RUSH HOUR : Former School Increases Drive of CSUN’s Slow-Starting Clarke

Norman Clarke has arrived. Only about nine months after getting here.

When Clarke signed to play football at Cal State Northridge, Matador coaches expected the speedy, hard-charging, quick-pivoting running back they had seen on films from San Bernardino Valley College.

But when Clarke showed for spring football he was out of shape and slow to grasp the offense.

Last Saturday, Clarke threw the albatross that was his own unmet potential off his shoulder, running for 171 yards against Weber State, the school he left two years ago.

Talk about nice timing.

“I thought we had [recruited] what we saw Saturday, a kid who can be a premier back in this conference, who could carry the ball 20 times and get over 100 yards, or 30 times and get over 150,” Northridge Coach Dave Baldwin said.

The coaches had every reason to believe this was what they were getting from the start.

Clarke, a junior, was a two-time All-San Bernardino County pick at Hesperia High. After a brief stint at Weber State he went to San Bernardino Valley and rushed for 1,908 yards in two seasons, including 1,184 last fall.

“I liked what I saw on film,” said Mike Kane, Northridge’s running backs coach. “I liked the upfield cuts that he made, the way his outside foot came down and pointed straight up the field. He’s a hard runner. He was a 1,000-yard rusher at a J.C. That says something.”

After Clarke signed with Northridge--primarily because he wanted to play against Weber State--coaches talked him up as the key to providing the speed out of the backfield the Matadors lacked last season.

But when Clarke stepped on campus last spring, he was not in shape, Baldwin said.

“We were disappointed,” Baldwin said, “but we didn’t show it. We kept on him to get better and better.”

Clarke couldn’t beat out returning starter Chad Marsalek, who is, diplomatically speaking, a hard runner. Marsalek is tough to bring down and he finds holes, but he’s no threat to break an 80-yarder.

“I felt a little pressure because I was supposed to be The Man,” Clarke said. “I was supposed to start over Chad. I took it day by day and things didn’t turn out the way I wanted.”

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In Northridge’s first four games, Clarke saw limited action behind Marsalek. He gained only 58 yards in 18 carries and had a goal-line fumble at New Mexico State that didn’t endear him to the coaching staff.

Against Northern Arizona in the fourth game, Marsalek injured his right foot late in the fourth quarter. The following week, Clarke knew it was his chance to show his stuff.

“I really had a lot to prove to myself,” Clarke said. “I was disappointed that I didn’t get the start the first couple of games. When my chance came, I tried to take advantage of it the best I could.”

He didn’t.

Against Portland State, Clarke ran for only 39 yards in 12 carries, and was overshadowed by Jeramie Thomas, a receiver who was moved to running back and gained 92 yards in 12 carries.

But the next game was against Weber State.

Clarke had signed with the Wildcats six months after his high school graduation, missing a football season because he had injured his right shoulder playing defense at Hesperia.

Clarke arrived at Weber State in the spring of 1993 and never quite showed the coaches what they expected. (Sound familiar?) Early in the fall, Clarke got into a disagreement with coaches over trouble at a party. Clarke said he hadn’t done anything wrong, but his coaches didn’t believe him, he said.

After the second game that fall--against Northridge, ironically--Clarke finally got fed up and left Weber State.

Two years later, Wildcat coaches called him back and tried to re-recruit him out of San Bernardino Valley. But he opted instead for Northridge, circling the Matadors’ game against Weber State on the schedule in his mind.

Baldwin said he could tell Clarke wanted revenge during the week leading up to the game.

“Norman was unbelievably focused,” Baldwin said. “He wanted to beat those guys. To prove to them that they made a mistake.”

Clarke not only helped Northridge upset Weber State, ranked 21st in the Division I-AA poll at the time, he had the Matadors’ best rushing day since Robert Trice gained 187 yards Nov. 6, 1993.

“It was one of the greatest feelings I’ve had in football,” Clarke said, “to come back to a program that didn’t want you, didn’t think you were good enough for them, to beat them at their homecoming and to see the look in their eyes, the disappointment, the I-could-have-been-here kind of look.”

Clarke, who will start again this evening against Montana State, said he’s been working this week to prove that last week wasn’t a fluke. If Clarke runs as well this week, Baldwin will have a decision to make for next week’s game at Cal State Sacramento, with Marsalek expected back.

“Who knows,” Baldwin said with a broad smile, “you might see a two-back offense.”