SOUTH BEND — Jordan Clark, sixth-year defensive back for Notre Dame football, has played nearly 2,100 defensive snaps in his college career.

His father, ESPN personality Ryan Clark, played 13 NFL seasons and won a Super Bowl ring with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

All that experience, however, couldn’t prevent the Arizona State graduate transfer from being drawn into an on-field lapse that could have proved costly in the Sept. 28 win over Louisville.

Flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after head-butting Louisville receiver Chris Bell, Clark was fortunate not to be ejected for targeting. The transgression occurred with 8 ½ minutes left in the third quarter amid a string of injury setbacks and defections for the highly rated Irish secondary.

A day later, Clark tried to explain his action via social media: “If you were brought up to let someone spit in your face and not do anything, I get it. Not me though. Be easy.”

In a second reply on social media, Clark noted Bell, a junior from Yazoo City, Miss., had zero catches with him in coverage.

“No reason for me to be upset about anything,” Clark said. “Been playing college ball for a billion years, and I’ve never done that to anyone else. I assure you that wasn’t random.”

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Asked about the incident at his Monday news conference, Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman called it a “great teaching opportunity,” one that Clark regrets.

“You have to put team glory in front of yourself,” Freeman said. “Jordan Clark will be the first one that tells you it’s tough. Sometimes people test your manhood, but you still have to be able to put team before me.

“I know we’ve had long conversations. He regrets the penalty. He regrets his response. Nobody’s worth 15 yards. It’s such a challenging situation to have to do that.”

Human nature makes it that way.

“I think we’re all innate selfish people,” Freeman said. “I think we’re all naturally that way. But in that moment, and there’s moments in every game that you have to put your team before yourself, you have to let things go.

“That was my message to the entire team and to Jordan. As you move forward in life, there’s going to be times — this is bigger than the game of football — you’re going to have to let some things go because of what can happen in that situation. It’s not going to be the outcome that you want.”

Clark’s transgression drew an on-field rebuke from Freeman, who covered his mouth while barking at the usually composed podcast host. Clark played 70 of 76 defensive snaps in the win over Louisville, one that featured plenty of chirping from start to finish.

“I thought it was a great teaching opportunity by a guy that cares about the team,” Freeman said. “He does. He had just a selfish moment. He knows that. But love him, and he owned it, as I said Adon (Shuler) did the week before. (Clark) owned it, but we continue to learn from it.

“He has to understand that football is just a reflection of life. At times you’re going to have to let some things go and put maybe the greater good — your family, your kids, your wife — in front of yourself because what you don’t want to do is make a decision that’s going to negatively impact a lot of people.”

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame football finds larger lesson in Jordan Clark's infraction