Will Clarke is a 6-foot-6, 265-pound redshirt freshman whose play this spring at defensive end has been about as impressive as is his physique.

He bats balls, tramples tackles, runs down running backs and generally has the sort of potential — that of a 290-pound play-making pass-rusher — WVU hasn’t had in a pretty long time. The Mountaineers have had some good ones at defensive end lately, but not with the size and skill Clarke might one day possess.

And just when you think you know what you’re getting from the kid, you get something totally unexpected. Clarke is quite quiet. 

Clarke’s coaches brag about the way the 6-foot-6, 265-pound defensive end’s motor roars during spring practices, but it’s difficult for the redshirt freshman to discuss it with an almost-whisper that can get lost in the wind at Mountaineer Field.

“I guess it’s pretty much two different guys,” Clarke said Tuesday afternoon. “A lot of my teammates say I need to get mad. Before every game, I’m really calm and I just don’t say much – until I get mad. When I do get mad, I’m there.”

His father was a similarly sized basketball player who made it at Duquesne and is still a pretty big figure today. There aren’t many times father and son walk around Pittsburgh when someone doesn’t notice Bill from his days with the Dukes.

The conversation usually goes to his enormous son and a question follows about what Will is doing. That it’s football is something of a surprise. That it’s happening at WVU is a bit of a shock, too.

Clarke could have kept it in the city. He committed to Pitt before the 2008 season, only to eventually reopen his recruitment, open his mind to Bill Kirelawich and wait through his senior season of basketball and sign with WVU in March 2009.

He added 20 pounds of mass and muscle between then and now and the one thing observers note and appreciate is how he’s always working. Defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who’s not one to be heavy with his compliments, said Clarke is already a player he points at and tells others to watch.

Clarke points to his dad.

“He prepared me mentally,” Clarke said. “He got me ready for the workouts at the next level. He said, ‘Prepare like you’re preparing for the next level. Don’t prepare for kids or people your age. Prepare for the people who are growing up to play at the college level.’ I started to see it paying off here because my work ethic, it wasn’t like I had to flip a switch. It was automatically there.”