Clark commits to Penn State

After much delay and confusion, quarterback Daryll Clark (6-3, 190) from Ursuline High in Youngstown, Ohio committed to Penn State today.

Two days ago an issue with a grade in one of Clark's classes made it seem that his only options were to take Cincinnati up on their scholarship offer, or enroll at a prep school for a semester and then go to Penn State.

Thursday though, Clark received a visit from head coach Joe Paterno and assistant coach Jay Paterno and he committed to Penn State. Clark said that he would enroll for the fall semester.

It was reported elsewhere that Clark would in fact be attending Kiski Prep for a year.

Turns out, neither are exactly correct.

Friday morning Ursuline Coach Dan Murphy said that Clark's qualifying had yet to be settled.

"If he finishes and qualifies, we’re waiting on some test scores and whatnot, but if he’s a qualifier, yes, he will enroll in the fall," Murphy said. "Should he not be a qualifier he would go to prep school. We want him to enroll in the fall, that’s what we’re planning on him doing. Because there is that chance that he could not qualify, then there is that plan [for prep school] to go with."

Nevertheless, Clark is now committed.

"[Paterno] came in today to my high school with his son Jay and my dad was there," Clark said. "We talked and just shot the breeze for a little while. He was there a while and then they left and some media came in and we made it official."

Clark said he's thrilled to finally be committed to the Lions.

"I'm very excited," Clark said. "Something that stood out to me about Penn State was tradition. I really believe in that and I'm happy to be part of it, happy to be going to Happy Valley."

He also added that he will get to spend his time at University Park with a big part of that tradition: Joe Paterno.

"He told me that the choice I made was an important one and it was a wise one," Clark said. "This talk that he's not going to be around is false. He's going to be around for awhile."

Clark also had offers from Iowa, Toledo, Nebraska and West Virginia. He is rated the No. 24 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com and the No. 38 player in Ohio.

He passed for 1,900 yards and 18 touchdowns in 2003.

Clark joins Paul Cianciolo and Jordan Lyons as quarterbacks for this Penn State recruiting class. PSU also has commitments from high school quarterbacks Adam DiMichele and Kevin Suhey , but they are expected to be defensive backs. Additionally, Lyons has said he may end up at tight end.

PSU is also involved with five-star signal-caller Anthony Morelli.