Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis continues to use his strong recruiting pipeline in the Volunteer State to bring in talent to to the Razorbacks.
In the late hours of Saturday night, Knoxville-West linebacker Drew Francis could no longer contain his excitement to announce his commitment to the Arkansas Razorback football team.
During the 2018 season, Francis recorded 90 tackles from his outside linebacker position and made himself a force in the opposing teams backfield every play. The head coach of the West Rebels, Lamar Brown, says Francis is a playmaker.
“There were points in the season that teams would run away from Drew only for him to run them down and make tackles,” Brown said.
If there is one thing that Arkansas lacked in 2018 it was total team effort. Brown says you do not have to worry about not receiving effort from Francis.
“He gives relentless effort...not one play without effort. I think Arkansas will really like Drew and how he plays technically sound,” Brown said. “These two bust their butts.”
After missing on a couple of linebackers late in the recruiting process in 2019, it has been imperative the staff brings in three to four linebackers in the class of 2020.
“Francis has been a starter the last three seasons as an outside linebacker. This season we moved him inside and it has been a learning process,” Brown said. “Fall camp starts tomorrow and Drew is very excited for the move. He is very coachable. You tell him to do something and he does it. He will do what he can to help the program.”
According to Brown, Chavis thinks Francis will play any linebacker spot and could line up on the secondary receiver in certain situations.
With the commitment of Tyrece Edwards, in the early hours of Sunday morning the Razorbacks gained a top notch student, basketball player and a very quick defensive lineman. Although he is listed as an athlete, Edwards could play along the defensive line.
“He is the type of kid that could play defensive end...a five technique or three technique,” Brown said. “If he puts on weight and keeps his first step, Tyrece will be an a very good SEC defensive lineman. His first step is the fastest I have ever seen at the high school level.”
Likewise to Francis, Brown considers Edwards a big time playmaker for the Rebels defense.
“Teams have to keep account for him. He is very hard to block one on one,” Brown said. “He is very physical and has worked with his technique over the past two seasons. He has definitely grown as a student and player. I think he will be a big time player in the SEC.”
With offers from a couple of Power Five conferences, Arkansas was the first program to give him significant attention.
“Arkansas was the leader for Tyrece from the beginning. (John) Chavis and (Steve) Caldwell kept in touch with him and really built a solid relationship with him,” Brown said.
Brown also said Edwards was very impressed with Morris and the direction of the Razorback program. “It felt like family. Both (Edwards and Francis) fit in socially, academically and with the football players.”
Brown mentioned that Edwards plays basketball.
“Basically, he is a football player playing basketball. He will rebound everything around him but he will pick up his five fouls quickly,” Brown chuckled. “They are both really good kids and will be leaders wherever they go.”
With the addition of Edwards and Francis, Arkansas moves to 36 overall in the Rivals rankings but remains at no.13 in the SEC.
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