Great article today on a real class act, I go to church with Clarke and have known him for years, hes worked hard and Van Buren is definitely proud of him.
Freshman Ready To Roll After Breakout Game Against Auburn
By Bob Stephens
The Morning News/RazorbackCentral ? bstephens@nwaonline.net
FAYETTEVILLE -- Nobody in Van Buren was surprised when Arkansas linebacker Clarke Moore enjoyed a breakout game against Auburn.
His six tackles, one behind the line, were complemented by two deflected passes and a spectacular interception.
But sports fans in Van Buren expect that, and maybe even more, from Moore. After all, he's always been a great player, maybe even the best in his hometown.
Even Hogs quarterback Matt Jones, another Van Buren product, admitted that.
"I remember when we were little and we'd draft teams at the Boys Club, Clarke was always the first one picked," Jones said.
"He's the one everybody always wanted on their team."
And it didn't matter which sport was in season.
"Football, basketball, baseball, his team would always win," Jones said. "When we were growing up, Clarke was a big boy, and a great athlete.
"He still is."
Moore's football career began in fourth grade. His team didn't allow a point.
"I was always the best player, or one of the best," Moore said.
As Moore spoke, his chin slowly sank to touch his chest.
"I'm not a braggart," he said. "I've always had a level head. My parents taught me that."
His parents also took him to countless Arkansas football and basketball games. And they helped decorate his room so that it looked like a shrine to the Razorbacks.
"His blood runs Razorback red," said Debra Moore, Clarke's mother.
While Moore dreamed of playing for the Hogs, he dominated schoolboy games in Van Buren and beyond.
"I was always bigger than everybody else," Moore said. "I kind of stopped growing about junior high."
At 6-foot-2, he's grown just an inch since age 14, when he wore size 14 shoes, same as now.
"I've got pictures where he's a whole head taller than Matt (Jones)," said Debra Moore. "It wasn't just that he was bigger, though.
"Things just came easily for Clarke."
Auburn figures that's still true.
OLD FRIENDS
Even though he's now four inches taller than Moore, Jones still looks up to his friend.
"He's a good guy," Jones said. "He loves his mom and dad a lot. He's real family oriented. He likes to go home.
"His family raised him right. He respects everybody."
Moore and Jones attended the same Van Buren middle school and played baseball together at that time. They went to different junior highs but were reunited as sophomores.
"We got close our sophomore year," Moore said. "We both played football and basketball and when we rode the bus, we'd sit together and talk."
They now share a suite in the dorm and hang out together often. As high schoolers, they went to football camps together at Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Moore played football, basketball and baseball in high school. His first love was baseball -- he was the high school's starting catcher as a ninth-grader -- but after a terrific junior season in football, it was easy to realize his future was on the gridiron.
"That's when I really started working on football and trying to get a scholarship here," Moore said.
He was recruited hard by Oklahoma. Oklahoma State was also interested, and Duke offered him a scholarship.
Arkansas offered him one following the summer camp before his senior year. But Razorbacks coaches had heard about Moore long before that via the Van Buren pipeline.
Adam Daily, another Van Buren product, is married to Moore's sister, Brooke. Daily would be a senior for the Hogs this season but was forced to retire from football two years ago due to the serious risk of a spinal-cord injury. Daily and Brooke are scheduled to graduate from Arkansas in December.
Hogs assistant Bobby Allen, who coaches linebackers, remembers a visit he had from Daily when Moore was just a sophomore.
"I told him about Clarke and Matt," Daily said. "I said they were both great players and they'd better go get 'em before somebody else did."
GOAL-ORIENTED
Both of Moore's parents went to Van Buren -- they were high school sweethearts -- and his father, David, is a former walk-on shot-putter for Arkansas' track team.
His grandparents, now deceased, used to live across the street from Clarke's house.
Moore enjoyed a good life, complete with trips to Las Vegas, Orlando and Memphis while playing in the AAU basketball national tournament from age 12-14.
School also came easily for Moore, who is studying finance and marketing. He left high school with a 3.87 grade-point average and membership in National Honor Society.
"He sets goals and really focuses in," Debra Moore said. "He's done that in school and sports. He worked so hard for football. After basketball practice he'd come home and go running. He'd have his dad time him."
Moore impressed Arkansas coaches with his 4.6 speed in the 40-yard dash. But that's not what he prefers people know.
"I want to be known as a person, rather than a football guy," Moore said. "I think I'm a good person, loyal, with good character.
"I'm just an easy-going, laid-back guy."
He's a fan of all sports and names Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher as his favorite player. His teammates even call him "Url," after the Bears' star.
"When I shaved my head, I kind of looked like Urlacher," Moore said.
When Moore watches football on television, whether it's pro or college, he usually studies linebackers. He checks to see "how they read keys and get off blocks."
Some things, though, come naturally to Moore, and Jones has seen that up close.
"I remember in a game against Rogers when we were juniors," Jones said. "Rogers ran this play twice to the right side and it worked for 15 yards both times. They tried it again to the left and Clark met the guy about three yards in the backfield and knocked him three yards farther back.
"It was probably the hardest hit of the year."
MAKING AN IMPACT
Moore redshirted last season -- while Jones became a star -- and said that was painful. But he now admits it was for the best.
"I got a year to mature, a year to get stronger and faster," Moore said. "Tony Bua and Caleb Miller redshirted and they say it helped them, too."
Moore was moved to tight end and fullback during practice a year ago. He didn't like either spot.
"I was recruited as a linebacker and told the coaches that's where I wanted to play," he said.
In spring practice, he was again a linebacker and proved why.
"Clarke was the biggest surprise of the spring," Allen said. "We always knew he was a good athlete. He has better speed than you think he does. He's a real quick runner.
"He reads things very well. And when he gets there, he delivers a pop. He's a tough son-of-a-buck.
"Of all the (linebackers), he's probably put together the best. He weighs over 240 pounds but doesn't look like it."
Moore, who does look like a middle linebacker, tips the scales at 246. He plays on Arkansas' kickoff return team and has seen increased playing time behind starting middle linebacker Jeb Huckeba, a sophomore.
"My plan was to split time between Jeb and Clarke at Auburn and that's what happened," Allen said.
Moore appeared for 35 plays against Auburn and Alabama but just 15 at Tennessee, none in the six overtimes.
"I've still got a ways to go on fundamentals, using my hands to get off blocks, angles to take on pass coverage, when to pick up a man on scrambles, stuff like that," Moore said.
But he learns fast, Allen said.
"He takes it from meetings and the practice field to the game field quickly," Allen said. "And it really surprised me how football smart he is.
"That interception he made (against Auburn) was one heck of a football play. Most players can't recognize that fast, and then to get over there and tip the ball, then catch it like he did.
"A couple other plays he had instincts to see the ball carrier, slip a blocker and go make the play. We brought him on a blitz one time and he adjusted and got his hand up and blocked a pass."
Moore said he's just playing football, although he thought it would be harder in the Southeastern Conference.
"The surprising thing is that I thought games were going to be overwhelming," Moore said. "Like the linemen were going to be so physical, you couldn't do anything. But it's not like that.
"You're still just playing football. It's not any different than practice."
Allen is proud of his newly found playmaker.
"It's about being productive," Allen said. "And that's one thing Clarke has shown us, that every time he gets in there, he makes plays."
It's always been that way. Just ask the folks in Van Buren.
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