Clark Thrives in Trenches
8/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
When Mike Kramer looks in Beau Clark’s eyes, he is looking back in time.
Kramer doesn’t just see a talented football player, the anchor of MSU’s sensational defensive line and perhaps the heartbeat of the Bobcat defense. He sees a relic from Montana State’s glorious football past. “Beau would have been a great player, a great fit, on the ‘84 team,” Kramer says, referring to one of the school’s legendary football teams.
A young defensive coach on Montana State’s 1984 National Championship team, Kramer watched a ferocious defense congeal around the stellar play of the unit’s front seven. He watched players like Mark Fellows and Lonnie Burt and Doug Kimball forge a cast-iron defense that speared the Bobcats to their surprise title run.
When Kramer watches Clark, the Belgrade native who mans the nose tackle for MSU, he sees that pedigree. “He has the same personality as all those ‘84 guys,” Kramer said. “He and Mark Fellows and Kirk Timmer would have been lifelong friends.”
Clark reacts to that praise in a manner befitting a lifelong Bobcat. “That’s really an honor,” he says. “I still get a special feeling, just like I did when I was a little kid, walking into that stadium, hearing the band, smelling the hot dogs cooking in the parking lot, seeing all the people.”
As a child, Clark’s family would travel from Belgrade to Bozeman for games. “My Dad, he’s nuts about the Bobcats, too, just like me,” he says, adding there were tangible benefits as a child to following the ‘Cats. “I remember working moving hey with my Dad when I was a kid, and we’d get to sit in the truck and listen to the game for 10 extra minutes, so I got to warm up.”
Clark is MSU’s nose tackle, a highly intricate position in spite of the common perception that front line play consists primarily of a bunch of guys running into each other. “Football is such a ballet,” Kramer said, “and the closer you bet to the ball the more exacting that ballet is. You have the ability to win or lose at your position in a fraction of a second. For us, there are three components to playing the defensive line: footwork, pad level, and where you put your eyes.”
“The way coach K (Pete Kwiatkowski, MSU’s defensive coordinator) has our defense set up, it’s very technical. Everything is designed off of body angles. Every step has to be perfect. It takes a lot of reps.”
MSU recruited Clark from Belgrade High as a tight end, and played offense for most of his first year. Early on, though, Kramer saw Clark’s true nature as a defensive lineman. “He looks into the eyes of guys like (former standouts Jon) Montoya and (Adam) Cordeiro,” Kramer said at the time with a laugh, “and they subconsciously communicate with each other, ‘Ah, I recognize your pedigree. You are one of us.’”
When he was asked to move from a tight end/fullback hybrid after the season opener at Alabama-Birmingham in 2001 back to the defensive line, he was more than comfortable with the idea. “I remember tackling Zach Ueland as a freshman when he was carrying the ball, and knowing that is where my love was.”
According to Kramer, playing on the defensive line -- particularly at the nose tackle -- is more about mentality than physical ability. “I think the hardest event to overcome during the course of a game is being double-teamed, and the nose tackle is almost always double-teamed. When you’re double-teamed relentlessly and repeatedly, it takes an enormous toll on your psyche.”
Kramer says Clark has the ideal mentality for the position. “Beau feels no pain,” he said. “He’s relentless. Only the hard-nailed guys can withstand and prosper in that situation. You can’t really turn any player into a nose tackle, you just have to look into his eyes and into his heart.”
With Clark occupying double-teams, the ‘three-technique’ player, a traditional defensive tackle, Ray Sebesteyn on this year’s Bobcat squad, sees single blocks and typically enjoys better statistical performances than the nose. Clark, though, has been remarkably productive. He led Big Sky interior linemen with 5.5 sacks as a sophomore despite starting only three games, and last year was among the Big Sky’s leaders with five sacks although he started only twice.
Clark has no explanation for his unusual productivity. “I don’t know, I just try to work hard and do my job and always run to the ball,” he said. “It’s just part of my job.”
The best example of Clark’s sometimes game-changing productivity came in the second quarter of last season’s Bobcat-Grizzly game. On Montana’s first drive of the second quarter, with the Grizzlies inside the MSU 10 and threatening to erase MSU’s 6-0 lead, Clark sacked UM quarterback Craig Ochs on second- and third-down plays to thwart the Grizzly drive and force a field goal.
“I was really tired and I don’t remember it really well,” Clark said, “but it’s rewarding. It wasn’t the fourth quarter with the game on the line or anything, but when you’re growing up you always hope you can make big plays in big games like that. It was a good feeling.”
For Clark, who had agonized through UM’s 16-year winning streak against the Bobcats, beating the Grizzlies the last two seasons was a tremendous accomplishment. “I can’t really describe the feeling,” he said, struggling for words. “Two years ago, it was very emotional. It was like, finally. I don’t know how to describe the feeling, but it was everybody coming together to accomplish something that we hadn’t done for so long. Last year wasn’t so shocking, but it was still a great feeling.”
For Kramer, the past is never far from his thoughts when Clark is concerned. “We have a legacy of great defensive personalities that has existed here since the ‘50s. Beau is an important part of that legacy.”
