Arkansas' first official visitor will arrive today and will be one of twelve expected to make visits to Fayetteville this weekend. Offensive lineman Dan Skipper of Arvada, (Colo.) Ralston Valley. will arrive about 1 o'clock today for the start of his visit. The Tennessee commitment is expected to leave on Saturday for a visit to Ohio State.
Arkansas is one of about two dozen schools who have offered 2014 linebacker D'Ronzjiah Mathews 6-0, 210. 4.6 seconds in the 40 yard dash, of Fort Meyers, (Fla.) South Fort Meyers. This according to his coach Grant Redhead. One coach told him Mathews' film ought to be rated R for for violence.
11:14 update
Greenwood athlete Drew Morgan said he met with Auburn assistant coaches Rhett Lashlee and Tim Horton was was very impressed with what they had to say. He plans to call later with more details.
As noted in Wednesday tidbits, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema met with athlete Antonio Zepeda 6-6, 250 of Camelback high school in Phoenix last night. Bielema met with him for about 15 minutes before heading over for an in-home visit with receiver Devon Allen.
Coach Brandon McNutt, who has family members all over the state of Arkansas, said Zepeda played quarterback, tight end, running back, receiver, defensive end and even punted this year.
Zepeda will play in the Canyon Coast Classic All Star game that will be televised on FOX Sports on Monday at 2:30 central time. McNutt said Zepeda is a freakish athlete that not many know about because the high school isn't as well known as other programs in the state.
He said Zepeda had banged up ankles all season but refused to rest because he was needed for the team. McNutt said even with being less than 100 percent Zepeda probably was still a 4.9 guy in the 40.
UNLV, Idaho, Montana and others have offered but Zepeda is waiting on the big offer. He said Bielema and Zepeda hit it off and he was very excited about the prospect of being at Arkansas. McNutt said the Hogs will get back with him next week.
12:11 update
More info on athlete Antonio Zepeda, who's in the 11:14 update. He's also drawing interest from Arizona State, Oregon State, Northern Illinois, Illinois, UTEP, and possibly Michigan State.
Statement from coach McNutt:
The student athlete is a man-child that can play right away and is 6’6’’ 250, very versatile, colleges have discussed DE, DT, TE, and OT. Just told me, he might pass on baseball to focus on track to work on his speed for the football season. Team player, 3.2 G.P.A. and played with two bad ankles this year.
For video highlights Click here
3:18 update
Greenwood athlete Drew Morgan said Auburn assistant coaches Rhett Lashlee and Tim Horton encouraged him to make the right decision but they believe it's the Tigers. He said will make an official visit to Auburn on Jan. 25. Malzahn will be making an in-home visit next week. He was told the Tigers will visit him every week until signing day. He said that means a lot to him.
He said he was very solid to the Hogs and is looking forward to his official to Fayetteville this weekend. He's also looking forward to seeing who the receiver coach will be.
4: 53 update
Junior running back Madre London, 6-1, 196, 4.63 of Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas high school was offered by Cincinnati on Wednesday. He played his sophomore season at Bryant. He attended Arkansas' July one day camp last summer.
Tennessee commitment and offensive lineman Brett Kendrick of Christian Academy of Knoxville said he met with Hog offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Jim Chaney today. He said the visit was awesome and he'll call Chaney on Monday to say if he'll make an official visit.
Kendrick's teammate, receiver Josh Smith said Chaney hasn't made his way to him because of a snow storm
Louis Allen, the father of Phoenix Brophy receiver Devon Allen, called Wednesday night's in-home visit with Coach Bret Bielema and track Coach Chris Bucknam great. He said the two coaches worked well together and didn't talk over each other unlike some schools did when a football and track coach talked to him and his son.
Louis also commented on how easy it was to talk to Bielema being that from he's from the Midwest and Louis is originally from Columbus, Ohio.
He said he and Devon may visit Jan. 25 if they can make arrangements. They're scheduled to visit Feb. 1.
5:30 update
Athlete Jeryl Brazil of Loranger, La. said he has set Feb.1 as his date to visit Arkansas.
The loss of Chip Kelly to the NFL has not changed linebacker Quinton Powell's mind. As reported on Wednesday, Powell of Daytona Beach, (Fla.) Mainland decided to visit Oregon on Feb. 1 instead of Arkansas and that remains the same today.
8:23 update
Ole Miss, Memphis and Auburn visited Springdale Har-ber to check on junior prospects, defensive lineman Josh Frazier, Jake Hall, offensive lineman Isaac Johnson and linebacker Brock Dassero. Alabama may show up next week.
Chicago La Salle junior running back Mikale Wilbon said Arkansas running back coach Joel Thomas visited his school today to check on him and junior offensive lineman Jamarco Jones.