PREP FOOTBALL Ursuline quarterback Clark verbally commits to Penn St.

Joe Paterno was in town on Thursday to seal the deal.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- With college coaches calling at all hours and their son facing arguably the biggest decision of his young life, Daryll Clark's parents were sure of one thing.
"We wanted him to make his own decision," his mother, Sheryl, said. "We were just there to guide him and support him."
Her husband nodded.
"When you're a grownup, you have to learn to make your own decisions," his father, Daryll Sr., said. "We weren't going to push one school. Obviously, we wanted him to stay close, but if the best choice took him far away, so be it.
"We just wanted to make sure he made the right one."
Clark, a senior quarterback at Ursuline High, gave a verbal commitment to Penn State Thursday, one day after his friend and teammate, senior offensive lineman Branndon Braxton, committed to Oklahoma.
"This could be the most important decision of my life, right here," Clark said. "I wanted to make sure."
Finding a home
Unlike some seniors, Clark said he wasn't interested in being wooed by promises of greatness or other appeals to his ego. He was looking for honesty, strong tradition and a place to feel at home.
Penn State offered all three.
"They have great tradition," Clark said.
"I wanted to be part of something like that. I wanted to feel like part of the team.
"I felt like I would be comfortable and have a chance to be successful as both a student and an athlete."
Penn State emerged as the front-runner for Clark in late fall, but he also considered Nebraska, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Iowa and Toledo.
He never really warmed to the last three, and after Nebraska hired Bill Callahan and West Virginia got a verbal commitment from another quarterback, the Nittany Lions -- and their coach, Joe Paterno -- became the obvious choice.
"He's a very good person," Clark said of Paterno, who visited Ursuline Thursday and talked to Clark for about 45 minutes. "I was impressed not just with him as a coach, but as a friend also."
Staying close
The decision also means that his parents will be able to watch him play.
"The most enjoyable part of this has been seeing him play," said Sheryl.
"There was a pretty high stress level for him toward the end. It's a major decision and it was a hard decision."
And it wasn't any easier to tell the other schools.
"That was probably the most painful thing to go through," said Clark, who will major in computer science.
"It's hard to tell someone no after they took all that time to recruit you."
But Clark felt comfortable with his choice -- and he had a lot of people to thank.
"I want to thank my parents for sticking next to me through this whole thing," he said.
"I want to thank Coach [Dan] Murphy for helping me get exposure and letting coaches know what type of person and player I am. And I want to thank my friends and my teammates."
Anyone else?
"Yeah, put God in there, too," he said with a laugh. "Without God, I wouldn't be where I'm at."
scalzo@vindy.com