By Loyd McIntosh
Clark Griffin has lived a charmed and unique football life. The Mountain Brook graduate has won two college national championships at two levels—NCAA Division I and Division II—and was within a whisker of winning a third in 2025.
However, Griffin’s college football journey is all the more interesting considering he believed his days battling on the gridiron were over following his graduation from Mountain Brook in 2020.
Growing up as a devoted fan of the Crimson Tide, Griffin always had his sights set on studying at the University of Alabama. Griffin felt Alabama would be a good fit since his older brother had attended UA, and the Capstone is also a popular destination for Mountain Brook graduates.
He was a key part of the Spartans’ defense in high school, but at just 5-9, 185 pounds, scholarship offers from major colleges weren’t exactly rolling in. So, it was a surprise to Griffin when he got the call inviting him to be a member of the Tide. “Honestly, I wasn’t gonna play football, but then they came and asked me to be a walk-on,” says Griffin. “I thought, ‘this is perfect. It’s the best of both worlds.’ I get to go down there and play football, and I was going down there with some of my high school friends.”
Griffin was a freshman during the Crimson Tide’s most recent national championship team in 2020. That season was severely impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic, marked by weekly COVID tests and mostly empty stadiums. Still, Griffin says being a part of an undefeated national championship team coached by Nick Saban was the experience of a lifetime. “That season was awesome,” says Griffin. “I learned so much from a football perspective. It was really beneficial for me and my development as a football player being there, learning under the greatest coach of all time, in my opinion. It was an incredible experience for me.”
Griffin spent another year at Alabama, with his role limited to contributions at practice and suiting up for games, but never getting a chance to see action on the field. Griffin understood that his size was not exactly suited for major NCAA Division I football. Still, he believed he had something to prove and made the decision to enter the transfer portal in the spring of 2022. “I was ready to make an impact on the field,” says Griffin. “I play a linebacker, and I’m a little bit undersized, but I knew if I went somewhere where the coaches would give me a true shot to play that I could make a difference.”
He chose Harding University, a Division II private Christian university in Searcy, Arkansas, a school with a strong Griffin family history. Griffin’s father, uncle and grandfather played football for the Harding Bisons, his grandfather joining the team in the late 1950s after the program was restored following two decades of dormancy due to economic hardship at the college.
Despite the family connections, Griffin says the decision to leave his friends and home state of Alabama was a difficult one but quickly proved to be the right one. He began contributing to the Bisons’ defense right away, logging 72 tackles (33 solo, 39 assisted) in 2022, his first season at Harding. “Picking up and moving was a challenge in and of itself, but I would not trade leaving for the world,” says Griffin. “I definitely made the right decision.”
The Bisons had a great season in 2022, finishing with a record of 9-2, but fell short of qualifying for the Division II playoffs. Going into 2023, Griffin says the team knew they had a good shot to make the playoffs and a run at a winning Harding’s first national championship. When the dust settled, Harding finished this season 15-0 and defeated the Colorado School of Mines, 38-7, in the 2023 NCAA Division II Championship, capping a dream season for the Bisons and for Griffin. A standout on the Bison’s defense, Griffin had 94 tackles in 2023, including four in the title game. “When you’re going into a season like that, everyone wants to win the national championship, and the belief was there, but it had never been done,” Griffin says. “So, just seeing that through and winning the first-ever national title at Harding was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.”
The Bisons made it to the Division II quarterfinals in 2024 and had a shot at earning Harding’s second national championship in 2025, but lost to Ferris State 42-21 in the title game on December 20, ending Griffin’s shot at a third national title. However, Griffin leaves an impressive legacy in Searcy, Arkansas.
In his three years at Harding, Griffin played in 56 games, starting in 40, and logged 439 tackles, 11 sacks and six fumble recoveries. He was an AP All-American and included in the D2Football.com Elite 100 in 2024, was named to the Great American Conference (GAC) first team in 2023 and 2024 and was named to the D2CCA All-Super Region 3 in 2023 and 2024.
Griffin’s success is no surprise to Mountain Brook Head Coach Chris Yeager, who oversaw the linebacker’s development in high school. Yeager says Griffin stood out not only for his football knowledge but also for his toughness and team-oriented attitude. He knew that Griffin could shine in college in the right environment. “His football skills speak for themselves. He’s just a phenomenal football player,” says Yeager. “I was always impressed with his instincts. He was two steps ahead of the play.”
Yeager continues, “Right now, we’re in an era of football that’s all about the measurements. It’s about the height, the weight and what you can measure on a clock. But what Clark’s about, you don’t measure.”
With his college career behind him, Griffin reflects on his journey from Mountain Brook to playing for Nick Saban, and continuing a family tradition in Arkansas, while winning championships and awards along the way. The one word to describe his football is simple: “blessed.”
