Arkansas landed another highly recruited offensive lineman Friday afternoon when Jermaine Eluemunor announced he was orally committing to the Razorbacks.
Eluemunor, 6-5½ , 315 pounds, will play this fall for Lackawanna Community College in Scranton, Pa. More than 20 schools offered him a scholarship, including Arkansas, Alabama, Ohio State, Southern Cal, Florida State, UCLA, Texas A&M and Penn State.
He has taken official visits to Arkansas, Ohio State and UCLA. He originally committed to UCLA but eliminated the Bruins from consideration Wednesday.
He said Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and offensive line coach Sam Pittman were key factors in his decision to commit to the Razorbacks.
“I always knew I wanted to play for Coach Bielema since he was at Wisconsin,” said Eluemunor, who announced his commitment on Twitter. “The first time I got to talk to him I knew Wisconsin was the place for me. But then Coach Bielema went to Arkansas and then my coaches gave me an idea about Arkansas. I didn’t know much about them. I started doing more research on Arkansas, and I went there for a visit.”
He said he told Bielema and Pittman on Wednesday about his intentions to be a Razorback.
“They were going crazy,” Eluemunor said, laughing. “They were saying thank you and that they know they’re the coaches for me and they’re happy to have me, and I’m happy to be a Razorback.”
In February, the Razorbacks signed highly recruited offensive linemen Denver Kirkland, Reeve Koehler and Dan Skipper, beating out schools like Miami, Florida State, Tennessee, Auburn, Georgia, Washington, Michigan, Ohio State and Oklahoma.
Eluemunor joins Jovan Pruitt - who chose the Razorbacks over 24 other scholarship offers, including ones from Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma and others - for the 2014 class.
Eluemunor said Arkansas fans on social media startled him with their passion for the Razorbacks.
“I’ve never seen fans like that before, that knew everything about me,” Eluemunor said. “That was really cool. “
Eluemunor said he picked up about 800-plus Razorbacks fans as followers on Twitter in the days leading up to his announcement.
“It was real crazy,” said Eluemunor, who plans to graduate in December and enroll at Arkansas in January. “I didn’t think it was going to be this crazy.”
Eluemunor is confident he made the right decision.
“I know Coach Pittman and Coach Bielema can help me develop into the best lineman in the country,” he said. “I want to be the best lineman in the country. I feel confident in Coach Bielema and Coach Pittman and also Coach [Jim] Chaney too.
“I know those coaches have my best interest. I want to help them get started in the SEC.”
Eluemunor is Arkansas’ 13th commitment for the 2014 class. Oral commitments are nonbinding
Sports, Pages 19 on 07/27/2013