Darion Clark (born April 9, 1994) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

who is a free agent. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

Early years

Clark attended Oak Hill Academy in

Mouth of Wilson, Virginia Mouth of Wilson is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community, in Grayson County, Virginia, Grayson County in the U.S. state of Virginia, just north of the North Carolina state line. The community lies in the Blue Ridge Highlands section of ...

. He played basketball in high school with Oak Hill Academy's basketball prep program.

College career

In college, he played basketball with the

Charlotte 49ers The Charlotte 49ers are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. The 49ers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

as a freshman in the 2012–13 season. Then, he transferred to

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

and played two seasons, 2014–15 and 2015–16, and transferred again as a senior to

Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball The Grand Canyon Antelopes men's basketball team represents Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona. They are a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). they are led by head coach Bryce Drew and play their home games at the GCU Arena. ...

and played for them in the 2016–17 season. When he was in USC, he used to hang out a lot with the USC football team and said he began to miss it, he said "I began thinking about football all the time, and then I began having dreams, where I was playing football very vividly". Before he went to Grand Canyon, he seriously considered joining the USC football team, but had shoulder surgery so he played his last season at Grand Canyon.

Professional career

Clark started football camp in January 2018 and attended the USC Pro Day in March 2018, but wasn't drafted in the

2018 NFL Draft The 2018 NFL Draft was the 83rd annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2018 NFL season. The draft was held on April 26–28 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas; it was the first draft ...

. He was invited to the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

rookie minicamp in April of that year, but was not signed afterwards. Clark also attended

the Spring League The Spring League was an American football developmental league and scouting event (pro showcase) that played from 2017 to 2021 and was founded by Brian Woods. Aimed at professional athletes but not paying a salary or expenses, the league's go ...

2019 season and later the Pacific Pro Scrimmage where he received invitations to workout with the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

and the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

Chicago Bears

On January 6, 2020, Clark signed a reserve/future contract with the

. He was waived/injured by the team on August 25, 2020, with a shoulder injury, and subsequently reverted to the team's

injured reserve list The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in th ...

the next day. He was waived on June 13, 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Darion 1994 births Living people People from Rockdale County, Georgia Sportspeople from the Atlanta metropolitan area Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) USC Trojans men's basketball players Players of American football from Georgia (U.S. state) American football tight ends Chicago Bears players Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia) alumni