Arkansas Sets a High Bar for Official Visits for Texas ATH Jahari Rogers

The Arkansas Razorbacks may only have one shot to woo one of the top athletes in Texas and that was this weekend. Jahari Rogers visited with four other very high priority targets and walked away from his 48 hours on the Hill very impressed. He now says other programs will have a very high bar to reach for.

"They blew me away," Rogers said. "For my first official visit, I really didn't know what to expect. Now I know what to compare other schools to. They really showed me a lot of things. My host that I was with (Gabe Richardson) gave me a good time. It showed me a lot of stuff that I needed to see."

Rogers has offers from 24 programs but Mark Smith, corners coach, was the first SEC coach to extend a scholarship offer and that went a long way to getting the no. 44 player in the state of Texas to visit.

"They were my first SEC school," Rogers said. "That kind of put a lot of value to it because of the conference they're in. Really just the relationship I have with Coach Smith, I talk to him all the time. He's an exciting person to be around. With Jalen Catalon and Enoch Jackson and all of them committing to this place, it had to be special because they're some special players. It was just nice to see for myself."

Hailing from Arlington, Texas, Rogers lives very close to three of the Hogs' 2019 signees, including 4-star safety Jalen Catalon who he would be playing next to if he committed to Arkansas. However, Rogers has a lot of visits left to take, so it's definitely too early to name a favorite.

"Florida, Texas, I'm talking to Notre Dame and Miami about it. There are some other schools that people don't know about yet, but I have a couple that are in the making. I'm going to try and get all five of them done before I commit. Florida and Texas are the two I have right now, but there will probably be two more."

Rogers says he wants to commit before the season if he gets his decision figured out by then. The biggest factor will come down to coaches, relationships and playing time.

"I really want to go somewhere that I'll get developed by the coaches, so I really want to see their plan for me," Rogers said. "Arkansas has a great plan, obviously, so it really depends on the plan that happens for me and what I can do at the school for the time I'm there."

"We talked a little bit yesterday, just really the depth that they have and how much they need DB's. That's what kind of opened my eyes a little bit, because a lot of schools have a lot already and have a lot of talented DB's. Arkansas has talented DB's, but they're not just like, they don't have that much depth. So that's eye opening."

Arkansas has one cornerback committed already in the 2020 class, Louisiana 3-star Jamie Vance. Check out the HawgBeat Big Board to see all of targets who are perceived to be the highest priority.

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