MTSU kicker leaves program after not having scholarship in 2015

Middle Tennessee State kicker Cody Clark won't be returning to the team in 2016 because he doesn't have a scholarship.

Clark was awarded a scholarship after the 2013 season and has been the team's starting kicker for the past three seasons. But his scholarship was not renewed after the 2014 season and he was once again a walk on in 2015.

He said he made the decision towards the end of the season that he wouldn't be coming back. Clark said he found out just before practice began in August 2015 that he wouldn't have a scholarship for the season. He didn't appreciate the timing.

“I had never heard of a walk-on being taken off scholarship after just being put on,” Clark told MTSUSidelines.com. “The week before school, I got an email saying I needed to pay tuition or I’d be purged from my classes. 45 minutes before a practice, I asked [MTSU Director of Football Operations] Chris Matusek if I was on scholarship, and he said I wasn’t.”

MTSU coach Rick Stockstill said he didn't tell Clark the scholarship was for the rest of his playing career.

“I explained to him that it was a one-year deal, and that’s all it is,” Stockstill said. “He signed the [NCAA paper]. He knew when that scholarship expired. He signed it. He knew when it was over.”

Clark was 12-16 on field goals and 56-56 on PATs in 2015. Middle Tennessee State is a member of Conference USA.

“I probably knew at about game eight or nine that I probably wasn’t going to come back,” Clark said. “After the bowl game and before classes started, that was the time period where I was deciding if I wanted to be done.”

Clark's plight is part of the reason that Power Five conferences passed measures to not only provide cost of attendance benefits on its athletic scholarships but to also make the scholarships four years long instead of year-to-year. After the Power Five conferences made the move, Conference USA said its schools would provide cost of attendance benefits.

MTSU Sidelines said Clark has already received a scholarship offer from The Citadel and that MTSU offered an incoming kicker a scholarship after Clark was released.

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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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