Bud Clark

Summary

Bud Clark (24 years old) is a safety who has played his entire college career at TCU with no transfers. In 2025, Clark started throughout the season and recorded 56 total tackles, 4 interceptions, and 7 pass breakups, serving as a versatile defensive back with the ability to contribute both in deep coverage (15 career interceptions) and near the line of scrimmage. His 2025 production earned him All-Big 12 consideration, building on a highly productive earlier career that included multiple All-Big 12 honors and a reputation as a consistent playmaker in the secondary. The Sociology major has been a consistent presence on the Academic All-Big 12 teams throughout his career, which requires maintaining a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher, and was voted team captain for the last three consecutive seasons. A lifelong fan of showmanship, Clark used the Shawn Michaels WWE theme song ("Sexy Boy") as his walk-up music during his standout high school baseball career. and Clark also played one year of high school basketball, helping Alexandria High School win their first-ever state championship in 2020. Clark is widely viewed as a high-effort, experienced defender whose instincts and physicality consistently draw praise from coaches, and having his son Kenzo Kash Clark in 2022 has been the primary driver to his increased maturity and leadership on the field. From an injury standpoint, Clark has been largely durable throughout his career appearing in 61 career games in his six-year college career with his only significant injury coming in 2021 when he had to redshirt and miss the final 7 games of the season.

Strengths

• Thief: Wild takeaway production (15 career interceptions) and reads the QB naturally and gets his eyes to the throw early. Innate feel for the game and consistently finds the football in the air. Finishes plays and positions himself to intercept, not just break up passes.

• Rangy: Best when reading from depth and understands route distribution and anticipates throws. When his read is clean, he covers ground quickly and arrives on time to contest.

• Deadliest Catch: Uses reach effectively to disrupt or finish plays even when slightly late. Skillset aligns with schemes that emphasize risk/reward and aggressive secondary play.

• Balanced Safety: When driving on throws in front of him, he commits and attacks the ball. Very strong Run Support metrics (3.64/5.00 grade) for being a takeaway safety.

Weaknesses

• Senior Citizen Discount: Older player in this class with lots of mileage from his six-year collegiate career. Will be approaching 30 when his rookie contract expires.

• Locked On Frogs: Will lock onto the QB and jump routes early allowing double moves and layered concepts to pull him out of position. For every takeaway opportunity, there are reps where his aggression creates vulnerability.

• Sink or Swim: If he guesses incorrectly, he doesn’t always recover cleanly and reps can turn into explosive plays quickly. Hesitates between run fit and pass responsibility, leaving windows behind him.

• Pursuit Path: When triggering downhill, he can take aggressive paths that allow ball carriers to slip outside leverage. Will go for the ball or big hit instead of wrapping, leading to missed tackles.

Outlook

Clark is a "Green Gem” player for us who projects as an instinctive, ball-hawking safety with strong range, excellent anticipation, and proven production as a takeaway creator, giving him value as a deep defender who can flip possession. He fits best in zone-heavy and split-safety defensive schemes that allow him to read the quarterback, patrol the deep field, and capitalize on mistakes rather than being deployed primarily as a box enforcer. Clark is trending as a Day 2 to early Day 3 prospect with a Round 3–5 projection in the 2026 NFL Draft, with his ball production boosting his overall value and best fits a squad in need of rangy safeties who can create turnovers and anchor coverage structures.

Pro Comparison: Antoine Bethea

Team Fits: DAL, CHI, CIN, MIA, PHI