Recruiting Notebook: Friday Night Spotlight, big games, Week 4 schedule

Each Friday, HawgBeat's Alex Trader will write a recruiting notebook filled with tidbits on Arkansas commits and top targets, including the best games, performances and where each are playing that particular week.

Midway (Texas) @ Duncanville (Texas) - 7:30 p.m. CT

This week will feature our first two-time spotlight player in Duncanville linebacker Jordan Crook. Crook flipped to the Hogs earlier this summer after a brief commitment to Oklahoma State.

Crook will be hoping for a better outcome than we saw in his team’s previous appearance against Mater Dei (Calif.), and none other than HawgBeat’s own Andrew Hutchinson will be in attendance for the game against 0-4 Midway.

This week wasn’t quite exciting as the last on the recruiting trail, but Sam Pittman’s Razorbacks will have a chance to make an impression within a key pipeline state this weekend in Texas.

“It’s a big state,” Pittman said. “The University of Texas can’t take ‘em all, A&M can’t take ‘em all, and then there’s a lot of kids down there. Certainly, we’re going to try to go in there and get the best as well.

“Us and a lot of people, everybody in our league. A lot of people. It’s a highly populated state, a lot of good players, and they’re important for us. To be honest with you, the Hogs are strong in Texas right now.”

As strong as the staff feels the Hogs are, there’s still work to be done within the state. Three games into the year, Pittman thinks it’s a good time for coaches to dive into the deep end of the recruiting pool.

“We’re going to have five of our coaches out on the road starting (Thursday) night,” Pittman said. “They’ll leave after practice (Thursday) and the coordinators will handle the walk-through on Friday, which is easy. They’ll be out to games, watching different kids play Friday night.

“I wasn’t comfortable going out, it was too early, letting our coaches go out during the Texas game or the Georgia Southern game. But we’ve got the routine down now. The kids understand, so I’m comfortable with letting the guys go out. We need to. I mean, recruiting’s your lifeblood, so we need to.”

War Memorial Stadium was alive Thursday for the start of conference play. Greenwood took on James Jointer Jr.’s Parkview Patriots in what would be a high-scoring affair.

Jointer was a massive part of that success, with Hawgs Illustrated's Dudley Dawson tabulating him at a whopping 270 yards on 31 carries (8.7) with five touchdowns in the Patriots' 48-28 upset win.

Here were some highlights from the Arkansas commit’s career day courtesy of Fearless Friday:

In other news, the marquee matchup of last weekend ended with Anthony Brown’s Milan Bulldogs suffering a 40-7 loss to Jaylen Lewis’ Haywood Tomcats. Kaden Henley's Shiloh Christian Saints suffered a tough loss, as well, and we were there to shoot highlights and hear from the linebacker commit after the game.

HawgBeat also caught up with 2023 tight end commit Jaden Hamm and 2024 defensive back target Jordan Bride after they were in town for Arkansas' blowout win over Georgia Southern.

2022

Belleville (Mich.) @ Fordson (Mich.) - 6 p.m. CT

Commit: Myles Rowser, 4* S (Belleville)

-- Belleville - Christian Rapley, 3* ATH (‘22) - holds offers from Kentucky, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, others
-- Belleville - Jeremiah Caldwell, 4* ATH (‘22) - previously committed to Kentucky, holds offers from Arkansas State, Iowa State, Michigan, Tennessee
-- Belleville - Deshaun Lee, 3* CB (‘22) - holds offers from Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Syracuse
-- Belleville - Aaron Alexander, 2* ILB (‘22) - Michigan commit
-- Fordson - Antonio Gates Jr., 3* ATH (‘22) - Michigan State commit
-- Fordson - Ka’Marii Landers, 3* OG (‘22) - holds offers from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, West Virginia

Cedar Grove (Ga.) @ Carver (Ga.) - 6:30 p.m. CT

Commit: Rashod Dubinion, 4* RB (Cedar Grove)

-- Cedar Grove - Christen Miller, 4* DT (‘22) - No. 9 DT in 2022, FutureCast to USC
-- Cedar Grove - Joshua White, 4* DE (‘22) - Memphis commit
-- Cedar Grove - Janiran Bonner, 4* WR (‘22) - Georgia Tech commit
-- Cedar Grove - Kayin Lee, 4* CB (‘23) - holds five other SEC offers, FutureCast to Georgia
-- Carver - Quintavious Lockett, 3* RB (‘22) - holds offers from Florida State, Georgia, Kentucky, Miami (FL), South Carolina.

Clarendon @ Fordyce - 7 p.m. CT

Commits: Quincey McAdoo, 4* WR & Dax Courtney, 3* TE (Clarendon)

-- NOTE: Courtney is out for the season because of a torn ACL.

