HawgSports.com - Kirk's Korner: Great in-state talent in 2011

August 27, 2009

Otis Kirk
HawgSports.com Recruiting Analyst

Last year, when Arkansas Coach Bobby Petrino was attending the Jefferson City (Mo.) and Fayetteville High School football game to watch his son play he also noticed some other top talent on the field.

Soon afterwards, Petrino and the Razorbacks offered Fayetteville wide receiver Demetrius Dean, 6-2, 245, 4.75, a scholarship and the sophomore accepted almost on the spot. In that game, Dean caught 10 passes and scored 3 touchdowns.

Recently, Petrino offered quarterback Brandon Allen, 6-2, 200, 4.7, a scholarship as well. Allen, like Dean, is a junior this season. Allen hasn't accepted the Arkansas offer yet, but most expect him to at some point sooner or later with most leaning to sooner. Allen completed 249-of-432 passes for 3,270 yards and 30 touchdowns as a sophomore. Dean caught 67 of those passes for 985 yards and 13 touchdowns.

In the same game, Jefferson City sophomore tailback Kody Walker, 6-1, 225, 4.5, showed his talents. Later in the season, Walker rushed for well over 200 yards in a victory over Springdale High School. Now, Arkansas is among the schools in pursuit of Walker.

Walker is expected to be among the top recruits in Missouri and one of the nation's top running backs as a senior next fall. On Sept. 4, Springdale will travel to Jefferson City to open the season against Walker and his teammates. Then, on Sept. 11, Walker and Company will be in Fayetteville to take on the Bulldogs.

JUCO opener

Don't forget on Saturday if you are in Central Arkansas to check out Arkansas Baptist and Highland (Kan.) Community College at 1 p.m. in the season opener for both teams.

ABC has added recruits from Florida and other states and is expected to be vastly improved this year. They recently had a pair of big linemen from Detroit enroll and they should big factors later in the season for ABC.

The game will be played at Scott Field on the campus of Forrest Heights Junior High on University Avenue. ABC Athletic Director Charles Ripley feels this team can be very competitive this year.

Top end talent

Much debate has already been started about who will be the top football prospect in Arkansas in the Class of 2011.

Arkansas has three offers out to instate prospects right now in that class including Allen, Dean and Shiloh Christian quarterback Kiehl Frazier, 6-3, 200, 4.71. While all three of those are virtual can't-miss prospects, right now this writer would lean to Springdale Har-Ber offensive tackle Brey Cook, 6-7, 290, 5.2, as the No. 1 player in that class.

I think Clarksville's Wesleigh Foster, 5-11, 180, 4.4, is the best running back. Shiloh Christian's Travis Bodenstein, 6-4, 300, 5.3, and Russellville's Mitch Hall, 6-5, 310, 5.4, are other good offensive lineman who will be major college recruits.

Shiloh Christian defensive lineman Samuel Harvill, 6-1, 265, 4.86, is the top defender in the state. Some are worried about Harvill's height, but those same people need to turn on the projector and see Harvill actually play. Look at production and quit worrying about measurements in this case.

Dumas quarterback Darion Griswold, 6-5, 245, 4.8, is also a big-time prospect. He doesn't have the offers that Allen and Frazier do, but he has a tremendous upside with a cannon for an arm. He's also being recruited for the hardcourt.

Orr goes public

One of the famous "four silent commits" went public for Arkansas on Wednesday when Oxford (Ala.) defensive end Dimitri Orr, 6-5, 245, 4.7, made his decision known to all.

Orr isn't a solid commit at this time, but Arkansas needs as many defensive linemen as they can get and will work on making Orr a solid pledge as soon as possible.

Last year, Ricky Johnson of Louisiana made a similar commitment to Arkansas early only to opt for Tulsa at the last minute. No coach feels comfortable with soft commitments.

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