'Pressure is a privilege' Rahshawn Clark ready for expectations at UW

As soon as he steps onto Washington’s campus, Rahshawn Clark knows he’ll be representing something bigger than himself. He’s got the expectations of the entire state on his shoulders. 

First-year UW football coach Jedd Fisch landed 19 incoming freshmen for his 2024 recruiting class. California is home to 10 of the new arrivals. Three hail from Arizona, where Fisch and his staff spent the past several seasons. Oregon and Texas each have two representatives, while Nevada has one. 

Clark is the only player from Washington.

“I feel like we’re kind of underrated,” Clark said. “We’re kind of slept on, in a way. I feel like if I can — as a Washington kid — go to UW and perform for a staff that was at Arizona and not as familiar with Washington talent, then I can, in a way, pave the way for fellow athletes in the state of Washington.”

A two-way standout in high school, Clark originally committed to Fisch and the Wildcats. The 6-foot, 180-pound athlete, who’s slated to play defensive back for the Huskies, had long come to terms with his decision to leave the state.

Clark was ready to forge a name for himself. He was prepared to leave the city where his family’s name had become synonymous with sporting success because of his grandfather JoJo Rodriguez, the former Garfield High School basketball star who has been a successful coach in the Puget Sound area for almost three decades.

But on Jan. 14, Fisch took the job at UW, replacing former coach Kalen DeBoer. Clark, a four-star prospect according to 247Sports and the consensus No. 6 player in the state, chose to follow the coaching staff he pledged to and committed to the Huskies on Feb. 7. The move suddenly cast him as the hometown kid playing for his local university. 

It’s a role Clark doesn’t take lightly. In fact, he’s uniquely suited to carry these added expectations.

“Pressure is a privilege,” Clark said. 

Living up to a legacy

Sept. 8, 2023, will always be one of the most important dates in Clark’s life.

Garfield High was playing its second game of the season, facing Lincoln of Seattle. The Bulldogs had driven down to the Lynx’s 14-yard line with five minutes remaining in the first quarter of a scoreless game when Garfield quarterback EJ Caminong floated a back-shoulder fade toward the right boundary of the end zone of Memorial Stadium. 

Caminong’s pass was high and seemed destined to drop harmlessly out of bounds, but Clark elevated over the opposing cornerback and reached out his large left hand to snag the ball before tumbling to the ground for a touchdown. 

“I was feeling a lot,” Clark said. “It was my first touchdown at Memorial [Stadium], and it wasn’t like a normal touchdown. It was a one-handed touchdown. It was special. It was a lot of emotion, for real.”

The one-handed catch was Clark’s second touchdown for Garfield since transferring from Federal Way before the start of his senior season. But more importantly, Clark knew his grandfather was somewhere in the crowd celebrating.

“It was big for the both of us,” Clark said.  

Rodriguez was the reason Clark chose to finish his high school career at Garfield.

The point guard of Garfield’s “Super Dogs” team, Rodriguez helped the Bulldogs go undefeated on their way to the 1974 basketball state championship. His No. 23 hangs in the rafters of Garfield’s gym. 

Rodriguez returned to his alma mater as an assistant for legendary Garfield coach Al Hairston in 1984, helping the Bulldogs win state championships in 1986, 1987 and 1990. Rodriguez succeeded Hairston in 1991 and compiled a 104-30 record during his five-year tenure as coach. 

He resigned in 1996. Rodriguez coached at other schools — Ingraham and Lakes, among others — but Garfield has always been the school of his heart. 

Only one of Rodriguez’s four children, his daughter Rahmeca Rodriguez, graduated from Garfield. He hoped one of his grandchildren might don the Bulldogs’ purple and white colors someday, too, so he was thrilled when Rahmeca told him her son was going to transfer there for his senior year. 

“I was so proud,” Rodriguez said. “So happy.”

Rodriguez and Clark have always been extremely close. Rodriguez — called “Papi” by Clark and his other grandchildren — remembers going to his grandson’s soccer games when Clark was a child. He recalls arguing with parents who wanted his grandson to be subbed off because he was more athletic than the other kids his age and scoring too many goals.  

Clark — whom Rodriguez and other family members call “Man-Man” — also used to accompany his grandfather to high school basketball games, sitting on the end of the bench while his grandfather coached and running onto the court during timeouts to shoot baskets. 

But Clark found his calling on the gridiron.

Rodriguez recalled Clark taking his first handoff 20 yards before being tackled during his first youth football game. Rodriguez, who believes he hasn’t missed any of his grandson’s games, remembers Clark quickly jumping to his feet, and then perfectly spinning the ball on the ground in celebration of his big run.

“I looked at his mom and said, ‘Listen, we’ve got one here,’” Rodriguez said.

