Intriguing 7-footer is a late addition to Shaka Smart's 2024 recruiting class at Marquette

The Marquette men’s basketball team has a late addition to its 2024 basketball recruiting class.

The Golden Eagles have signed Joshua Clark from Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas, after the 7-foot center visited MU's campus.

Clark joins fellow incoming freshmen Damarius Owens and Royce Parham as frontcourt additions to the Golden Eagles next season. MU has filled all 13 scholarships for the 2024-25 season.

Clark is the type of long, mobile big man that Golden Eagles head coach Shaka Smart likes to deploy as a lob catcher and shot blocker. He averaged 9.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game for Clements High School last season. His teammates included two sons of NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon.

A late bloomer on the court who also had a recent growth spurt, Clark hasn't gotten a lot of recruiting buzz. But Smart and his coaching staff have shown an ability to develop big men.

“We are extremely excited about Josh joining our basketball family,” Smart said in a statement. “He possesses tremendous tools and character, has very supportive and aligned parents and comes from a background of winning. Josh will fit right in with our group’s sustained emphasis on relationships, growth and victory.”

With Oso Ighodaro leaving MU for the NBA draft, Ben Gold is set to take over as starting center in his junior season. Behind Gold in the frontcourt, the Golden Eagles don't have a lot of experience. Al Amadou played in just 14 games as a freshman and Caedin Hamilton redshirted his first season.

Parham and Owens, who signed with MU in November, are versatile forwards who played their last season of high school together at Western Reserve Academy in Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 7-footer Joshua Clark from Texas is joining Marquette's 2024 class