Charlie Clark stands a towering 6-foot-7 and weighs in at 280 pounds, but the junior from Madison Edgewood High School has only been playing football for a short amount of time.
Even during that brief stretch, there have been bumps in the road for the class of 2021 standout.
"I came to football pretty late," Clark told BadgerBlitz.com. "The first down I played was in 8th grade on the West Regents. We were undefeated and mercy-ruled nearly every team until the unofficial state championship, which we still won by 22 against Kaukauna.
"Sammy Smith from Madison West High School was one of my teammates. This is what hooked me on football."
When Clark arrived at Edgewood as a freshman, he was set embark on his prep football career before he sustained a season-ending leg injury. And this spring, another unforeseen setback occurred.
"I was ready to go my freshman year, then I had a patella dislocation, which took me out for the season," Clark said. "About two weeks ago, I was meeting with (former Wisconsin assistant strength coach) Brian Bott to set up our plan for strength and conditioning this spring and summer, then the whole COVID-19 pandemic began. At that exact moment I had an emergency appendectomy.
"I have a little over two weeks to go until I can get back to training, at least at home. Now I’m looking forward more than ever to getting back to work because of the appendectomy."
Despite the injuries, Clark, who also plays basketball at the varsity level, has been able to garner recruiting interest from a number of different schools.
"I have taken unofficial visits to Stanford, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Northern Illinois," Clark, who carries a 4.2 GPA and scored a 34 on his ACT, said. "I have also received interest from Harvard and I've had some contact with Iowa State. But mainly now it is schools from Minnesota and the Dakotas.
"I’ve always loved basketball and I’m on an AAU team, but my primary focus is getting ready for summer football camps and combines. I’m a little over 6-foot-7 and about 280 pounds. I feel like I can get way stronger and easily have the frame that a college offensive lineman is expected to have. I just turned 17 in January."
The in-state Badgers have already hosted Clark for unofficial visits. But after they signed five scholarship linemen in the 2020 class with two tackles already committed in the junior cycle, Clark is aware Wisconsin may be at capacity.
"I took the visit to Wisconsin as a sophomore and it was the first visit I took," Clark said. "It was super impressive at every level. The weight room, the locker room - all the facilities were great. They seem to be totally packed with offensive linemen right now, including the class of 2020 and 2021, so I would say that their attitude towards me is to wait and see what I develop in to."
When on-campus visits resume, Clark is hoping to get back out on the road to see some schools.
"I would like to see North Dakota State, South Dakota and Northern Iowa," Clark said. "I’m hoping to get some more D1 interest, but that will have to wait until combines and camps get back going."
