Super Bowl Super-Recruiter: Dallas Clark Impacts Iowa's National Signing Day

Iowa Hawkeye football has had a few Rudy-like stories over the years.

Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger is a former football player for the University of Notre Dame who never gave up on his dream to play football for the Fighting Irish. His story inspired the popular movie, Rudy.

Last year, Shonn Greene played the Rudy role. His hard-luck story from part-time community college student and furniture mover to Doak Walker award winner and NFL draft pick captivated the entire state of Iowa.

This year, Greene captivated the nation by helping the New York Jets shine in the playoffs. 

Attention like that is an added bonus for Iowa, and acts as some of the best recruiting promotion a coach could ask for. 

Before Greene's rags-to-riches story, Dallas Clark played the Rudy role.

Clark's story is a tearjerker. After watching his mother die of a heart attack in his arms a few days before his high school graduation, he dug deep within himself and found the motivation to live his life in honor of his mother. That life included college.

While enrolled at the University of Iowa, he made money by cutting the grass at Kinnick Stadium. That sounds vaguely familiar, doesn't it?

He played football as a distraction. It was rough at first, but with a lot of hard work he went from walk-on trying to find a position to John Mackey Award winner and first-round NFL draft pick by the Indianapolis Colts.

Currently, Clark is the highest-paid tight end in the NFL.

Clark is part of a new breed of tight ends, one that baffles defenses by catching passes downfield like a wide receiver while blocking like a true offensive lineman.

With the Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, Clark has become the current highest-scoring QB-TE tandem in the NFL. The two are currently second all-time in NFL history.

In 2008, Clark broke the Colts franchise record for yards in a season by a tight end with almost 850. This season, he caught over 100 passes, only the second tight end in NFL history to do so. 

Undeniably, Dallas Clark is recruiting gold for Iowa football. 

Starting with Clark, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz began molding a prototype for a pass-catching tight end. Ferentz envisioned a big kid with soft hands that could line up at scrimmage next to the offensive tackle or line up as an out wide, and have a natural feel for running pass routes either way.

Whether he knew it or not, he was constructing a mold for future NFL tight ends. Every tight end at Iowa since Clark has gone on to the NFL.

Scott Chandler, the tight end following Clark, was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in 2006. Brandon Myers followed Chandler, and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2008.

Tony Moeaki followed Myers. He recently received an invite to the NFL combine and many 2010 mock drafts have him projected in the third round of the draft.

Next year, Allen Reisner gets his chance and already has a plethora of experience filling in for an injured Moeaki the last two years. His size and ability to catch are prototypical of Iowa tight ends, and he should continue the trend of Hawkeyes playing tight end in the NFL.

Next in line looks to be incoming recruit C.J. Fiedorowicz, a 6'7", 240-pound tight end from Johnsburg, Ill., who ranks No. 2 at his position and has a great combination of size and pass catching skills.

While bigger than Clark, Fiedorowicz fits the description of a Ferentz prototype tight end. He is proof that the success of Iowa tight ends in the NFL helps sell the program to recruits.

Iowa's tight end success gets a little more free promotion this weekend when Dallas Clark tries to earn his second Super Bowl ring with the Indianapolis Colts.

Recruiting gold.