Illinois DL Coach Austin Clark Headed To NFL’s Miami Dolphins
Illinois will be losing a critical member of its football coaching staff and recent recruiting efforts.
Illinois defensive line coach Austin Clark has accepted the outside linebackers coaching position with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. NFL Network national insider Ian Rappaport was the first to report this news.
Clark, 29, spent the last two seasons on Lovie Smith’s staff in Champaign after being on the Southern California defensive staff as an assistant defensive Line/outside linebackers coach.
Clark led an Illini defensive line that produced 25 sacks this past season that saw the emergence of Southern California transfer Oluwole Betiku Jr., as the 250-pound pass rusher from Nigeria had nine sacks and 13 tackles for loss despite missing three Illinois wins against Purdue, Rutgers and Michigan State.
Clark’s biggest impact undoubtedly was as a recruiter. He was instantly involved in Illinois getting Southern California graduate transfers Betiku Jr., and receivers Josh Imatorbhebhe, and Trevon Sidney.
The native of Tampa, Fla., was able to reach into his old stomping grounds for the highly ranked Sunshine State products of Illinois’ 2020 recruiting class. Clark was instrumental in getting three-star Jer’Zhan ‘Johnny’ Newton to flip his commitment from Maryland to Illinois and the Illini to land his good friend three-star quarterback Gregory ‘Deuce’ Spann to sign during the early period last month.
“I would say it was a big factor in getting (Newton) to sign,” Illinois defensive line coach Austin Clark said. “Once we got Deuce in the fold, he started making calls, texts and messages with Johnny Newton about what he liked about us as a staff and Illinois. Then, we beat Wisconsin and (the committed player) reaches out to us saying we notice what we’re doing.”
Clark also had a hand in recruiting three-star defensive lineman Cooper Davis (a commitment flip from Missouri to Illinois), three-star defensive line prospect Tre’von Riggins (who was Spann’s high school teammate) and junior college transfer defensive tackle Anthony Shipton.
Clark will get his first NFL coaching opportunity under current Dolphins head coach Brian Flores, who was a former linebackers coach with the New England Patriots under Bill Belichick.