THE RECRUITING GUY

California quarterback getting to know Arkansas

Arkansas head coach Chad Morris looks on during Day 5 of spring practice, March 10, 2018.
Arkansas head coach Chad Morris looks on during Day 5 of spring practice, March 10, 2018.

California sophomore quarterback Jaden Casey received his second Power 5 scholarship offer from Arkansas Razorback Coach Chad Morris during a visit to Fayetteville on March 9.

“To get the offer is like crazy because it’s SEC,” Casey said. “Every since I was young, the SEC has been the biggest conference in the U.S.”

Casey, 6-1, 185 pounds of Calabasas High School had an offer from Indiana prior to visiting Fayetteville. He also has offers from San Jose State and Southern Miss. Being a West Coast athlete, Casey was taken back by the Hogs.

“The facilities [are] crazy because it’s nothing like in California,” Casey said. “It’s awesome. It lives up to the hype of an SEC school.”

His mother Jane and her sister Charlene Yeager invented Fancy Panz, a product Wal-Mart has committed to putting into its stores. Jane Casey travels to Bentonville for meetings with the retail giant and that helped Jaden’s interest in the Hogs.

“She visits Arkansas a lot for meetings with Wal-Mart,” Casey said. “So I’ll make more unofficial visits to U of A.”

Casey, who said the coaches made him feel at home, is focused on trying to earn a business degree in college and was very impressed with the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

“They were telling me about the resources of Wal-Mart and J.B. Hunt,” said Casey, who plans to graduate in December of his senior year. “Eighty-seven percent of the people that graduate from the school, get a job right away.”

He was named to the second-team MaxPreps Sophomore All-American team as a first-year starter for Calabasas after completing 221 of 349 passes for 3,394 yards and 32 touchdowns. Casey is drawing interest from Washington, Texas A&M, UCLA, Southern Cal and others.

“Arkansas will for sure be a top school of mine because first of all they were my second offer and them treating me the way they did,” Casey said. “The hospitality here was awesome. The offense kind of fits me.”

Casey’s sophomore highlight film starts off showing his athleticism by dunking a basketball.

“My first dunk was like in the 7th grade, I was probably 5-10,” Casey said.

ANOTHER MAYBERRY

Former Arkansas Razorback point guard Lee May-berry is one of the most talented players in the school’s basketball history.

Mayberry is hoping his cousin, sophomore receiver and cornerback Deuce Mayberry Jr., follows in his footsteps and plays for the Hogs.

The younger Mayberry visited Coach Chad Morris and his staff March 3 and liked what he experienced.

“The visit went very well,” Mayberry said. “I had a lot of fun. And the campus is very nice.”

Mayberry, 6-0, 170, 4.47 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Owasso, Okla., praised the down-to-earth coaching staff, the facilities and how the players from his state are faring at Arkansas.

He said his cousin spoke well of his former school.

“Lee talked to me and said that it is a very good school and that I would love the fans and love the university,” Mayberry said.

Mayberry recorded 41 tackles, 7 interceptions and 11 pass break-ups as a sophomore to help the Rams to a 12-1 record and their first state title since 1974. He learned firsthand about the Razorbacks fan base when he tweeted a photo of him wearing a Hog uniform during his visit.

“Yes, they show tons of love,” Mayberry said. “Seems like they really want me at Arkansas.”

LSU, Nebraska, TCU, Texas Tech and others are showing interest in Mayberry. He recorded a 4.56 electronic time in the 40-yard dash at a recent Nike combine.

“They have all shown interest in me after the Nike Opening Regional Camp, when I ran my laser 40 in the rain at 4.5, was hoping to run a 4.4 in better conditions,” Mayberry said.

Cornerbacks coach Mark Smith told him the Hogs like his ability.

“He loved my film,” said Mayberry, who recorded 10.9 seconds in the 100 meters as a freshman. “He said I have potential to play at this level in the SEC and it’s all a matter of showing the entire coaching staff my film hoping to receive an offer real soon.”

E-mail Richard Davenport at

rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Read Richard Davenport’s

RECRUITING BLOG

wholehogsports.com/recruiting/

Upcoming Events