LSU Football Players Most Likely to Breakout in 2020: No. 4 Damone Clark, Linebacker
With the departures of Jacob Phillips and Patrick Queen to the NFL, there may not be another player more primed to ‘break out’ in 2020 than junior linebacker Damone Clark.
A Baton Rouge product out of Southern Lab, the 6-foot-3, 239 pounder has the quintessential physical build of an SEC linebacker. As far as last year, he definitely showed signs of a dominant defensive presence that can play the inside and outside positions. Recording 49 total tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2019, Clark is a sideline-to-sideline type talent who can step right into the starting role.
Now with the addition of All-American North Dakota State linebacker Jabril Cox via the NCAA transfer portal, a position that once appeared in dire straits looks to be locked and loaded for the upcoming season. Cox could be another massive transfer that LSU struck gold on.
Throughout fall camp back in August, Ed Orgeron continuously warned the media about Clark day after day at each news conference. It was like a broken record. Right out of the gate, Clark started the season opener against Georgia Southern with a bang, finishing with nine total tackles, tied for second-most on the team alongside fellow linebacker Jacob Phillips.
“You see how he looked, huh?” edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson said about Clark with a smile after the opener. “He looked good!”
Orgeron was very vocal about the leader Clark was becoming. He made it blatantly clear that Clark was climbing up the depth chart, and climbing fast.
That type of belief in Clark provided him with the confidence he needed when he found out before the opener he was getting the start.
“It really gave me a lot of confidence,” Clark said. “Since the spring, I’ve really just been working, and waiting for my opportunity. I talked to Michael [Divinity], Jacob [Phillips] before the game, and we all worked together. It’s a team thing.”
Clark’s freshman season was particularly quiet, where he played in 12 games with no starts, recording just one tackle. However, he was a highly-touted prospect coming out of high school, stepping on campus as a four-star recruit and the No. 7 player in the state of Louisiana, per 247Sports’ rankings.
“He’s an elite athlete,” Orgeron said of Clark during camp. “He’s 6-3 and about 238 pounds. He can run. He’s always first in springs. In the weight room he lifts everything in front of him. He just had to learn. He’s doing it now.”
The focus has now shifted to the 2020 season and Clark is expected to play a significant role with the defense’s success in the fall. New defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, who has a background with linebackers, said in an interview on "Hangin' With Hester" on Wednesday that Clark was playing mostly at MIKE linebacker throughout the spring.
"I'm really excited about him," Pelini said. "I like our group [at linebacker]but they all have a lot to learn. I think we can play a number of guys and I think that the competition will make them better."
His first season he flew under-the-radar, and his sophomore campaign was just the beginning, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Damone Clark is trending upwards, and has all the tools to make a serious name for himself the next time the Tigers take the field.
