Turmoil has surrounded the Armwood Hawks this offseason, but for rising senior QB/DE Skyler Clark those issues have not bothered him.

Clark spent most of his time on the defensive side of the ball in 2011, but is working hard to take snaps under center in his senior year. After being the junior varsity starter as a sophomore, Clark was thrown a curveball. Darryl Richardson transferred into Armwood prior to his junior year forcing Clark to make a change for the betterment of the team.

“It’s frustrating at times, but I just want to do the best thing for the team and get on the field to help us win,” the 6-foot-3 205 pound QB turned DE said. I’m still working working hard to play QB so if things do happen, then I’ll be ready, but basically he [Darryl Richardson] is the guy right now.”

Clark will train as a QB during the Big County Preps E7 Skills Training Camp in an effort to continue fine tuning his gun slinging skills.

“I’m still trying to make a transition back [to QB] so we’ll just see how it goes.”

The most important thing for Clark is to help the Hawks win. During his transition from QB to DE following his sophomore season he was humbled and looked to coaches as well as teammates to get him on the right track as soon as possible.

“The defensive line coach took me under his wing a little bit since I had to make a big transition and learn all the plays because I never played DE before,” Clark said. “A lot of the guys on the team helped me through it too.”

Clark began playing football when he was young, around six or seven years old he says. It wasn’t until he reached the JV Little League level however that he really knew he wanted to carry his play into high school.

“Coach Jake got me playing over in Temple Terrace and then I moved to Dover,” he said. “My JV year I really started focusing in and wanting to improve more and more so that carried over into high school.”

His biggest motivator on the team is Seffner Christian transfer Aaron Evans. The two push each other daily in the weight room, Clark says.

The black cloud hovering over the Armwood Hawks will soon vanish and regular season football will begin.

“We’re just excited to get out there and move past all this controversy and win some games,” Clark says.

While he continues to work to push for playing time behind center, Clark will ultimately fill any role named by the Hawks’ staff. After all, he just wants to win.