Damone Clark ( ; born June 28, 2000) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

Early life

Clark was born and lived in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

until his family was displaced by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

in 2005, after which they moved to

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

. He attended

Southern University Laboratory School Southern University Laboratory School (Southern Lab or SULAB or SULS) is a K-12 laboratory school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, affiliated with Southern University. History It was established in 1922. The founding of a University-based school was t ...

in Baton Rouge. During his junior season, Clark recorded 48 tackles, five tackles for loss, and four sacks, and four interceptions.

College career

Clark played in 12 games during his freshman season on special teams and as a reserve linebacker behind starter

Devin White Devin Marcel White (born February 17, 1998) is an American professional football linebacker for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the LSU Tigers, and was selected by the Tampa Bay Bucca ...

. He played in all 15 of LSU's games with three starts as a sophomore and had 49 tackles and 3.5 sacks as the Tigers won the

2020 College Football Playoff National Championship The 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship was a college football bowl game played on January 13, 2020 (which was the latest calendar date for the game until 2025), at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The six ...

. Clark was chosen to wear the No. 18 jersey by the Tigers' coaching staff going into his junior season. He finished the season tied for the team lead with 63 tackles.

Professional career

Clark was selected by the

in the fifth round, 176th overall, of the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

. On June 23, 2022, it was announced that Clark had undergone spinal fusion surgery in March and would miss part of the 2022 season. He was activated off of

injured reserve The injured reserve list ( IR list) is a designation used in North American professional sports leagues for athletes who suffer injuries and become unable to play. The exact name of the list varies by league; it is known as "injured reserve" in ...

on October 5.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Postseason

References

External links

Dallas Cowboys bioLSU Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Damone 2000 births Living people Players of American football from New Orleans American football linebackers LSU Tigers football players Players of American football from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Dallas Cowboys players