Jon Clark Talks About His School Choice
Jon Clark, a developing 6-9, 230 pound power forward/center from St. Michael's College H.S. in Toronto, Ont., has committed to Rhode Island.
"I thought conference wise, it was a good place for me to go and make an impact as a freshman," Clark said. "I also thought the program is really on the rise, getting back to where it used to be, with the new facility going up."
Advertisement
Clark, whose older brother attends Duquesne, picked URI after visiting both Rhode Island and George Washington this fall. He had also considered Duquesne, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
Clark had in-home visits scheduled with the latter three schools but canceled them after visiting Rhode Island this past weekend. His URI trip was from Sept. 21-23 and his GW trip was from Sept. 7-9.
"The reason that I picked Rhode Island was that I saw a lot of the construction going on," Clark said. "I felt like that school was a place where I would be less distracted from a lot of the stuff within the city of Washington D.C."
Clark said another factor in his decision to attend URI was Jim Baron's use of big men at St. Bonaventure.
"When Coach Baron had Peter Van Paassen at St. Bonaventure, he played the five, but he used to be able to step out and shoot the ball a lot outside of the key," Clark said. "So it does not really matter where I play, because in the offense, I will still get the opportunity to showcase all of my skills."
Clark averaged 16 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks per game as a junior at St. Michael's. He also said he has a 2.9 GPA and has achieved a qualifying score on the PSAT.
Clark made a name for himself this past summer with Rick Barrett's Gym Rat program, though many schools were slow to recruit him at first due to some uncertainty about his academic status.
At both the ABCD Camp and the Big Time Tournament with the Gym Rats, Clark was listed as a rising junior, when in fact he was a rising senior.
Initially, the plan for Clark was to spend this year (his 13th grade year, or senior year by Canadian academic standards) in Canada and next year in an American prep school.
His older brother Chris followed that path, attending Cheshire Academy for a year for heading off to Duquesne a few years back.
Jon said he plans on enrolling at Rhode Island next fall as a freshman, which means he'll have a chance to buck heads with his brother next year in the Atlantic 10.
"We talked a lot about my decision," Jon Clark said. "When it came down to it, he told me some things to look out for, some questions to ask, and that kind of helped me."