Forward Keaton Miles, who’s transferring from West Virginia, made an official visit to Arkansas over the weekend and saw that Coach Mike Anderson and his staff embrace the families of athletes. That was good thing because Miles’ father Stephen, mother Kimberly, brother, Kortrijk, 15, and sister Kyjai, 12, accompanied him.
“It’s a very family-oriented group of guys,” Miles said of Anderson and his coaches. “He has a staff that all works on one accord and have a family atmosphere.”
Miles, 6-7, 207 pounds, started 30 of 32 games as a freshman in a defensive role. He had hopes of seeing his offensive role increase the following season but averaged 2.6 points and 1.7 rebounds while starting 2 of 29 games. That prompted him to look elsewhere to finish his college career.
“I like the style of play as far as getting up the court, getting up and down and playing hard-nosed defense,” said Miles of Anderson’s offensive and defensive philosophy. “He thinks I could be really successful in the program.”
He visited Utah on June 7 and is planning to visit Colorado State this weekend.
“After Colorado State, I’ll get back here and decide if I want to take another visit to Mississippi State and UConn or someone like that,” Miles said.
Miles is currently taking summer classes at West Virginia but is planning to enroll and start the second semester of summer classes at his new school. He said the Hogs made a strong case in an effort to gain his commitment.
“They were organized. They had everything as far as my academic plans to being a business marketing major,” said Miles, who played his high school basketball at Dallas Lincoln. “They had plan A, plan B and everything laid out. The campus was beautiful. The people were great. I really enjoyed myself.”
His father celebrated his birthday on Father’s Day, and the Hogs were also on top of that.
“They had a little birthday cake for him and showed him a really, really great time,” Miles said. “I talked to my dad and he loved it.”
MCKENZIE NARROWS LIST
Heavily-recruited running back Shai McKenzie has narrowed his 31 scholarship offers down to five, and Arkansas made the final list.
McKenzie, 6-0, 212, 4.42 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Washington, Pa., has Florida State at the top followed by Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech,Virginia Tech and the Razorbacks. Arkansas and Virginia Tech are the only schools of the final five he hasn’t visited.
Running backs coach Joel Thomas is his lead recruiter at Arkansas, and he visited McKenzie’s school near the end of the spring evaluation period, after a previous visit by defensive line coach Charlie Partridge.
“Arkansas is in my top five because they’re a school that came and saw me during the spring,” McKenzie said. “All the coaches pretty much showed their interest level in me by talking to me on Facebook as much as they can.”
National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of CBS Sports Network calls McKenzie an all-around back and rates him the No. 1 prospect in Pennsylvania and the No. 52 recruit in the nation.
McKenzie, who rushed for 2,689 yards and 42 touchdowns as a junior, recorded a time of 10.68 seconds in the 100 meters and had an effort of 53 feet, 1 inch in the shot put this spring.
“I know Arkansas is SEC,so that’s high-powered football,” McKenzie said. “They’re known for running backs.”
CAUSEY STILL INTERESTED
Cornerback Rashard Causey Jr. is making a strong case for being considered one of the top 2015 prospects in Florida after accumulating scholarship offers from 12 schools, including Arkansas.
Causey, 6-1, 185, 4.44, of Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) University High School also has offers from South Carolina, Mississippi State and Rutgers. Defensive line coach Charlie Partridge is his lead recruiter.
He’s looking to make a trip to Fayetteville with his teammates, highly-recruited senior linebacker Richard Yeargin III and junior defensive lineman Brandon Boyce in July.
“It’s very high,” Causey said of his interest in the Hogs. “I like Coach Partridge. I’m probably coming up in July with two of my teammates.”
As a freshman, Causey was timed at 22.8 seconds in the 200 meters. He missed this track and field season because of a hamstring injury.His offers have come suddenly and were unexpected.
“It came fast like in 2 1/2 weeks. It was crazy,” Causey said.
Causey has a 3.3 grade point average at University High, a college preparatory school and is interested in studying medicine. He said he believes he helped his stock during the spring evaluation period when college coaches could view practice.
“I’m aggressive and I’m fast,” he said. “Over the spring, I was just worried on working on my technique. They were impressed with my technique and the way I move as a sophomore.”
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports, Pages 19 on 06/18/2013