility," he recalled. "That was the biggest thing. I would give it a shot, and if it didn't work out, I would have all my years left and look for the next opportunity."
He was a part-time student at Troy-Montgomery when a call came from Bill Clark.
"When coach Clark got the job he called and told me he would love for me to come down here and play," Clark recalled. "I love coach Clark, and he did a great job coaching our high school. I have a lot of respect for him, so I wanted to come. It seemed like a great university and a great opportunity for me."
"We knew we had a good player when he got here with his work ethic, his demeanor and the way he carried himself," commented Turner. "You could just tell he was a leader, but you could also tell that he is just a good person. Because of that, he's somebody you want to put out there and when you do, you have the utmost trust in him."
Size does matter when it comes to football. Starting with the recruiting process and determining who continues their high school career, and at what level school a student-athlete ends up attending.
"Obviously you have to be a certain size to have a chance to play - you can't be 190 pounds and play on the offensive line," stated Jones. "On the line, you probably need to be in the 250-260 range, and if you're that size you better be really quick. Hopefully down the road, we're not going to recruit kids less than 275 pounds, and in eight to 10 years we hope that we'll be recruiting players with a minimum 285 pounds.
"But I really believe that offensive linemen have to have great feet. I don't think a lineman at 330 pounds does you any good if he can't move his feet," he added. "Defensive players now are too quick and they get on you too fast. To me, positioning yourself correctly - which is dependent on your feet - gives you a chance to play.
"If you have a guy who weighs 300 pounds and has quick feet that's great, but right now we have to find guys who are 260-270 like Trey and Jon."
Though Clark has been considered an undersized offensive linemen since getting to the high school level, he never let it affect his performance and his aspirations.
"I think size played a part when I was recruited," he observed. "But I never doubted the fact that I could play with the bigger guys. I just made the decision to give it a shot - no matter what, I knew I could play."
"We knew that he was great leader, other people around him play better because of him," Jones said. "He only weighed about 240 pounds when he came here, but we felt like he could put some weight on him. Although we knew he wasn't going to be a 280-pound kid, we were just hoping to get him to 260.
Now that Clark is at USA, size still matters. In the Jaguars' debut on Sept. 5, the eight players listed as defensive tackles on Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy's roster averaged 6 feet, 2 inches and 302 pounds. And the defensive line of Georgia Military Junior College measured 6-foot-2 and 276 pounds on average.
Despite the differential in size, it hasn't prevented the Jags from averaging better than 270 yards per contest on the ground. Clark is quick to credit USA's defensive line - which averages 277 pounds - for the team's success thus far.
"I've enjoyed going against them in practice. I think our defense has done a great job helping prepare us," he commented. "Our defensive line is better and more disciplined than any we've seen this year, so they've done a great job of getting us ready to go."
The game plan put together by coordinator Greg Gregory and the rest of the Jaguar offensive staff hasn't disappointed him either. "They've helped us establish a tough, hard-nosed game plan each week, and that's our identity right now," he said. "We're going to come out, hit you in the mouth and run the ball down your throats.
"You're more aggressive, and that's always what I've been best at," he continued. "I enjoy the physical part of coming off the ball."
When his collegiate career is over and he has graduated from USA, Clark is interested in pursuing a master's degree. While his father, Kyle, is a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service, Clark is interested in eventually opening his own gym.
Although at first glance it would appear that he has no interest in following in his father's footsteps, it was what his dad did outside of the office that has Clark leaning in that direction.
"My dad has always been big on running and other kinds of exercise," he said. "When I was growing up, he would always take me to the YMCA. I've been around it so long and enjoyed it so much over the past few years, I really developed a passion for it when I got to high school.
"It's not so much not wanting to do what he does. I just know that it's something I want to be involved with."
Although Clark has been interested in the gym for years and would like to follow that path in the future, it hasn't meant that he has added the role of strength coach to his responsibilities as a player in the USA program. "I pretty much take care of myself," he stated. "I have to make sure that I'm doing it right first, though if they have any questions I'm glad to help. I try to mind my own business."
So maybe in the future he can take over for the Jags' current strength and conditioning coach Justin Schwind?
"That would be fun, but I think I would rather open a gym and work with a smaller number of guys. I don't know if I can handle a big group like that."
Before he can worry about what the future holds, though, there is a still a focus on helping build USA's program as it progresses to the NCAA Division I-A/Football Bowl Subdivision level in 2013. Being a part of the process is very important to Clark.
"It means so much, there's a lot of pride in being part of the first team," he said. "When I come back, I expect things to be nothing but first class. I know this program has already started on the right foot and it's going to continue to progress. There's going to be something very special here in five to 10 years.
Future Jaguar fans looking back will more than likely find as they investigate the program's first season that Clark will have been at the center of the team's success.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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