Fayetteville linebacker Kaiden Turner receives dream offer from Arkansas
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The 2022 class was trending on historic and it's now officially caught up to the 2019 in-state class, which featured nine in-state prospects with Arkansas offers. Fayetteville High School linebacker Kaiden Turner received the ninth in-state offer from the Hogs on July 21, a dream come true for the home-grown recruit.
"Oh my goodness, it's crazy. When Coach Pittman told me I just goosebumps, I just started shivering," Turner said. "Arkansas is the only team I've ever watched, I've never even been to another college football game. My mom's an alumni, so now that I have a chance to go to Arkansas, I'm super excited about it."
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound linebacker led Fayetteville in tackles and sacks in his sophomore season and boasts a 4.59 40-yard dash time.
"I really haven't heard a bad thing about Coach Pittman, people say he's awesome and they love him," Turner said. "I'm really hoping we can turn the program around and they could be a top 10 school in the country.
Barry Odom began following Turner on Twitter in May after he received his first offers from Indiana and Kansas.
Despite being born in California, Turner has spent his whole life in Northwest Arkansas. The desire to commit to his dream program is probably strong but he doesn't give anything away just yet.
"It's going to be a family thing," Turner said. "We're going to be praying about it. If that's what God wants me to do, then I'm going to go to Arkansas. If he tells me to go somewhere else, I'll do that."
The next time Turner hits the Hill he'll be a bonafide top prospect in the state, with all the attention from fans that comes with it.
"I've thought about that recently, all the fans that are watching, I'll have a chance to play in front of those fans."
Vanderbilt, Missouri, Memphis, Baylor and more programs have also indicated interest in Turner to his head coach Casey Dick. He's the second Fayetteville athlete to get a Razorback offer, following wide receiver and track and field stud Isaiah Sategna.
Other in-state prospects with early Arkansas offers are Andrew Chamblee and Nico Davillier, OL and DL from Maumelle, E'Marion Harris, OL from Robinson HS, James Jointer, RB from Parkview, Dax Courtney, TE from DeWitt, JJ Holllingsworth, DE from Greenland and Quincey McAdoo, a 4-star athlete from Clarendon.