STARKVILLE — Chris Jones knows plenty about motivation.
The Starkville High School football coach still keeps the rejection letters from the schools that interviewed him, then turned him down.
“I’ve been down that road before,” Jones said. “I know what it feels like to not be wanted.”
A few years ago, Jones saw the same fate befall one of his star Yellow Jackets. Starkville running back Rodrigues Clark grew up in the shadow of Mississippi State’s campus, hoping to play for the Bulldogs. Clark battled back from injuries, accrued huge rushing numbers and made his name known.
“He was the best football player, and he was the hardest-working kid,” Jones said.
But in the eyes of Clark’s hometown program, it wasn’t enough. MSU never offered Clark a scholarship, leaving the running back with a Davis Wade Stadium-sized chip on his shoulder. He found a home at Memphis, but the Bulldogs’ rejection still stung.
Three years later, Clark has a chance to make amends when his Tigers host Mississippi State on Saturday in a game Clark has been waiting for ever since.
“I just want to win, to be honest,” Clark said. “I just want to come out with the dub … and just show them what they could have had.”
Changing his life
On his first touch during a freshman football game at Tupelo on Sept. 24, 2015, Clark broke four tackles and soon neared the end zone.
There, a defender brought him down. Clark alleged the Golden Wave player executed a “gator roll” tackle, putting his weight on Clark’s right leg while trying to pull the other over his shoulder.
Clark broke his tibia and fractured his ankle. His season was over, and he was worried his football career might be, too.
But it wasn’t. Time passed. Clark’s left leg healed. He got back on the field.
Then he tore his meniscus in a practice the following September, and it was back to square one.
“OK,” Clark thought to himself, “where is this going to go?”
When Starkville hired Jones from Kemper County in January 2017, Clark met his new coach in the weight room on Jones’ first day. Already, the running back’s seriousness and work ethic stood out, Jones said.
And once Clark got healthy again, Jones reminded him just what was at stake.
“You can change your life if you just lock in for this season,” he told Clark.
The junior listened. He emerged from a committee of talented Starkville running backs to take the lead role in the Yellow Jackets’ backfield, piling up more than 1,700 yards during the 2017 season.
Soon, recruiting interest from colleges began to roll in. Mississippi State, where Clark’s former schoolmates Kobe Jones and Willie Gay Jr. had continued their careers, even “showed love.” Clark didn’t grow up a Bulldogs fan, but he went to MSU games, checking out the cowbells and seeing his friends compete. He thought he was next.
But the offer he was waiting for never came.
“It’s kind of crazy because they let A.J. Brown slip, too,” Clark said, referring to the Starkville High receiver who attended Ole Miss and now plays for the Tennessee Titans. “I’m not really tripping, but this game will be kind of personal.”
Changing the culture
Clark said he was never told exactly why Mississippi State chose not to take him.
The Bulldogs had picked up Columbus running back Kylin Hill in the Class of 2017 — two years prior to Clark — and the running back said he thinks it was the strength of MSU’s position group that left him the odd man out.
“It was hurtful,” Jones said. “He did want to go to State, but at the time, I guess, they didn’t see that he was needed as far as being on their team.”
Other programs saw what the Bulldogs didn’t. Southern Miss. Louisiana. Arkansas State.
And Memphis, where coach Mike Norvell did his best to sell Clark on a Tigers program putting running back after running back into the NFL. In recent years, the school has produced Darrell Henderson, Tony Pollard, Kenneth Gainwell, Antonio Gibson and more at the running back position alone.
“This is where you can become a star,” Clark was told.
Another selling point was the schedule. Clark was informed Memphis would have the chance to host Ole Miss in its 2019 season opener and to face his hometown Bulldogs two years later.
“It’s what I’ve been waiting on ever since I committed to Memphis,” Clark said. “To play Mississippi State, it’s going to be exciting.”
Once he decided to become a Tiger, Clark did some recruiting of his own, getting teammate and longtime friend Jalil Clemons to come to Memphis with him. The linebacker held an offer from Tennessee, but Clark was persuasive. On Dec. 19, 2018, they signed to Memphis together, two of 14 college football signees from Starkville that year.
“We’re going to kind of change it up,” the two agreed. “When we get here, it’s going to be a top school that everybody really wants to come to.”
Both players have done their part, becoming part of a Memphis team that has seen practically nothing but success under Norvell and later Ryan Silverfield. The Tigers won 12 games and an American Athletic Conference title in 2019, then went 8-3 a season later.
Clark saw only 26 carries as a freshman, but he stepped up as a sophomore, totaling 561 yards on 136 carries in 2020 as the Tigers’ leading rusher.
“I think he’s paying huge dividends for us, and we’re really glad we got him,” Silverfield said.
Changing the game
But Clark has seen his role change quite a bit as a junior.
Redshirt freshman Brandon Thomas won the competition for the starting job during fall camp, dropping Clark behind him on the depth chart.
Still, offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said Clark responded well to the adversity he faced. His role on special teams increased. His effort increased. He became a mentor to Thomas, whom Clark calls “my twin.”
“I don’t think there’s one player who I’m more proud of than Rodrigues Clark,” Johns said.
And Clark did all this while dealing with the loss of a friend. Zavier “Jig” Armstead was shot and killed while driving in Starkville on Aug. 15.
The two met in elementary school. Armstead’s grandmother lived near Clark’s mother, Ivory Gray. They met there to play and were friends ever since.
Clark described Armstead as a “cool, quiet person” and said he couldn’t believe it when he heard the news.
“I just was like, ‘I can’t believe it’s him out of everybody,’” Clark said.
Playing the 2021 season with Armstead’s memory in mind, Clark has had a strong start to the year. He lowered his shoulder on a Nicholls State defender during a touchdown run in his first game Sept. 4, finishing with 84 yards on nine carries; he then racked up 62 yards on nine attempts against Arkansas State the following week.
“I think it’s showing how productive he can be,” Silverfield said. “He’s been dynamic. He’s loving it. He’s an unselfish player. If I went out there now and asked him to be our lead blocker for 40 plays, he’d say, ‘Absolutely. Let me do it.’”
And Jones expects even more production when Clark faces the team he’s been waiting three years to see.
“I hope he goes out there and has a monster game,” Jones said. “That’ll be huge for him. He’s always been a driven person anyway, to be honest with you. This might be a little bit more to get him over the hump. This might be his breakout game for the season.”
The coach said he’s glad his former star found a home at Memphis and that it wasn’t “the end of the world” when Mississippi State overlooked him.
“Memphis gave him an opportunity,” Jones said. “To me, he’s more than grateful to have a chance to play and have a chance to play against his hometown team. I hope he does well.”
Make no mistake: Clark is highly motivated to hand the Bulldogs a loss and keep Memphis’ three-year home winning streak alive in the process.
But no matter how Saturday’s game shakes out, he knows his football career is still on the rise.
“Y’all just ain’t seen me yet, man,” Clark said. “Y’all just ain’t seen me yet. I’ve got so much more to show y’all.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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