Highly regarded sophomore tight end-defensive end Hjalte Froholdt, an exchange student from Denmark, isn't your typical prospect. He only has one season of American style football under his belt but already has several scholarship offers, including Arkansas, whom he visited on Thursday.
Froholdt, 6-5, 275 pounds of Warren, (Ohio) Harding High School also has offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, Louisville and others. Coach Steve Arnold recalled his first impression of Froholdt.
"He arrived the first day of two-a-days, didn't know anything about the kid, never met him, never talked to him," Arnold said. "A couple of my equipment managers said "Hey coach, this is the exchange kid that wants to play football". At that time he was in the 6-4, 245 range. He's a man."
Arnold's expectations of Froholdt was pretty low.
"So I was like well heck this kid is coming from Denmark, he's just going to enjoy the American experience and we'll go from there," he said.
A day and a half into two-a-days, Arnold's coaches convinced him Froholdt could be a starter on both sides of the ball.
"Well lo and behold he starts at defensive end, he starts at tight end and he's our punter," Arnold said."We called him Demark but I have a new nickname for him, I call him Drago."
Froholdt and his father have had a busy week of visits. They started at Notre Dame on Monday and then went to Michigan State on Tuesday , Ohio State on Wednesday before the visit to Fayetteville. The final visit will be to Michigan today.
Arnold believes Froholdt, who played 7-on-7 football in Denmark, has a big upside.
"He hasn't even been here a full year yet," Arnold said. "So he hasn't had a an offseason conditioning of weight training and speed and agility and flexibility. This is his first time of going through all of that."
Staying healthy and remaining hungry for success should bode well for Froholdt.
"If he ever gets to the point where he's above being coached which I don't anticipate, I'll burst his bubble real fast," Arnold said.
Video highlights click here