THE RECRUITING GUY : Arkansas football camp next stop for Tulsa prospect

RICHARD DAVENPORT

Posted on Friday, July 18, 2008

URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/231667/

It’s good news for Arkansas Razorbacks fans when one of the nation’s top prospects plans to attend Arkansas’ seniors-only football camp, which will be held Saturday in Fayetteville

Arkansas fans like it even better when a top prospect, like Tulsa East Central cornerback David Gordon, says the Hogs are in his top three schools.

Gordon 6-0, 175 pounds, 4. 4 seconds in the 40-yard dash, will be accompanied by teammate Chris Williams a 6-1, 170-pound receiver with 4. 5 speed, and they will be among the 200-300 athletes to attend Saturday’s camp.

Gordon said he has more than 20 scholarship offers, but he said Arkansas, LSU and Oklahoma are the top three.

“I know my heart has always been with Arkansas, then OU came along and they jumped into the mix,” Gordon said. “LSU eventually came and Michigan and everyone else. I came down to a top three that I know I would love to go, and it was those three schools.”

Gordon’s father, Chris, and uncle Kevin are from Fort Smith. Kevin Gordon is the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at East Central.

Saturday’s visit will be Gordon’s second to Arkansas. He made his first unnofficial visit during junior day in March. The attention he received then didn’t go without notice.

“When I went to Arkansas and it was like my name had already spread around,” Gordon said. “It was like, ‘We want this kid’. I know if I go there, they’re going to take care of me and I like that feeling.” Gordon is being recruited by Arkansas quarterbacks coach Garrick McGee, and Gordon said the two have formed a strong bond. “I talk to Coach McGee probably every week,” Gordon said. “It’s like a brother-type relationship. He’s so humble and down to earth. I feel like with Coach McGee, he has a genuine interest in my future and my well being.” Gordon said he plans to visit his three top schools during the season and make a decision shortly after the last visit. Athletes cannot make official recruiting visits until Sept. 1.

BEHIND THE SCENES Dean Campbell, Arkansas’ director of high school relations, is the man behind Coach Bobby Petrino’s on-campus camps, like the one to be held Saturday.

But Campbell, assisted by Mark Robinson, the director of football operations, does much more than organize camps.

One of Campbell’s most important duties includes organizing the video highlight DVDs Arkansas receives each year, and it’s a good bet the highlight tapes of most of the prospects at the camp have been seen by the Arkansas coaching staff.

Arkansas received close 2, 000 highlight videos last year, Campbell said. Once a video arrives at the Broyles Athletic complex, they’re logged in and the athlete is sent a letter acknowledging the video has been received.

“We evaluate it,” said Campbell, who joined Petrino’s staff Jan. 3. “If we have some interest, someone from this office will be in contact.”

Campbell then sorts the videos out to the coach that recruits the area where the prospect lives. The coach then fills out a form, evaluates the prospect and then ranks him.

“If they score high enough, they’ll be put on each coach’s hot list,” Campbell said. “Which means these are the guys we want getting mail and everything coming out as far as recruiting literature goes to those guys. Then we have an offer list. Of course, if a guy is on the offer list, he’s also on the hot list and he gets mail, too.”

Campbell said the UA football staff sends out more than 1, 000 pieces of a mail per week, but that number drops off once the coaches get on the road recruiting after the season.

“It’s not as important that they get something in the mail from us, because they’re seeing the coaches.” Campbell said. Campbell said it’s important for coaches to write handwritten letters, and he has distributed signs that say, ‘Write your recruits today,’ and handed them to all the coaches for their offices. “I’ve always felt like one handwritten letter means more than a hundred with a computergenerated mailing label on it,” Campbell said. “In fact, a lot of kids — the highly recruited ones — after a while they don’t even open those. It’s the handwritten address and the handwritten note; they’re always going to open those.” Read more from David Gordon and Dean Campbell on the recruiting blog.

E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline. com

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