TEMPE, Ariz. -- Kei'Trel Clark knew the predicament was coming.

During his pre-draft visit to the Arizona Cardinals in early April, the cornerback sat in the office of new coach Jonathan Gannon and told him the University of Louisville’s commencement ceremony was scheduled for May 13, the same weekend as Arizona’s rookie minicamp.

At the time, there was a high probability the entire conversation would be moot. Clark didn't know which team would draft him and there were eight teams who had scheduled their rookie minicamp the weekend before Louisville’s graduation. Maybe Clark would end up going to one of them and could do both.

As much as Clark wanted to be at his first NFL practices, walking across that stage, getting his diploma and moving his tassel to the left side of his cap as the first college graduate in his family took priority.

Gannon understood. He told Clark that, should Clark become a Cardinal, he’d be excused from practice to be at his graduation.

Three weeks later, the Cardinals made Clark a sixth-round pick and Clark reminded Gannon of his upcoming graduation after the draft, but Gannon hadn’t forgotten. Clark actually considered making it to both his graduation and minicamp, suggesting he first go to Arizona and then to Louisville and then back to Arizona.

“That's important. We want all our guys to graduate. You need to do that,’” Gannon told Clark.

Clark felt the same way.

IF 12-YEAR-OLD KEI’TREL could see where 22-year-old Kei’Trel is in life, he’d never believe it, Clark says now.

Academics were always a priority in the Clark household, said Tom Hall, Clark’s coach at Manchester High School in Midlothian, Virginia. Hall would know better than most. His wife, Kendall, taught Clark in the fourth grade at Crenshaw Elementary. Clark’s mom, Anelia Vaughn, was strict about schoolwork. If Clark didn’t get good enough grades, she’d take something away from him as a punishment, Hall remembered.

Clark worked at his academics and it paid off in high school. He graduated from Manchester with a GPA over 3.0 while taking advanced courses, Hall said. When it came time for college, Vaughn stressed the academic part of the schools Clark was looking to play football at.

Once in college, Clark had a mandate from his mother.

“She was like, ‘You’re going to get that education. You're going to graduate,’” Clark recounted.

And he did, in four years, while going to two schools after transferring to Louisville from Liberty and majoring in communications.

Bryan Brown, Clark's defensive coordinator at Louisville who now holds the same role at the University of Cincinnati, pointed out how studious the cornerback was.

“He had courses to where he had to do a good bit of reading and he enjoyed that because that's what he wanted to do,” Brown said. “But he's a guy that's going to do his schoolwork and get it done.”

Clark understood how important graduating was, not only to his mother but to his two younger brothers. Even at a young, formative age, he understood what kind of role model he was to his siblings.

“Every day I wake up, my goal is to be my best self and represent the name on my back, and that's ‘Clark,’" he said. “So, at the end of the day, I have two little brothers that's coming after me, and I got numerous of other little brothers that's in my hometown that look up to me.

“I just got to make sure that I'm letting them know this is what you have to do to be a successful man.”

Clark knew how to fill the role of that exemplar. During the first of a three-day draft party at his home in Virginia, he welcomed some kids from the youth football league he played in as a child. He signed their jerseys, took pictures and talked to them about being in the same place as them just a few years ago.

After the draft, Clark continued to practice what he preached.

He spent some time at the fields of his youth football league -- which, coincidentally, had the Cardinals as its mascot -- taking pictures, and hanging out with the players and their families. Then he went back to his high school and talked to those players.

“Where he grew up is very blue collar,” Hall said. “... For him to accomplish everything that he's done and he's always come back and he's always given back to his community, I'm proud of that.

“I know his family's proud of that as well.”

IT WAS A joyful, emotional and overwhelming two weeks for Clark and his mother from the moment he got the call from the Cardinals on April 29 to the moment he walked across the stage at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville.

About 15 members of his family packed a Sprinter van and made the eight-hour drive from Virginia to Louisville.

Amen, college chapter officially closed. Time to go to work now. https://t.co/qBAAqlDnPu

— Kei'Trel (Tre) Clark™️ (@_treclark) May 13, 2023

Vaughn’s high didn’t seem to subside from the moment her son was drafted to when he graduated.

“It's kind of like she hadn't had time to really sit and rejoice in the moment,” Clark said. “But, man, she texts me every day, saying, ‘I'm missing my baby. I'm happy for you.’

“I'm just so happy to be able to make her happy and make her smile and set the foundation for all of the little ones that's coming after me, as well.”

The moment caught up to Clark as he drove to graduation. He teared up thinking, “Man, this is really happening to you right now.”

Walking across the stage, the same emotions he experienced on draft day washed over him again.

“I felt like I got drafted again,” Clark said. “It was just amazing.”

Now Clark is settled in the desert, preparing for his rookie season with the Cardinals, degree in hand.

“It is bigger than football,” Clark said. “My diploma is going to last me for the rest of my life and we all know that football has a time limit on it.

“Even if I played 10, 15 years, it's going to end at some point, but I would still have that degree at the end of the day.”