Damone Clark has seen what it takes to go from starring at the college level to starring on Sundays.
He saw it in former LSU star linebackers Devin White, Patrick Queen and Jabril Cox, all of whom now play on Sundays. He saw it as he backed up Queen on LSU's run to a perfect season and College Football Playoff title in 2019.
But as he takes the field this week for the Reese's Senior Bowl to show what he's got to NFL scouts after his own season leading a Tigers defense, he knows one thing: It's his turn.
“I’ve been trained for this. ... Those guys showed me the way when I was a young buck," Clark said. "Now it’s my time. The things I’m doing out here, I did it at LSU.”
And Clark is far from alone in representing the Tigers over in Mobile, Alabama. He's joined by fellow LSU standouts Neil Farrell Jr. and Ed Ingram, all three of whom will play on the American Team roster when the college All-Star game kicks off on Saturday. They also saw a familiar face in that of Ed Orgeron, who was on hand in Mobile to support his former players despite parting ways with LSU following the 2021 season.
While Clark conceded he was rusty after weeks without football, he was confident the talent that helped him roll up a team-leading 78 tackles and 5.5 sacks in his senior season. Can his performance this week also help him rise up draft boards?
“LSU prepared me for these times like this. It was a fun practice today," he said. "We had much harder practices. The coaches didn’t design for us to come out here and bang each other up. We’re supposed to come here to compete and make each other better.”
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Clark and the rest of the Senior Bowl squads will be back in action on Tuesday, with the linebacker donning the familiar No. 18 he was honored to receive 2 years earlier. He'll never forget the celebration after he was voted to wear the hallowed jersey in Baton Rouge, and he explained exactly how meaningful that was to him.
"18 represents the person that does the right things on and off the field," Clark said, noting that when he does get a rare bit of free time, it's spent with his 2-year-old daughter, Dakota. "I mean, that's me."