Maumelle @ Little Rock Christian - 7 p.m. CT

Commits: Andrew Chamblee 3* OT & Nico Davillier 4* DE (Maumelle)

Melrose (Tenn.) @ Haywood (Tenn.) - 7 p.m. CT

Commits: Jaylen Lewis, 3* S (Haywood)

-- Haywood - Camron Douglas, 3* DT (‘22) - holds offers from Akron, Illinois, Memphis, Vanderbilt

Lee County (Ga.) @ Warner Robbins (Ga.) - 7 p.m. CT

Commit: Tyrus Washington, 3* TE (Lee County)

-- Lee County - Jaron Willis, 4* OLB (‘22) - Georgia Tech commit
-- Lee County - Qaeshon Sapp, 4* OG (‘22) - Florida State commit
-- Lee County - Quavian Carter, 3* S (‘22) - Michigan State commit
-- Warner Robbins - Victor Burley, 4* DE (‘23) - holds 18 P5 offers, including Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State

P.U.R.E. Youth Athletics Alliance (Tenn.) @ Christian Brothers (Tenn.) - 7 p.m. CT

Commit: Patrick Kutas, 3* OL (Christian Brothers)

-- Christian Brothers - Dallan Hayden, 4* RB (‘22) - Ohio State commit, his older brother, Chase, played in 23 games for Arkansas from 2017-19

Milan (Tenn.) @ Huntingdon (Tenn.) - 6 p.m. CT

Commit: Anthony Brown, 3* DB (Milan)

Greenland @ Charleston - 7 p.m. CT

Commit: JJ Hollingsworth, 3* DE (Greenland)

Fayetteville @ Bentonville West - 7 p.m. CT

Commit: Mani Powell, 3* LB (Fayetteville)

-- Fayetteville - Isaiah Sategna, 4* WR (‘22) - Oregon commit, No. 1 player in the state of Arkansas in 2022
-- Fayetteville - Kaiden Turner, 3* ILB (‘22) - Indiana commit

Shiloh Christian @ Berryville - 7 p.m. CT

Commit: Kaden Henley, 3* ATH (Shiloh Christian)

Cambridge (Wisc.) @ Pardeeville (Wisc.) - TBD

Commit: Eli Stein, 5* LS (Cambridge)

2023

Ashdown @ Harmony Grove - 7 p.m. CT

Commit: Shamar Easter, 4* TE (Ashdown)

Tonganoxie (Kan.) @ Eudora (Kan.) - TBD

Commit: Jaden Hamm, 3* TE (Eudora)

-- Eudora - Jaiden Bender, 3* WR (‘23) - holds offers from Kansas, Kansas State
-- Eudora - Silas Etter, 3* ATH (‘22) - Kansas State commit

2023

Arkansas City (Kan.) @ Maize (Kan.) - TBD

-- Maize - Avery Johnson, 4* QB (‘23) - holds 16 P5 offers, including Arkansas, Auburn, Iowa State, Kansas State, Ole Miss, Tennessee

Temple (Texas) @ Bryan (Texas) - 7:30 p.m. CT

-- Temple - Mikal Harrison-Pilot, 4* WR/S (‘23) - Arkansas offer, Rivals250 player in the class of 2023, visited Fayetteville in early June
-- Temple - Naeten Jeremy-Mitchell, S (‘23) - Arkansas offer, a frequent visitor to Arkansas’ campus this summer
-- Bryan - Nic Caraway, 3* OLB (‘22) - Purdue commit

Desoto (Texas) @ Mansfield (Texas) - 7:30 p.m. CT

-- DeSoto - Johntay Cook II, 4* WR (‘23) - Arkansas offer, No. 66 in Rivals100 for 2023
-- DeSoto - Dahlyn Jones, WR (‘23) - Arkansas offer, also holds an offer from Kansas, visited Fayetteville in late July
-- Mansfield - Brenden Jordan, 4* S (‘23) - holds offers from Arizona, Kansas, Mississippi State and USC in addition to Arkansas

Judson (Texas) @ Clemens (Texas) - 7 p.m. CT

-- Judson - Anthony Evans III, WR (‘23) - Arkansas offer, also holds offers from Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech, and G5 schools, visited Fayetteville in June

Bentonville at Har-Ber - 7 p.m. CT

-- Bentonville - Joey Su'a, OL ('23) - Arkansas offer, also holds offers from Georgia, Maryland, Michigan State, Oregon
-- Bentonville - Charles Nimrod, 3* WR ('22) - Tennessee commit

2024

Malvern @ Bauxite - 7 p.m. CT

-- Malvern - Vinny Winters, OL ('24) - offers from Arkansas, Memphis; visited Fayetteville this summer and for the Texas game

Camden Fairview @ Hot Springs Lakeside - 7 p.m. CT

-- HS Lakeside - Braylen Russell, RB (‘24) - sole offer from Arkansas; visited Fayetteville this summer