Virginia Tech Football 2015 Recruiting Class First Look: Austin Clark

How critical was Austin Clark's flip from South Carolina to the Hokies? After years of offensive line recruiting misses, Clark an early enrollee, rated 28th among offensive tackle recruits in the country by the 247Sports Composite, will immediately compete for playing time at tackle.

Clark has an impressive set of credentials. At 6-6, 293 pounds, Clark has the ideal frame for an NFL-sized offensive tackle. Working under the tutelage of Fred Selfe (a small college All-American and legendary offensive line coach at Emory & Henry) coaching disciple Jason White at Rockbridge County High School, Clark received A+ coaching from one of the best teachers of offensive line play that Virginia's high school system has to offer. I regarded Clark as an absolute must-land recruit for Coach Searels debut class, and I was highly critical of Searels when Clark originally chose South Carolina.

While I am very excited that Clark decided to come to Blacksburg, I also want to preach caution. Offensive lineman, especially those who have not faced elite FBS-caliber speed, often struggle to adapt to the speed of the college game. Coleman Thomas, a talented offensive lineman from Fort Chiswell, struggled after being thrust into a starting role as a right tackle for Tennessee. The biggest challenge for Thomas was the speed of play. Rockbridge County plays a higher level of football than Fort Chiswell, on his game footage it is clear that very few of his opponents have ACC strength and speed. It is unfair to expect a freshman, especially at offensive tackle, to make the adjustment quickly

On tape, the first thing that really stands out on Clark is his explosive lower body strength. Clark is very explosive in his hips. When Clark delivers a blow to a defender, he doesn't use an elongated motion or big strides. His knees bend slightly, and in a subtle six-inch movement, he lifts defenders off the ground and plants them. His lower body strength and short explosion really makes him stand out. He has prototypical tackle size, and at 293, he can easily add 15 pounds of good weight without losing any quickness. He plays a bit too high (which looks worse on film because he is so much taller than most of his opponents) and he has one bad habit. Sometimes instead of running through his blocks, he plants his feet and tries to bench press defenders into the ground. That can work in high school, but you must have active feet on zone plays in order to finish blocks. Clark's feet are not particularly quick as is, so that will be a primary focus area along with his strength training this spring.

Clark takes tremendous pride in finishing blocks, and that kind of nasty attitude will be well paired with Wyatt Teller up front. On this inside zone, Clark gets outside leverage on the defensive end with an excellent jab step to his left.

Clark's hands are in perfect position; under the shoulders and driving up. He has a balanced base with his feet approximately shoulder-width apart. When the end doesn't stretch wide, Clark gets his momentum going backwards and then you see a quick explosive push to finish the block.

Two running plays that the Hokies used to have tremendous success with but have not featured since Scot Loeffler became coach are sprint draws and slow draws. In order for those plays to be successful, a tackle has to lure a defensive end up the field, and then use a throw technique. A throw technique involves allowing the defender to rush hard to the outside, and then the offensive lineman uses the defender's own momentum to throw him up field and behind the play. Clark loves to use the throw technique. Here, Rockbridge fakes a draw play and runs play-action.

Clark allows the defensive end to get some penetration, but keeps him to the outside. When the end tries to turn the corner, Clark puts his big right paw underneath the end's left armpit and shot puts him. What is most impressive is that Clark keeps his feet moving, so the effect is that of a train throwing the defender into the air and then landing on top of him. Many young offensive linemen will use a throw technique but stop their feet, and the end, while knocked off the shortest route to the ball carrier, is still in the play. The footwork that Clark demonstrates here will need to translate to other base blocks like the inside zone and stretch, but Clark's ability to get leverage and then finish the block is exciting.

When the Hokies use a pin and pull technique, it is critical for the offensive tackle play side to effectively block down on twitchy 3-technique defensive tackles.

Clark's down block technique is a bit shaky here. Ideally, his head would be between the chest of the defender and the ball carrier. Instead, when he makes contact with the defensive tackle, his head hits the defensive tackle on the outside of his shoulder. When you watch the tape again, focus closely on Clark's right foot. His first step should be a sharp jab step with that right foot at an angle almost towards the center. Instead, Clark pivots his right foot, and then crosses over with his left foot. Clark does a wonderful job of recovering and drives the defensive tackle way inside, but that split second against a defensive tackle with the quickness of a Luther Maddy will mean lots of blown up runs in the backfield. Clark could get away with those kinds of fundamental errors in high school, but in the ACC that defensive tackle will blow right past him into the back field. Expect Clark to spend much of the spring really focusing on making the correct quick first step on every technique.

You can see both the potential and area for improvement for Clark clearly on this back side scoop.

Here, Clark has to get his body in between the three-technique and a running lane to the right side. Clark takes a magnificent first step here and completely walls off the defensive tackle. Once his body is in place, he decides to plant his feet and throw the defensive tackle back to the outside. I love the attitude and the explosiveness, but that habit of planting the feet and throwing guys just isn't sustainable at the next level. As you saw with Wang and Benedict, you can't bench press a defender if they keep their feet moving and have close to equal strength. Plus, when you rag doll a guy down to the ground and your feet are not moving, it looks like a hold to an official.

I think Austin Clark is going to be one heck of an offensive lineman for the Hokies. To give a comparison, his highlight film is much more impressive than Jonathan McLaughlin's. McLaughlin then wowed the Hokie coaching staff before winning the starting left tackle job as a freshman. Given the lack of experienced tackles outside of McLaughlin, Hansen, and Conte (with Conte's experience being limited to about 3 quarters of game experience), it is certainly plausible that Clark could make some noise. However, I preach patience. Clark will need to get accustomed to the speed of the game, and a spring season where he likely will be blocking down on the likes of Corey Marshall, pass protecting against Dadi Nicolas and Ken Ekanem won't make him look great early on. When watching him in open scrimmages and the Maroon–White Game, look for Clark's compete level against those top guys. He may not win every battle, but if he is working hard and making things tough for those first string guys, Clark may push up the depth chart in 2015.