Duke Football Recruiting: James Clark loves Northwestern Wildcats visit

2013 three-star wide receiver James Clark has become a big target for a few major programs, with one of those schools being the Northwestern Wildcats. He told Rivals.com that the official visit to Northwestern this past weekend was a “10 on a scale of 1-10”, and other outlets are also reporting that he enjoyed the visit.

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Clark has received an offer from the Duke Blue Devils and still has interest in the school, but it looks like they won’t be able to land him over the likes of NU, Texas, Rutgers, Purdue, and Florida. Brent Pease and the Gators have amped up their interest in the in-state recruit, and he has also taken an official visit to Purdue. It doesn’t seem like they are major players in his recruitment, but Rutgers has shown heavy interest and Texas could be right in the thick of it if they offer him.

Next month, the explosive New Smyrna Beach will be taking an official visit to the Texas Longhorns, and it will be interesting to see if UT offers the 5’10”, 170 pound wideout. Clark will be visiting Rutgers a week later, but the star returner and big-time deep threat does not have a visit lined up to Duke. However, coach Jim Collins checked in with Clark late last month.

He hosts a long list of offers, with UNC and Wake Forest being the only other teams in the state to have offered the underrated, top 100 Florida prospect.

A gifted big-play receiver, Clark also has above-average hands to go with his speed and ability to break off big gains. His nasty cuts and athleticism (read: ball skills and jump ball ability) help make up for his lack of size. He’s an underrated prospect who is on the cusp of a four-star rating and has already received that fourth star from the likes of ESPN and 247Sports. In fact, it looks like he has risen from being outside the top 75 at the wide receiver position and into the top 50.

The Northwestern visit has become the high bar of the measuring stick for James Clark as he heads into January with official trips lined up to Rutgers and Texas. It looks like Duke is all but out of the equation for one of two receivers who could possibly give the Blue Devils a third WR commit in the 2013 class. 12 of the 20 receivers that have received Duke offers are currently off the board, with two of them (top targets Terrence Alls and Johnell Barnes) being Duke commits.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.