In Gus they trust.

Maybe the strangest recruiting tale this year ended Wednesday afternoon when Little Rock Central standouts Charles Clay and Genesis Cole spurned scholarship offers from Arkansas and signed with Tulsa.

Clay and Cole, catalysts at tailback and safety, respectively, for the Tigers’ perfect regular season and 7 A-Central championship last fall, said they didn’t decide on the Golden Hurricane until about 10 minutes before their scheduled 2 p. m. ceremony in Roosevelt Thompson Auditorium.

Clay, whose father, Charles, was a standout tight end at Arkansas in the 1970 s, said he didn’t even receive a scholarship offer from Tulsa until about 1: 30 p. m. Wednesday. Clay said he attended a Junior Day at Tulsa but signed without meeting new Coach Todd Graham or taking an official visit to the Conference USA school.

“For me, personally, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Darrell Seward, an assistant at Central since 1997. “This is without question the most unusual set of circumstances I’ve ever seen.”

Quirkiness aside, dipping into Central to land Clay and Cole was clearly an impressive recruiting shot landed by new Tulsa co-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who enjoyed immense success as a high school coach at Hughes, Shiloh Christian and Springdale before spending last season as offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach at Arkansas.

Central, of course, is the alma mater of Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt and brother Danny, who coaches running backs. Other than Fred Bledsoe, Arkansas coaches haven’t had to sweat out any elite prospect produced by Central in the past decade.

Now Tulsa’s assistant head coach as well, Malzahn was able to hold the commitment of Dardanelle wide receiver C. J. Chaten after a coaching change, convince Nashville quarterback A. J. Whitmore to switch his commitment from Kansas State, then reel in Cole, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s 2006 Defensive Player of the Year, and Clay, who also turned down a chance to play for Miami.

Asked if Malzahn was a big factor in his decision, Cole said “yeah.”

“He never once put down the Arkansas Razorbacks. Never,” Cole said. “He never said anything bad about the Razorbacks. He was always positive about being there. All he told me was if I came up there, I would be able to make plays — just like I did at Central.”

Cole, 6-0, ® pounds, had eight interceptions and several spectacthought, to me, he’s got a chance to play in the SEC. I went to bed thinking he’s probably going to go to Arkansas. ”

Seward said he began making arrangements for the necessary paperwork from Arkansas after Cole said Wednesday morning he would sign with the Razorbacks.

Still torn between schools Wednesday morning, Seward said, Clay requested that his transcript be faxed to Tulsa at about 1: 20 p. m.

At that point, Seward said he knew there was a potential marriage between Clay and Tulsa, with Cole being the new, er, old best man.

“Genesis called me and he said Tulsa was trying to offer me [a scholarship ],” Clay said. “He called Gus Malzahn on the freeway, and I talked to him. He said fax in my transcript. That’s when he [Malzahn ] said he was going to fax me a letter of intent.”

Cole said he and Clay decided on Tulsa at maybe 2 p. m., only minutes before the ceremony atular receptions at wide receiver last season.

In a whirlwind final few hours, Seward said he believed Tuesday afternoon that Clay was going to sign with Miami but went to bed thinking Clay and Cole would ink with Arkansas.

Seward said Danny Nutt called Tuesday night with a scholarship offer for Cole, who had orally committed to Tulsa after an official visit last weekend. In addition to Miami, Clay also was holding scholarship offers from Arkansas and Arkansas State, Seward said.

Seward said Clay called him at “approximately 7 or 8” Tuesday night and was having reservations about signing with Miami because of its distance from home.

Roughly an hour later, Nutt said a scholarship was available for Cole, Seward said.

“I called Genesis with that news, so that’s when he shared with me that he and Charles were hoping to go to the same school,” Seward said. “Genesis has always expressed to me that he wanted to play big-time football, so I tended by coaches, teammates and students. Cole and Clay had visited Arkansas late last month.

“ We talked during the day, just kind of discussed about how we could make an impact at both schools,” Cole said. “We also talked about what was being said to us, so far as going to each school. He said when he was in the 11 th grade — when he first went to Tulsa — that that was somewhere he wanted to be. It just so happened that was the same place we both agreed on.”

Clay, 6-3, 223, said he was impressed with his visit last week to Miami, but added he wanted to play at a school within easy driving distance so his family could see him play. Clay said the main reason he passed on the Razorbacks is they recruited him as a defensive end while Tulsa plans to use him as an H-back in a Spread attack. “He’s an outstanding play-caller,” Clay said of Malzahn.

Clay, who didn’t play as a freshman or sophomore, started at tight end as a junior and tailback last fall, when he rushed for 900 yards despite missing almost three games with a slightly separated shoulder. The elder Clay, who starred at Little Rock Parkview before being named to Arkansas’ All-Decade Team, said he wasn’t sure of his son’s choice until he was on the stage. “We talked some about different things, different colleges,” Clay said. “He did what he felt was right. I support his decision.” In other words, Clay and Cole put their trust in Gus.