Portage’s Garrett Clark has an edge to him.
The 6-foot-4 junior guard exudes a subtle self-assurance that occasionally comes across more directly when he speaks.
But there have been times, especially in his younger years, when his personality boiled over.
“His temper can be a negative for him, but it’s also the No. 1 positive for him too,” Portage coach Bryon Clouse said. “He is very competitive. It keeps the guys in line. Obviously the team respects him because of his dedication and hard work.
“We go back to his leadership. It’s hard for another kid to say anything about him getting shots or him playing because he’s always in the gym. He’s always doing something to improve himself.”
Clark said he has followed in the footsteps of his father, Dan, an assistant for the Indians and their strength and conditioning coach, and has learned from him. Dan Clark was a standout at Boone Grove, averaging 20.2 points as a senior in 1987.
“He was a lot like me in high school — high temper, gets frustrated really easily,” Garrett Clark said. “I was like that until he got on my butt about it. Every single time he sees that coming out of me, he’s like, ‘Hey, calm down.’
“I’ve done a lot better controlling myself out there since I started high school. From his experience, he knows that’s not what you want to do. I feel like he keeps me level. He’s a good mentor for me and everybody on the team.”
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Garrett Clark is a central component of that team, which returns largely intact from last season and has lofty aspirations for this one.
“We can make it to state, just like Chesterton did two years ago. … We have a lot of potential to do what they did,” Clark said. “Seeing that they did it, it gives us a lot of confidence in ourselves too.”
Clark averaged 12.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and a team-high 3.6 assists for Portage (14-9) last season. But he missed the final five games, including a sectional-opening loss to Crown Point, with a stress fracture in his right foot. That was part of an injury-hit season for the Indians. Four core players missed significant time at various points.
“It pains me that I was out,” Clark said. “It hurt just watching from the sideline. We did the best we could.
“Having everybody back, coming back from those injuries, it motivates us a whole lot more. If that didn’t happen, those injuries, last year would’ve been a lot different. We’re trying to pick up where we left off when we were all healthy.”
It took awhile for Clark to reach that point himself. He said his foot started hurting during a Jan. 13 game against Lake Central, gutted through three more games and “was trying to play and I just couldn’t walk” in that next Duneland Athletic Conference game against Crown Point on Feb. 2.
Clark wound up being sidelined for three months. But he said he didn’t “feel fully back to normal” until fall workouts.
He has looked sharp to Clouse.
“He makes more difficult shots than is almost humanly possible,” Clouse said. “The way he contorts his body and moves and makes fadeaways, most high school kids can’t do that, and you’re talking about him as a sophomore. We haven’t even seen him as a junior.
“He’s hard to guard because he can make those difficult shots, he can dribble, he can shoot pullups, go to the basket. I would expect that to go up, but every school in the area also knows him, so he’s probably going to get every team’s best defender or one of their best defenders. But having the depth we have, lucky for him, he has teammates who can fill it up and do some things.”
Clark typically also draws the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top player.
“He has a rough go because he’s by far our best defender,” Clouse said. “So not only are we asking him to score, dribble it, pass it, and now guess what, you have to chase around the best players from the best teams. That’s not very good.
“So he has a rough road. He has to be in very good shape. He has to be able to play 30, 32 minutes. He has to be ready to go the whole time, guarding and offense, playing both ends of the floor. He’s a very valuable piece for any coach who’s lucky enough to have him on their team.”
Clark has visions of making the Indiana Junior All-Stars, matching what teammate Jaelyn Johnson did last season. Clark eventually wants to make history to become Portage’s first boys Indiana All-Star.
Clark is well-positioned to make significant strides. Since last season, he said he has grown an inch and gained 15 pounds to get to 185. He also revamped his shot in the offseason.
“He’s in the weight room, he’s in the gym, shooting thousands of shots,” Clouse said. “He changed his whole shot. We were talking, how many other kids in my life, let alone on this team, just refuse to do it or won’t do it, and here’s a guy who was already starting, scoring 12, 13 points a game, and he thinks he needs to change his shot to make it a higher percentage.
“That shows you the type of kid he is. He’s had other guys on our team who have followed him, who have seen him work.”
Junior guard/forward Michael Wellman has been among the other building blocks for the Indians.
“He works hard,” Wellman said of Clark. “He’s always in the gym. He wants to be on the floor no matter what — foul trouble, guarding who he’s going to guard. When he was up against (Valparaiso’s) Mason Jones, he stuck his ground. Or someone shorter like (Michigan City’s) Jamie Hodges. No matter the task at hand, he has him. We know we can trust him to guard whatever size.
“With his foot injury, he has a fight in him. Nothing is going to bother him. I expect a lot of great things from Garrett.”
It didn’t take long for Clark to make a mark with the Indians, earning a starting spot about a month into his freshman season. He averaged 6.7 points and 2.5 rebounds as Portage went 17-9 that season.
His brother Grant Clark was a 6-0 senior guard on that team.
“He’s the whole reason I even was good enough to be on varsity my freshman year,” Garrett Clark said. “He worked hard. He just didn’t have the size that I did. I’m trying to be what he could’ve been if he was blessed with more size. Growing up with him, just going against him my whole childhood, seeing him watch our games, it just motivates me a whole lot.”
Portage went 9-15 the season before Clark entered the program.
“I remember my eighth grade year watching all the games, seeing my brother play,” he said. “It angered me that we were so bad. It really made me want to make an impact and start my career well and change the view around Portage basketball that’s been here forever.
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“We’re in the process of it. We haven’t done crap since we haven’t won anything yet. But this year, we’re going to do it. I’m pretty confident about that. The fact coach Clouse is a Portage alum, he wants to change Portage too. Him coming in, that was our freshman year, and it was his first year too. Everything just fell in line. I feel like this year is going to be a breakout year for Portage basketball.”