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In the hours before the national championship game was to kickoff (and with the heaviest 3 weeks of recruiting season to start immediately following the game), the 2017 Yellow Jackets’ recruiting class added its first commitment of the new year. Marist High School OL Charlie Clark had been committed to Tulane, but decided to stay a little closer to home.
#Swarm17 pic.twitter.com/P9pHBYgnIg
— Charlie Clark (@slight_clark76) January 9, 2017
Clark is listed at 6’4”, 270 pounds, and hails from Atlanta’s Marist High School. He commits to Georgia Tech after flipping from Tulane, a commitment he made in late May. Aside from the Green Wave, he had reported offers from Army, Florida Atlantic, and Georgia Southern, and interest from Louisville and Wake Forest. He becomes the fifth commitment in the recruiting class from the Metro Atlanta area, and the fourth offensive lineman.
A look at his senior year highlights (embedded below), first of all, show that Marist runs a nearly identical offense to the one Clark will be playing in at Georgia Tech. That said, Clark appears to be a very athletic and physical blocker. Clark moves very well for his size and shows an excellent level of physicality whenever he’s got an opportunity to do so. He also shows a great level of comfort with his assignment on numerous plays, occasionally making unnatural looking moves to ensure that he’s blocked his assignment. The two main things that concern me from these highlights are his pad level (which isn’t always an issue, and is a normal thing for high school linemen to struggle with) and his occasional hesitance in firing off of the ball.
With Clark’s commitment, Georgia Tech’s recruiting class now looks like this:
Georgia Tech’s 2017 Recruiting Class
| Position | Name | Ht | Wt | Hometown | Rivals | 247Sports Composite | Commit Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Name | Ht | Wt | Hometown | Rivals | 247Sports Composite | Commit Date | Status |
| DB | Jaytlin Askew | 5-9 | 170 | Powder Springs, GA | 3-star (5.7) | 3-star (0.8646) | 6/16/2016 | Enrolled (1/9/2017) |
| DB | Gentry Bonds | 6-1 | 190 | Murfreesboro, TN | 4-star (5.8) | 3-star (0.8545) | 8/18/2016 | Enrolled (1/9/2017) |
| P | Pressley Harvin III | 6-0 | 230 | Sumter, SC | 3-star (5.5) | 3-star (0.8145) | 3/7/2016 | Committed (3/7/2016) |
| OL | Connor Hansen | 6-2 | 320 | Tallahassee, FL | 3-star (5.5) | 3-star (0.8154) | 6/5/2016 | Committed (6/5/2016) |
| LB | TD Roof | 5-11 | 202 | Buford, GA | 3-star (5.5) | 3-star (0.8347) | 6/6/2016 | Committed (6/6/2016) |
| K | Joseph Bulovas | 6-0 | 205 | Mandeville, LA | 3-star (5.5) | 3-star (0.8099) | 6/10/2016 | Committed (6/10/2016) |
| DB | Dameon Williams | 5-10 | 170 | Norcross, GA | 3-star (5.5) | 3-star (0.8472) | 6/11/2016 | Committed (6/11/2016) |
| OL | Zach Quinney | 6-6 | 260 | Savannah, GA | 3-star (5.6) | 3-star (0.8396) | 7/19/2016 | Committed (7/19/2016) |
| OL | Michael Minihan | 6-3 | 285 | Honolulu, HI | 3-star (5.5) | 3-star (0.8403) | 7/24/2016 | Committed (7/24/2016) |
| DB | Tre' Swilling | 6-0 | 180 | New Orleans, LA | 4-star (5.8) | 3-star (0.8752) | 8/22/2016 | Committed (8/22/2016) |
| LB | Bruce Jordan-Swilling | 6-0 | 215 | New Orleans, LA | 4-star (5.8) | 4-star (0.9230) | 8/23/2016 | Committed (8/23/2016) |
| RB | Jerry Howard, Jr. | 6-0 | 210 | Rock Hill, SC | 2-star (5.4) | 3-star (0.8092) | 11/21/2016 | Committed (11/21/2016) |
| QB | Tobias Oliver | 6-2 | 180 | Warner Robins, GA | 2-star (5.4) | 3-star (0.8374) | 11/27/2016 | Committed (11/27/2016) |
| DL | Cortez Alston | 6-3 | 250 | Atlanta, GA | 3-star (5.6) | 3-star (0.8534) | 12/21/2016 | Committed (12/21/2016) |
| OL | Charlie Clark | 6-4 | 270 | Atlanta, GA | 2-star (5.3) | 2-star (0.7951) | 1/9/2017 | Committed (1/9/2017) |
Congratulations to Clark, his family, and the Georgia Tech coaching staff!