Born Kenneth Duane Clark Jr., Kenny Clark is an NFL player currently playing for the Green Bay Packers as a nose tackle. During his college career, he was named a third-team All-American and also earned the all-conference selection in the Pac-12 twice. He would later be selected by the Packers as the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Who Is Kenny Clark?
Clark was born in San Bernardino, California on the 4th day of October 1995. He attended Wilmer Amina Carter High School, Rialto, California, where he began playing soccer.
As a senior, Clark had a record of seventy-one tackles and eleven sacks and Rivals.com rated him a 4-star recruit. Asides from playing football in school, Kenny Clark also wrestled.
After high school, he played college football at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a freshman, he appeared in thirteen games, started four, and recorded thirty-one tackles. As a sophomore, he started all thirteen games, recorded fifty-eight tackles, and was named a second-team All-Pac-12 selection.
As a junior, he recorded a career-high three sacks against Washington State and Associated Press would name him a third-team All-American and he made first-team All-Pac-12 as the only Bruin. The career-high three sacks against Washington State was not going to be his last. In the game against Nebraska in the Foster Farms Bowl, Kenny Clark recorded a career-high 11 tackles and ranked second on the team with a total of seventy-five tackles and six sacks.
Professional Career
After an impressive junior season, Clark decided to forgo his senior year to enter for the 2016 NFL draft and he was selected by the Green Bay Packers as the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Kenny Clark would later seal the four-year contract worth $9.36 million with the Packers on the 17th of July 2016. The contract came with a $7.18 million guarantee and a signing bonus of $5 million. He started his rookie as a starting defensive tackle and would later be named as a backup and rotational defensive end.
His debut game was in the team’s first season’s game against Jacksonville Jaguars and he recorded one assisted tackle. His first career start was in the game against Detriot Lions where he recorded 4 tackles. In a Week 14 game against the Seattle Seahawks, Clark recorded four combined tackles. He ended his rookie season with twenty-one tackles and two passes.
By the thirteenth week of the 2017 season, Kenny Clark stats boasted of 1.5 sacks and 6 combined tackles. He ended that season with 4.5 sacks and 55 tackles.
Kenny Clark Parents And Family
Kenny Clark is the son of Kenneth and Leslie Clark. He is not the only son of his parents, he has a brother and two sisters (twins). His father Kenneth Clark Sr. has been in jail since Kenny was nine years old.
Clark Sr. was convicted of second-degree murder in 2005 and his sentence was 55 years to life, without parole. Since his conviction, in 2005, he has maintained that he is innocent and has been fighting for his release. This has resulted in a series of appeals, hearings, and legal filings which has still not aided his cause.
Before Clark Sr. was locked up in the prison, he spent a lot of time with his son babysitting while his wife worked long hours as a nurse, thus, it was easy to transfer his love and passion for football, down to his son. So even though his father has been in prison for over a decade now, the bond the love for football has created between them has remained untampered.
Even while in prison, Kenny Sr. would call his son before any of his games to offer a pep talk. He would call his wife during games to get live updates and then he would call his son after each game to get full updates. They are so connected by football that two coaches from UCLA visited Clark Sr. in prison during the recruitment process.
And to whether he believes his father is guilty of the crime he was convicted of or not, Kenny. Jr. said he has never asked his father if he actually killed someone or not but that he believes his father didn’t do it.
Height, Weight, And Body Measurements
Kenny Clark Jr. stands at the height of 6″0 that is 1.83 m, with a well-built athletic body that weighs 142 kg (313 pounds). His arm length is 32 and the size of his hands is 10½ inches.
