Clark has coaches coming to Florida

At the Next Level tournament last weekend in Dallas, the Tallahassee Wildcats rolled out a team that is loaded with Division I talent in the class of 2006. However, it was a member of the class of 2007 that sparked a lot of interest from college coaches. Gary Clark, a 6-foot-3, 175-pound shooting guard from Booker High School in Sarasota, Fla., is now seeing coaches at his high school.

Clark is a long and athletic shooting guard that has a knack for burying home the big three-pointer. He's also incredibly athletic, confident in his ability and best of all, he's a big time student athlete.

His 19 points against the Murfreesboro Stars in the quarterfinals of the tournament stood out to the rising junior. Playing against Brandan Wright, one of the top prospects in the country.

"A lot of people didn't know about me last year out on the circuit but I think (coaches) had a chance to see my jump shot and it was pretty consistent in Dallas," Clark said. "I took it to the rack just to show my versatility. I know I can't be one dimensional. I have to show that I can do a little bit of everything."

Clark relished in the opportunity to play in front of several college coaches. He said he saw Alabama, Florida State and Miami at that game.

Those aren't the only coaches that are coming by to see him play. Florida head coach Billy Donovan stopped in on Thursday, Clark said. Coaches from NC State and Alabama said they'd be coming down to Florida in the near future, too.

"(Having coaches come by) just makes me want to work harder and get in a lot more practice," Clark said. "I know that if I want to be ready for the bigger guys, I've got to prepare even harder. That's what I'm trying to do right now."

With a little bit of time before he plays again (which will actually be played at the University of Florida on May 20 at a local AAU event), Clark said he doesn't have any concrete plans on making any unofficial visits. If he did, there are a couple of schools he'd like to get out and see.

"If I did, I'd say Miami, Florid and maybe NC State," Clark said.

Like most prospects, Clark said he'd like to be recruited by the Carolina schools - Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest. (He's already hearing from NC State.) Syracuse and Georgia Tech also dot his favorite list however both programs have not started to recruit him.

Some believe Clark is in the same class as Eddie Rios and new Florida Gator commit Nick Calathes. If he plays like he did in Dallas last weekend, that may not be too far off.