Jordan Clark made the trek West to Stanford for a Junior Day visit Friday and the four star defensive back was impressed by what he saw.

“It’s beautiful -- the campus, the facilities and everything is really beautiful,” he said. “I’m from Baton Rouge. Being out there and people are driving Teslas, it was almost like another world.”

If certain aspects of Bay Area life seemed otherworldly to Clark he found comfortable familiarity in the defensive back meeting with Duane Akina.

“Hearing the way that he coaches and talks to his players -- it was really cool to be able to be in there with them,” Clark said. “The way he coaches is similar to the way my dad coaches me. I was used to it.”

Jordan’s father is Ryan Clark, who played in 177 NFL games over the course of 13 seasons after attending LSU. The elder Clark joined his son on the visit to Stanford and he can offer a knowledgeable perspective in conversations with college coaches.

“My dad is probably my biggest asset as far as recruiting,” Clark said. “The main thing he tells me is to keep my head on straight and don’t go to a school because it’s a big name. Go where you fit in and you’ll play. He reminds me to be respectful and when I’m there (on visits) to take in as much as I can, so I know as much about the university as possible.”

Clark isn’t 100 percent sure of everything he is looking for in a school and program, but he has a good idea of the authenticity he wants to hear from his possible future coaches: “I want to see if the way they speak to me during the recruiting process is also the way they’ll speak to me when I get there.”

With that in mind it was important for Clark to get a chance to speak with Stanford head coach David Shaw.

“I really, really like him. He seems like a very good and genuine man,” Clark said. “He talked to me about the opportunities that I would have if I came to Stanford and the connections I can make.”

One person at Stanford who needed no introduction for Clark was sophomore Malik Antoine. The defensive back attended University Lab School and overlapped a year with Clark.

“Malik is my best friend,” Clark said. “Even before Stanford was recruiting me we would talk about it. He’s real with me and talks about the pros and cons of going there. I have an inside look of what it’s like to be a Stanford student. The cons aren’t any different than going to any other school. The pros are definitely reassuring as far as the academic and athletic things go. He feels good about the Stanford experience.”

Clark has yet to take the ACT and said that Akina emphasized several times how important it is that he take care of that as soon as possible. Clark is willing to take on the academic challenge.

“I work really hard and academics are something that my family and I value a lot,” he said. “It means a lot to me and I work to keep my grades in good shape. Being at Stanford and talking to the coaches about admissions, Stanford expects you to take honors classes and to do well in them. And take the tests multiple times and do well in them, too. That standard is really good to have.”

And if it gets to the point that Stanford offers: “I would be extremely, extremely excited to receive an offer from Stanford. Getting an offer from Stanford -- for someone who values academics like I do -- is like the pinnacle of achievement. That would be really cool to me.”