Unbelievable Senior Day Interview with DC
Wow. My favorite interview with Darryl Clark ever! Sorry, I'm a yakarse and can never tell which BWI articles are premium or not, so hopefully posting this one quote won't be verboten:
"How do you want everyone to remember you?
Clark: Well, I definitely want to be remembered as a guy who gave a 100 percent effort on that football field every single time we take it. Off the field as well. A gentleman, class act, a very humble guy who has appreciated everything Penn State has given me and the road that I took to get here. I just want to be remembered as a good guy, a good football player, one who didn't slack in the classroom and just took advantage of every situation that was given to me and a person that stayed very humble with everything that's been put my way, accolades and all."
Dag, has this kid ever grown! Vintage, Classic Penn Stater. I'll miss you DC. Have a great Senior Day!
about 2 years ago
jtothep
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Well,
I’ll only remember him as someone who couldn’t win a big game.
Sorry, DC. You’re a good guy, but it’s the truth.
NittanyWhiteOut.com. Arguably the second best Penn State blog I know of.
Maybe you should worry less about how Clark is remembered and more how you'll be remembered
Sam Lickliter. Never forgive. Never forget. Beat IU.
by ReadingRambler on Nov 12, 2009 1:19 PM EST up reply actions 6 recs
Then I feel a little bad for you
He’s a Penn State success story. A kid from a shitty town with crappy grades that pretty much everybody else gave up on, that we turned into a legitimate college football player, and who’ll walk away better for having been a part of our program.
But, we lost a few games so it’s all worthless. That’s kind of a depressing atitude to have, if you ask me.
Beat Indiana, I guess.
Hey, this dudes first positive, non douchea comment will be somehwere near his first.
Just let him be.
Black Shoes. Basic Blues. No Name. All Game.
"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth."
thanks for that
Look, I like Daryll Clark. I really do. He’s a great guy, a great leader, and he’ll reflect well on this university for years, probably.
But he’ll be remembered as Wally Richardson. A good guy who could never win the big game. For better or for worse, that’s his legacy. And that’s the fact of the matter. When we’re looking back at Daryll Clark twenty years from now, I doubt we’ll remember him as a gentleman. We’ll remember the failures against Iowa and OSU. I hate to be such a downer, but it’s the truth.
NittanyWhiteOut.com. Arguably the second best Penn State blog I know of.
Except it's not the truth
Penn State football is not all about wins and loses. If it is to you, I think you’re missing the point. It’s stories like Daryl Clark’s that help calm me down after losses.
I don’t remember Wally Richardson as a guy that couldn’t win a big game. You know why? Because it’s bullshit. Wally beat Michigan twice and won two bowl games, one of which was the Fiesta Bowl. Further, Wally didn’t lose to Ohio State in 1995, Eddie George and David Boston beat us.
So no, I won’t only remember the failures. I’ll remember beating Ohio State in Columbus [you know he did play, right?] ending that god forsaken streak against Michigan, then proving it wasn’t a fluke. Owning Wisconsin and Michigan State last year. Winning the league.
This guy is a loser? Try to get some propsective.
Beat Indiana, I guess.
by jesse. on Nov 12, 2009 4:15 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
When did I call him a loser?
I wrote this article about Clark before the OSU game.
Here’s a quote:
Daryll Clark’s legacy hinges, almost entirely, on the outcome of tomorrow’s game. Should he lose, Clark will gain the reputation of a player who was great, but not when it mattered. Sure, he could beat the Illinoises and the Minnesotas of the world, but he crumbled under the pressure of playing a nationally ranked opponent. Lose tomorrow, and the doubts come creeping in, that Daryll Clark just couldn’t win the big one.And you know what, Michigan really wasn’t any good when he beat them. And he wasn’t in there when the Lions overcame the Buckeyes last year. If Penn State goes down to the Buckeyes on Saturday, it’s a bigger loss for Daryll than it is for anyone else.
But win tomorrow, and he’s the first quarterback in Penn State history to sweep Ohio State and Michigan in consecutive years, and he’d make Penn State the first school to accomplish that feat in over 40 years. Win tomorrow, and he’s almost certainly led Penn State to back to back 11-win seasons for the first time since 1985 and 1986. Win tomorrow, and the Penn State faithful forever mentions Clark’s name alongside Kerry Collins, and Todd Blackledge, and Chuck Fusina. Win tomorrow, and come Sunday, they’ll be talking about Daryll Clark as a darkhorse Heisman candidate.