Clark started his high school career at Life Christian Academy, before transferring to Federal Way for his sophomore and junior seasons where he played for coach Marcus Yzaguirre. However, Clark regularly attended Garfield football games with Rodriguez, who told him stories about the atmosphere and competitiveness of the Metro League back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. 

So Clark, who’s also a standout special teams returner, chose to transfer to Garfield for the 2023 season. While there were certainly expectations on the field because of his grandfather’s reputation, Clark said there was even more pressure focused on the way he carried himself off it. 

He had to ingrain himself in the school and the Central District community, where the Rodriguez name still holds lots of weight. His grandfather is a local legend. It’s been almost three decades since Rodriguez coached the Bulldogs, but he’s still recognized immediately by school staffers, many who’ve known him for decades, when he steps on Garfield’s campus. 

Instead of worrying about living up to his grandfather and mother, however, Clark said he’s happily embraced the challenge.

“I was just grateful for that situation I was in,” Clark said. “And grateful I was able to continue his legacy.” 

Added Rodriguez: “He didn’t shy away from [my legacy], and he didn’t use it to his advantage. … He made his own way, and I love and respect him for that.”

Roller-coaster recruitment 

Reggie Witherspoon Jr. was in disbelief. Public school football coaches don’t normally get calls telling them one of the top players in the state just transferred to their school and wanted to join the team.  

“I was like, ‘Yeah right,’” Witherspoon, who coached Garfield during the 2023 season, said. “And now, here we are.”

Witherspoon first heard about Clark through the 7-on-7 circuit in 2019, before the talented athlete’s freshman season. Witherspoon knew he was gaining one of the state’s most dynamic two-way players. 

“I’ll play both sides of the ball until someone shows me I can’t, you know?” Clark said. “If someone shows me I can’t, then I’ll choose one side, but until then I wanted to go at it and compete with everybody.”

Wide receiver had been Clark’s first love on the football field. He said the feeling of impacting a game with the ball in his hands is like no other. Utah, Washington State and Colorado, before Deion Sanders took over, were just a few of the schools that offered Clark scholarships as a receiver.

But defensive back was his calling. Clark committed to California to play defense for coach Justin Wilcox, the former UW defensive coordinator, the summer before his senior season. 

Knowing he was heading to college to play defense, Clark and Witherspoon focused on sharpening his defensive skills during his lone season at Garfield, building on the foundation laid by Tracy Ford and Ford Sports Performance during Clark’s junior summer. The Bulldogs also moved him to nickel, which he hadn’t played extensively since his sophomore season. 

Witherspoon said he wanted Clark to play in space. The former Garfield coach felt Clark was a solid outside cornerback if left alone on an island with a receiver, but he was capable of handling more responsibility. Witherspoon compared Clark to Colorado’s Swiss Army knife defensive back Travis Hunter. 

The biggest step in Clark’s development, though, was convincing his heart to embrace playing defense. 

“I said, ‘Hey bro, you’ve got to love backpedaling the way you love to run routes,’” Witherspoon said. 

Part of learning to love defensive back was applying some of the skills which helped Clark play receiver. He said the offensive instincts which allowed him find space in a zone or read a defensive players’ leverage translated to the other side of the ball. He understands what opposing receivers can or can’t do, because he’s been in their shoes. 

Clark’s development attracted the attention of Fisch and Arizona cornerbacks coach John Richardson. The Wildcats offered the Seattle native back in February 2022 and kept recruiting him despite his commitment to the Golden Bears. 

Fisch and Richardson convinced Clark to take a late official visit to Tucson, Ariz., shortly before early signing day. Clark was impressed by the way they broke down his film, and intrigued by how they envisioned him fitting into their defense. He flipped his commitment from Cal to Arizona just about 48 hours before early signing day. 

Clark never made it back to Tucson. He was granted a release from his National Letter of Intent and committed to Washington, a school he admitted wasn’t an option for him before Fisch’s arrival. Clark said he was excited to leave and experience a new environment when he committed to Arizona, but Fisch’s coaching staff helped him see staying home in a new light. After all, the pressure is a privilege.

Rodriguez and the rest of the family were ecstatic about Clark’s decision. The former Garfield coach said he was fully prepared to fly to Berkeley, Calif., or Tucson to watch his grandson, but Rodriguez admitted he was elated when Clark told him he’d be playing at UW. 

Because when Clark takes the field at Husky Stadium for the first time, he’ll quite literally be up the street — three miles north on 23rd Avenue and across the Montlake Bridge — from their beloved Garfield. 

“That purple, you know, that purple,” Rodriguez said. “To have my grandson there, it’s just like having him go to Garfield. I’m proud. I’m happy. Just proud and happy for him, man.”