Nearly a month after leaving the West Coast, Chris Clark has found a new college football home on the East Coast.
While there’s nothing official yet from the school, Clark confirmed to Scout.com that he has decided to transfer to Syracuse and continue his playing career with the Orange. Clark had confirmed in the middle of September that he had decided to transfer out of UCLA and would likely end up moving on to somewhere closer to his home state of Connecticut.
Quite the controversy was stirred up around Clark’s transfer when it was revealed that UCLA hadn’t granted the tight end a release to schools such as Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. That ban was ultimately rescinded, although it’s believed none of the Big Ten schools had much of an interest to begin with.
North Carolina State, Pittsburgh and Virginia were ultimately linked to Clark before he opted for the ‘Cuse.
“Just because of how comfortable I feel there,” Clark explained to the website when discussing his decision. “All the guys on the team I felt really comfortable with. It’s really close to home and I like the closeness of the school. It’s just a good fit.
“I feel like they have all this young talent and they’re getting a lot of production from it. I think in a couple of years, they’re going to be really good and I can be a part of that.”
A four-star member of the Bruins’ 2015 recruiting class, Clark was rated as the No. 1 tight end in the country; the No. 2 player at any position in the state of Connecticut; and the No. 79 player overall according to Rivals.com. He played in the season opener for the Bruins, but that was his only action at the school.
It’s expected that Clark will pursue a waiver that would permit him immediate eligibility in 2016. If that waiver were to be denied, Clark would then have three years of eligibility remaining beginning in 2017.