Interview with Riverdale Louisiana’s Beastly LB Josh Clarke

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

Louisiana has had its share of different frightening tales over the years threatening the livelihood of the good people in the Bayou State. Some of the better stories that have kept going over time include the Swamp Monster or the Fouke monster, the paramafait, and the Rougarou. A new beast that is not fictional but equaling as frightening has been found in the town of Jefferson roaming the football fields of Riverdale High School. They call this beast Josh Clarke.

Clarke is described as being 6’2”, 215 pounds, and quick on quick. Facts show this beast devoured 149 innocent ball carries in 2014. The other punishment doled out to Louisiana high school offenses include 18 sacks, six forced fumbles, six interceptions, and three touchdowns scored.

The beast that is Josh Clarke has been starting since his freshman season proving time and time again he is one of the biggest monsters of the Louisiana gridiron in the 2017 recruiting class. Before the opening kickoff of his junior season college coaches hoping to unleash this apex predator onto unsuspecting Division-I talent includes Georgia, Arkansas State, Cincinnati, Idaho, Louisiana-Lafayette, Tulane, and Arizona State.

The offers are expected to grow when Clarke improves upon his sophomore numbers with schools like Alabama, FSU, Kansas State, LSU, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and UCLA all showing different levels of interest.

In a Recruiting News Guru exclusive interview I caught up with the exceptional young man before the Rebels open their 2015 season against South Plaquemines on Aug. 28.

Interview
Josh, the Rebels are coming off a 5-7 season that included a first round loss in the playoffs to Neville. How does the team look heading into the 2015 season?

“The team looks a lot different than last year. I think we have better leadership on this year’s team. The team is looking real good this year. We’ve been doing a lot of things with conditioning and running. We’ve been doing a lot of good things especially on defense which is a strength of our team. Last year was more of a joke winning a championship. This year we have people that are determined to make it further.”

What will be some of the strengths of this year’s team?

“Honestly, I think our biggest strong point this year is our conditioning. We run a lot, a lot. In the heat, no matter what, we run all day. In the first quarter we’ll be 100 percent and all the way to the fourth quarter we’ll be 100 percent. We won’t get tired at all. That is where we’ll beat a lot of people. We’ll beat a lot of people with our hurry-up no-huddle offense. That will help us a lot this year.”

You had a fantastic stat line from your sophomore season. Looking back how would you grade your performance?

“I think I did alright. I think I could have done better but because of my injury I was limited.”

What injury did you have?

“I had an ankle injury that slowed me down for four games.”

Are you 100 percent now? Is your ankle still bothering you?

“No, not at all. Yeah I’m 100 percent.”

What did you do in the offseason to improve your skill set and what were some of the things that you wanted to improve?

“I wanted to improve on my speed. I have good speed, I ran a 4.46 this summer. I wanted to get stronger and more athletic.”

Did you work on any technique in the offseason?

“I worked on breaking down into coverage and back peddling. I worked on a lot of coverage techniques.”

What are your strengths on the field at the linebacker position?

“One of my strengths is my speed. Another is I’m a big hitter and the other is that I am a very competitive person. I don’t want to get beat on routes. I always want to be there to get the tackle. I’m a very competitive person and that spirit comes into play on the field.”

Did you earn any individual honors at the end of last year?

“I was second-team All-State, because of my injury.”

What are your goals for the 2015 football season?

“My goal is to play my best to help the team get a win.”

Have you looked over the 2015 schedule yet and if so are there a couple of games that you are excited to play?

“Yeah, some of the games that I’m excited to play are Warren Easton (Oct. 8 – New Orleans), they were last year’s champs, McDonogh35 (Oct. 23 – New Orleans, and Karr Oct. 1 – New Orleans). Those are the top games that I’m excited to play.”

Will your role change this year? Will we see you on offense?

“Yes, you will see me at a lot of positions. I’ll be at running back, safety sometimes, and linebacker.”

How many touches will you get a game at running back?

“I’m guessing 15-20 plays a game.”

That’s a lot. Good thing you’ve done all of that running because you’ll be on the field a lot.

(Laughs) “Yeah.”

You have seven offers on the table right now, are there a lot of other schools showing interest in you?

“Yeah, once the season gets going I should have way more offers. I think my age is why some of the schools have held off.”

Your production on the field is there, the offers are coming. Take care of your classroom work and your ACT score and all the coaches will be there.

(Laughs) “Yes, sir.”

Did you go to any college camps during the offseason?

“Yeah, that is where I ran the 4.46 at the LSU camp. I went to the TCU camp and ULM (Louisiana-Monroe) camp. There were a couple of camps I could not go to because of distance but I went to Nike regional opening camp. Right after the ULM camp is when I got that offer. I think that’s about it.”

How did the LSU camp go for you?

“It went great. It went very great. I had talked to a lot of their coaches and I’ve been talking to Coach Frank (Wilson, recruiting coordinator) every since then. The whole defensive staff liked how I played, how well I moved, and my speed.”

The TCU camp, did that go well?

“The TCU camp went great. A lot of the coaches were talking to me right after. Some of the coaches, well the linebackers coach (DeMontie Cross) is supposed to attend one of my games this year.”

I know it is still really early for you but have you started thinking about what will influence which college you’ll attend? What are some of the things that you look at that will get you excited about a given college?

“Education has to come first but also, I’d like to go to a place where I feel comfortable with the coaching staff and also the team.”

Do you plan on taking any unofficial visits over the fall?

“Oh yeah. In about two weeks I’m going to Texas A&M and then I’ll probably visit Notre Dame, Oregon, FSU (Florida State). ULM called me wanting me to come back next week. LSU, I’ll be at LSU, and that’s all I have in mind right.”

You’ll get to see some of the best college football games in the nation this year. That’s a lot of games you’ll get to attend.

“Yeah.”

Have you thought about when you might verbally commit to a school?

“I’m going to wait until my senior year. Once I verbally commit that will be my school.”

What NFL player do you model your game after?

“Oh yeah, Notre Dame has one player I really like, Jaylon Smith. He’s an outside linebacker. His game is kind of like mine. I love his speed and the way he moves around to get to the ball. Her reads well and does a lot of things really well.”

What is your favorite part of playing football?

“The contact and the hitting, I love it. The hype, the noise before and after the game, I love it. I just love football.”

Good luck this year.

“Thanks.”

Photo credit: nola.com; Josh Clarke
Photo credit: twitter.com; Josh Clarke