Cal Football: Trevon Clark's Long Road Leads Him To Where He Wants To Be
Trevon Clark had pass receptions of 68 and 54 yards for Cal last week at TCU. In doing so, he became the first Cal player with two catches of at least 50 yards in the same game in five years.
The Bears have been waiting for their long-distance pass game to click. “It was really just a breath of fresh air,” Clark said, “getting back to doing the things I’m used to doing.”
Trevon Clark
Photo by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos
For Clark, a 68-yard sprint is nothing. His road to Cal required him to navigate much longer treks.
For 18 months, while attending El Camino Junior College in Torrance, Clark made a daily round-trip from his home in Victorville, located at the southwest edge of the Mojave Desert. It was a tedious two-hour drive of 100 miles each way that took him into the teeth of the morning commute in Los Angeles.
Clark would wake up at 4 a.m. in order to make it to class by 7. He typically wouldn’t get back home until close to 10 p.m. His long day included classes, practice, training and — if he had any breaks in his schedule — perhaps a few minutes napping or finishing school work in his car.
“It (taught) me that nothing in life is easy,” Clark said. “You’ve got to really, really want it.”
“Trevon has come a long, long way. He’s worked hard to get to this point,” Cal coach Justin Wilcox said. “We’re all excited for him because it’s never been easy.”
For most of his freshman year at El Camino, Clark and a friend avoided the commute by sharing a room. “It was like a tiny box,” he recalled of the space that was perhaps 100 square feet, with a sink and virtually no other amenities.
Rent for the “box” was $500 a month. For each of them.
That finally became too much of a burden for Clark’s parents, so his Mom “sacrificed” her car, allowing Trevon to begin his daily trek. It was worth it, he believed, because he wanted to earn a scholarship to a four-year school.
During the offseason, he worked as an apprentice barber in his spare time to earn gas money.
The stressful routine nearly broke Clark once or twice.
“I would lie if I said I didn’t have those moments where I was like, `Dang, I don’t want to do it no more.’ I went through that,” he said.
Then, in early 2019, his girlfriend, Angel Aikens shared news that strengthened his resolve.
“I found out I was having T.J.,” he said of his son, now 27 months old. “I was like, `Boom.’ It lit a fire under my butt.”
Having accepted a scholarship from Cal, Clark arrived in Berkeley in August of that year, with his family in tow. T.J. was two months old.
“He lives with different responsibilities than a lot of the other guys,” Wilcox said. “He’s got a family to take care of.”
Clark, who is now engaged to T.J.’s mother, said of fatherhood, “There’s nothing like it.”
For all the joys of his life-changing event, there are challenges: Fatigue and financial issues top the list.
“It’s a shoe I feel like a lot of people wouldn’t be able to wear in terms of being a football player, a student and a dad,” he said.
He has had to organize his life differently than his teammates, but Clark says he enjoys the quiet life at home so he’s made the necessary adjustments.
Clark talks in the video below about his post-football ambitions:
As if his life wasn’t complicated enough, the pandemic arrived early last year. Cal’s 2020 football schedule was whittled down to eventually just four games, and Clark didn’t make it all the way through. He took an approved leave of absence from the team, missing the Bears’ final game against Oregon.
Clark doesn’t share the specific reasons for his hiatus. “Everybody went through something during the pandemic. It kind of weighed on everybody different,” he said. “It just so happened for me at that point in time it was a bad time and I felt like I’ve got to take a step back, gather everything back together.”
Quitting football never crossed his mind.
“I knew I was going to come back 10 times better than I was before,” he said.
Last week at TCU that appeared to be the case. The Bears showed virtually no vertical passing game a year ago and there was scant improvement in the opening loss to Nevada.
For second-year offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave’s attack to flourish, the Bears have to stretch the field. Clark, 6-foot-4 and fleet, twice got free deep in the TCU secondary, scoring his first touchdown since 2019. Quarterback Chase Garbers completed four passes of at least 40 yards.
“Tre had a big game for us,” said Musgrave, noting the other ways Clark contributed. “He had a huge tackle on special teams on a punt. And boy, he blocks like no other receiver we have. He just had a great all-around game.”
The Bears take an 0-2 record into Saturday’s home game against Sacramento State, but Clark sees good things ahead, especially from the offense.
“We’re not really worried about what happened these last two weeks because we know we’re better than that,” he said. “It’s going to be a season to remember.”
By December, Clark will have another reason to celebrate. He’s finishing his final three classes this fall toward a degree in sociology and is on track to become the first person on either side of his family to graduate from college, which he passionately talks about in the video below.
Cover photo of Trevon Clark by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