Kramer doesn’t just see a talented football player, the anchor of MSU’s sensational defensive line and perhaps the heartbeat of the Bobcat defense. He sees a relic from Montana State’s glorious football past. “Beau would have been a great player, a great fit, on the ‘84 team,” Kramer says, referring to one of the school’s legendary football teams.
A young defensive coach on Montana State’s 1984 National Championship team, Kramer watched a ferocious defense congeal around the stellar play of the unit’s front seven. He watched players like Mark Fellows and Lonnie Burt and Doug Kimball forge a cast-iron defense that speared the Bobcats to their surprise title run.
When Kramer watches Clark, the Belgrade native who mans the nose tackle for MSU, he sees that pedigree. “He has the same personality as all those ‘84 guys,” Kramer said. “He and Mark Fellows and Kirk Timmer would have been lifelong friends.”
Clark reacts to that praise in a manner befitting a lifelong Bobcat. “That’s really an honor,” he says. “I still get a special feeling, just like I did when I was a little kid, walking into that stadium, hearing the band, smelling the hot dogs cooking in the parking lot, seeing all the people.”
As a child, Clark’s family would travel from Belgrade to Bozeman for games. “My Dad, he’s nuts about the Bobcats, too, just like me,” he says, adding there were tangible benefits as a child to following the ‘Cats. “I remember working moving hey with my Dad when I was a kid, and we’d get to sit in the truck and listen to the game for 10 extra minutes, so I got to warm up.”
Clark is MSU’s nose tackle, a highly intricate position in spite of the common perception that front line play consists primarily of a bunch of guys running into each other. “Football is such a ballet,” Kramer said, “and the closer you bet to the ball the more exacting that ballet is. You have the ability to win or lose at your position in a fraction of a second. For us, there are three components to playing the defensive line: footwork, pad level, and where you put your eyes.”
“The way coach K (Pete Kwiatkowski, MSU’s defensive coordinator) has our defense set up, it’s very technical. Everything is designed off of body angles. Every step has to be perfect. It takes a lot of reps.”
MSU recruited Clark from Belgrade High as a tight end, and played offense for most of his first year. Early on, though, Kramer saw Clark’s true nature as a defensive lineman. “He looks into the eyes of guys like (former standouts Jon) Montoya and (Adam) Cordeiro,” Kramer said at the time with a laugh, “and they subconsciously communicate with each other, ‘Ah, I recognize your pedigree. You are one of us.’”
When he was asked to move from a tight end/fullback hybrid after the season opener at Alabama-Birmingham in 2001 back to the defensive line, he was more than comfortable with the idea. “I remember tackling Zach Ueland as a freshman when he was carrying the ball, and knowing that is where my love was.”
According to Kramer, playing on the defensive line -- particularly at the nose tackle -- is more about mentality than physical ability. “I think the hardest event to overcome during the course of a game is being double-teamed, and the nose tackle is almost always double-teamed. When you’re double-teamed relentlessly and repeatedly, it takes an enormous toll on your psyche.”
Kramer says Clark has the ideal mentality for the position. “Beau feels no pain,” he said. “He’s relentless. Only the hard-nailed guys can withstand and prosper in that situation. You can’t really turn any player into a nose tackle, you just have to look into his eyes and into his heart.”
With Clark occupying double-teams, the ‘three-technique’ player, a traditional defensive tackle, Ray Sebesteyn on this year’s Bobcat squad, sees single blocks and typically enjoys better statistical performances than the nose. Clark, though, has been remarkably productive. He led Big Sky interior linemen with 5.5 sacks as a sophomore despite starting only three games, and last year was among the Big Sky’s leaders with five sacks although he started only twice.
Clark has no explanation for his unusual productivity. “I don’t know, I just try to work hard and do my job and always run to the ball,” he said. “It’s just part of my job.”
The best example of Clark’s sometimes game-changing productivity came in the second quarter of last season’s Bobcat-Grizzly game. On Montana’s first drive of the second quarter, with the Grizzlies inside the MSU 10 and threatening to erase MSU’s 6-0 lead, Clark sacked UM quarterback Craig Ochs on second- and third-down plays to thwart the Grizzly drive and force a field goal.
“I was really tired and I don’t remember it really well,” Clark said, “but it’s rewarding. It wasn’t the fourth quarter with the game on the line or anything, but when you’re growing up you always hope you can make big plays in big games like that. It was a good feeling.”
For Clark, who had agonized through UM’s 16-year winning streak against the Bobcats, beating the Grizzlies the last two seasons was a tremendous accomplishment. “I can’t really describe the feeling,” he said, struggling for words. “Two years ago, it was very emotional. It was like, finally. I don’t know how to describe the feeling, but it was everybody coming together to accomplish something that we hadn’t done for so long. Last year wasn’t so shocking, but it was still a great feeling.”
For Kramer, the past is never far from his thoughts when Clark is concerned. “We have a legacy of great defensive personalities that has existed here since the ‘50s. Beau is an important part of that legacy.”
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