Win tomorrow, and Daryll Clark puts the final touch on a legacy that matches up to his incredible play on the field.
So despite how humble Daryll Clark is, and no matter how much he wants to take the emphasis off of himself, it doesn’t matter. The outcome of this game means everything for Daryll Clark, and what we’re saying about him in 20 years. This one’s for all the marbles.
And I couldn’t be more confident in the man Penn State has under center.
I have nothing against Daryll Clark. Not a thing. Daryll Clark has a great story, sure. Like I said, this is nothing against him as a person. When I think about football, I try to make a line of demarcation between the player and the person. For example: Do I think Josh Hull is the hardest worker I’ve ever seen, and a role model if there ever was one? Of course. But I can still call him a weak link of the defense. I don’t think anyone ever questioned Nick Sukay’s character, but I can still recognize him as blowing the coverage that led to a couple deep passes. It’s not on them the person, it’s on them the person.
So yes, I admire Daryll Clark, for what he’s done for this team. He led us to a Rose Bowl, and that’s something that we hadn’t done in 15 years. But this year was incredibly disappointing, and I’ll unfortunately remember Clark more for this than for anything else.
I don’t want to talk about last year’s OSU game, because he left and we were losing. I don’t know whether we would’ve won or lost, but I know he went 9 of 23 and 12 of 32 against Iowa the last two years.
When I think back to my years in college, I’ll remember going to the games and rooting for Daryll Clark. I’ll remember him as a great leader and a great representative of this school.
But I’ll also remember how painful the losses were to Iowa and to Ohio State, and how he struggled so mightily in those games.
Is that fair? Maybe not. But it is college football. As a player, Daryll Clark will be remembered for this dissapointment of a year. I hope we back into a BCS bowl, and I hope he wins it, not for us, but for Daryll, because he deserves to end his career on a high note. But until then?
NittanyWhiteOut.com. Arguably the second best Penn State blog I know of.
I mean this.
When I think back to my years in college….
When your my age, you’ll talk about Daryl Clark like was he was a greek god and pray that nobody finds the stuff you wrote about him when you were in school.
You’ll put you kid on your knee and tell him about this great kid, and what it means to be a Penn Stater, and all the fluff that as you read this right now is just bullshit. But trust me, I’ve been there.
Beat Indiana, I guess.
Then remember the good, and put the losses behind you, they're in the past
Of course the losses hurt. I bet if you were to ask any PSU player who lost a big game, they’ll say they’ll take the pain of it with them to the grave. Like the 1977 season, with one loss to Kentucky, or the 1979 Sugar Bowl NC that lost to Bama on a 4th and goal goal-line stand, or the 1985 team that lost one game (the NC game) to Oklahoma, only to come back the next season and defeat Miami for Paterno’s second national championship.
When I was younger, I always loved hearing football stories from my father about seeing classic games (like 48-14, or the 1982 NC game in New Orleans with his best friend from college), and classic players he got to see playing for State (Cappelletti, Skourpan, O’Neil, Ham, Harris, Mitchell, Blackledge, etc.). If I ever have children, DC17, no matter what he does beyond his PSU career in NFL or not, will always be a story I’ll tell my kids about, as Deon would want. How he overcame so many obstacles to get to where he is now, as one of PSU’s all time great QBs. You have to take the good with the bad, but I’m sorry if you are going to let four losses in two years tarnish the image of a guy who IS Penn State, and bleeds blue and white, and one of the greatest examples of what it means to be a Nittany Lion both on and off the field.
When I think about 2008, I’ll always smile because I’ll remember the fist pumps, Butler’s pump-up speech before tOSU, winning in Columbus for the first time since 1978, making Pryor cry on the bench after the game, celebrating a bit too hard downtown after beating tOSU (I didn’t do anything, I swear, I went to celebrate, not to destroy!), finally ending that Zug-forsaken streak against Michigan, and just how damn fun last year was. Sure there were heartbreaks: we lost on a last second field goal in the most accursed stadium and state (next to Ohio and Michigan) in the country. We also got crushed by USC, only to start a 2nd half surge which no team who had played them that season had managed to do. Sure we still lost, but part of that was thanks to DC17 and the players around him. He will always be special to me when I finally graduate because of how much freaking fun I’ve had the past two season. Sure there have been let downs this year and last, but a guy with that much character, leadership and class deserves to be considered one of the greats in our schools history, and at the very least will always be to me.
