Michael Clark commits to SMU

Late Thursday night SMU secured the commitment of Cedar Hill safety Michael Clark, the 18th member of SMU's 2016 class.

But for Clark, a former Kansas pledge who reopened his recruitment shortly after he got his SMU offer, a lot of people were simply wondering what took so long for him to pony up.

"I had told (fellow Cedar Hill defensive back and SMU commit Eric Sutton) two weeks before when I got the offer that I was going to commit. He was getting mad at me for waiting so long. Every day he asked me, when you going to commit? You going to commit today?" Clark explained to the HillTopics at the Texas 7v7 State Championship in College Station on Friday, a big grin across his face. "And when I told him and Demerick (Gary, another SMU commit) yesterday they were both so excited."

Even SMU defensive coordinator Van Malone gave Clark grief for not committing earlier, though all in good fun.

"I talked to coach (Claude) Mathis first because I'm just real familiar with him. We talk a lot and then I called coach Malone right after. After I leave here I have to call coach (Chad) Morris," Clark said. "Coach Mathis, he was real happy. When I called coach Malone he was asking why I waited so long. He was happy too, I could tell he was excited about it."

Clark went into a little bit more detail about why he chose SMU as the right college for him.

"It's close to home and I just love it there. It's really family-like, I know the coaches, I know some of the guys who are already there and my best friend (Sutton) already committed there too," Clark said.

It was being so close to home that made the difference for the Cedar Hill senior.

#DTowntakeover 😈 Proud to say I'm Officially committed to Southern Methodist University 🔴🔵⚪️ #StangGang16 PonyUp🐎 pic.twitter.com/rZoyfyJKIJ— Michael D Clark II (@MDC2_) July 10, 2015

"It's cool to be able to stay home and it's right in the middle of the city whenever you want to go there," Clark said.

Clark is growing close with a number of his future classmates and teammates.

"I train a lot with Demerick and me and Eric grew up together. All of us in the class of 2016 are in a group chat and talking all the time," Clark said. "We're trying to start something so we need to be close together and we're trying to recruit other players to come join too."

Clark plans to be at SMU a lot this summer and has one date set already: A cookout at Gerald R. Ford Stadium on July 24 with all the members of the 2016 class and some other potential future Mustangs as well.

Before he gets to SMU Clark is working on his movements to make sure he is ready for the college game as well as speed and strength.