Who is Waltez Clark? Exploring Florida signee's background and high school career

By Viraj Mali

Modified Dec 08, 2024 17:33 GMT

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Waltez Clark became the Florida Gators' first commitment and their first signee in the Class of 2025. The Gators had a great run down the stretch of their recruiting campaign this season. Their recruitment started with Clark's commitment and ended with the pledge of four-star safety Lagonza Hayward.

Clark, a four-star running back from Tampa, Florida, is ranked No. 331 nationally and is the 22nd-best running back from his class, as per On3. He is also the 47th-best overall recruit from the state of Florida.

Let's look at his high school years.

A look at Waltez Clark's career at Plant High School

Waltez Clark had a decent high school career at Plant in Tampa, Florida. He spent four years with the Panthers and won 13 Player of the Game awards for them, as per MaxPreps.

The Florida commit started his high school career as a defenseman. He played a couple of games as a defensive back during his freshman year but wasn't a regular in the Panthers' squad at that time.

However, he became more involved with the team's offense the following year when he racked up 863 yards on 87 carries and scored 18 touchdowns while playing in 11 games. He also contributed as a defensive end in a few games, recording 23 tackles and one sack.

He finished his high school career with 1,737 yards on 227 carries and 38 touchdowns. After his sophomore year, though, Clark saw a dip in form the following two years and never reached the 800 rushing yards mark again. However, he was still good enough for the Gators to sign him in the end.

Waltez Clark's recruitment process

Waltez Clark committed to the Billy Napier-led side on Sept. 16, 2023. The Gators confirmed that the 6-foot-1 back was also the program's first signing from the class on National Signing Day.

The four-star recruit from Plant chose Florida over other top schools such as Penn State, Oregon and Ohio State. The Gainesville-based program was the overwhelming favorite to land the four-star recruit, as per On3, with a 96.2% chance of signing him.

Waltez Clark's first visit to Florida's campus came in July 2023. He took an official visit to Gainesville in June this year and stuck with his pledge to the Gators throughout his recruiting process.

Florida landed three running backs from the Class of 2025. Apart from Clark, Napier and company also signed the three-star duo of Byron Louis and Chad Gasper.