Well, that's pretty damn eloquent
As someone who hasn’t been around to watch so much Penn State football, I’ll chalk my own feelings down to a lingering post-OSU game depression. I’ll try and rationalize them away, because in the end, it’s pretty clear that I was far too terse than the situation required.
I know that 2008 will be one of those seasons I remember for a long time. It was the first time I really got behind a Penn State team, the first time I set foot in Beaver Stadium, and a remarkable season in its own right. And I’ve never blamed Daryll for the loss in Iowa City.
To be honest with you, I’ve never been too much of a college sports fan. Sure, I rooted for some teams—notably Syracuse—but I never got to know the players like I feel like we all have with a Daryll Clark. And I’m so used to calling players a goat and saying they suck that the message gets lost.
This isn’t to say I wasn’t frustrated with Daryll Clark’s play on the field at times, but I agree that there’s much more to a legacy than just that. And even if this year was a massive disappointment, it wasn’t Daryll’s fault.
So…my bad.
NittanyWhiteOut.com. Arguably the second best Penn State blog I know of.
This thread
Is a credit to you both. I sat back down tonight to dole out some pwning, but reading these was far more satisfying.
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
this ^
I’ll take the pain of 1999 Minnesota/Michigan/Mich. State to my grave. But I’ll also always remember stomping Texas A&M 24-0 at the end of that year. 50,000 Aggie fans didn’t fill the Alamo Bowl to cheer on a mediocre A&M squad. They came to see Joe Paterno and the WE ARE LEGENDS travelling band.
Do you channel
bad Devon for BSD and save good Devon for NWO? Or is it the other way around?
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
I actually prefer guys like BlockONation
since at least I can laught at him for being a buckeye. I don’t have any reaction for PSUdevon other than that feeling you have towards the alcoholic uncle at family gatherings who always ruins the night by being a douchea.
by The JuggerNitt on Nov 12, 2009 5:04 PM EST up reply actions
I'm actually a really strong shirpa
Comes in handy round the tailgate—no need for grilling tools, I can just reach directly into the heat.
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
How I'll remember DC
I’ll remember him for a lot of the things he said he hopes for. It’s so easy to forget these kids are kids (even some wannabe bloggers). Thank gawd we’ve got JoePa around to help remind us.
With the turnover inherent in our favorite sport, if there’s a singular thing I’m looking for from players, after Class, it’s Growth. DC has embodied both. His academic growth and achievements are more than respectable—they’re inspirational. Even on the football field, his passing mechanics, efficiency and success have grown tenfold since the Alamo Bowl.
Man, I would love to see him have an absolutely huge Senior Day performance.
"For me the game wasn’t grounded in reality. It was about the uniform you put on that turned you into a warrior. It was about the mythology of the battle, the victory, the defeat, the struggle." - Mike Reid, PSU '69
What jesse. said
I love DC. There are plenty of athletes who have said “no” when asked to attend Prep School, and would not have been willing to put in the hard work.
Isn’t this supposed to be what CFB is about? Developing boys in to men?
Lucky gun, fake fifth, 8XY bitch
Daryll Clark, The Penn State Football Story Is...
At PSU it is...
Not necessarily at all schools though…
Read the "We are Penn State" magazine article about him
It makes you appreciate Daryll Clark even more
"God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy"
One of my favorites from the entire magazine
but the whole thing is so damn good, so pick up your copy today!
A photo Montage of one of my favorite PSU players, here's to you, DC17, thanks, and we'll miss you
by dawsonPSU10 on Nov 12, 2009 6:40 PM EST reply actions 7 recs
The man has produced some EPIC pics
It wasn’t difficult
by dawsonPSU10 on Nov 12, 2009 10:32 PM EST up reply actions
What plain boring uniforms...
That pic with DC17 throwing to Quarless just has the PSU guys jumping off the page against the whiteout. Great depth of field – great pic.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
DC --> Quarless pic
I made that one my computer’s wallpaper as soon as I saw it.
"God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy"
GAH
As a professional photographer, I would seriously KILL to be on the sidelines for even one Penn State game to capture a photo like one of those. Those are really great photos.
Everybody takes pictures, says "say cheese", kills people, whatever
"God is great, beer is good, and people are crazy"
by NJ lion on Nov 13, 2009 2:11 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
I think that fully captures DC17
Preparing, owning, owning, owning, satisfaction.
Love the rose bowl pic. Seeing USC OMG LB CORE flailing about makes the result hurt a little less.
Black Shoes. Basic Blues. No Name. All Game.
"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth."
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