Get to Know Your Orange Man: #5 DB Alijah “Cinco” Clark

It’s time to start preparing for the upcoming Syracuse Orange football season. We’re going through the roster to take a look at each Syracuse player as we get ready for a critical season for the Orange.

Up next is….

Name: Alijah Clark

Position: Defensive Back

Year: Junior

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 186 lbs.

Hometown: Camden, N.J.

High school: Camden

Previous school: Rutgers

2022 stats: Played in 12 games, starting 11. Recorded 55 tackles, 2.5 TFLs and two pass defends.

2023 projections: While he didn’t show it with turnovers, Cinco played a solid safety, preventing little to no yards after catch. He held his positioning strong in the zone concepts that the Syracuse safeties play. Given the cornerback turnover, Cinco may have moved back to his natural position, but it seems like the Orange are happy keeping him at the safety position. He was a newcomer last year, but this year he’s an impact leader.

How’d he get here?: Recruited by his high school friend and teammate Duce Chestnut, Clark transferred to Syracuse from Rutgers after one season.

What’d recruiting sites say?: Four stars by On3, 247sports and Rivals. All three sites named Clark a top five player in New Jersey, a top 20 cornerback nationally and a top 250 player nationally.

Money quote: When asked what he thought of the new guys in the secondary (Jaeden Gould and Jayden Bellamy), Clark kept it simple and sweet.

“Jersey. Jersey tough.”

Twitter feed: @cinco_agent

Instagram feed: @agent.cinco

Tweets/Instas of wonder: Shoutout NIL.

nteresting nugget o’interest: Before his dissociation with the program, Adam Weitsman’s only NIL deal with as Syracuse football player was with Clark.

Let’s get a look at ya: A few slides of clips from the past season: