The Recruiting Guy

Powell shines in losing effort

Fayetteville sophomore quarterback Taylor Powell evades a sack attempt from Bentonville senior linebacker Harison Rooney in the 7A championship game on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2014, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Fayetteville sophomore quarterback Taylor Powell and the Bulldogs fell short in Saturday’s Class 7A title game against Bentonville, but his play showed a small sampling of his promising talent.

The Tigers won their second consecutive state title with a 24-21 victory. Powell appeared to have led the Bulldogs on the winning drive with a 32 yard touchdown pass with 3:05 left in the game.

“I have the respect of the O-line, but I tried to get them to believe in me that we were going to go down and drive and put it in the end zone,” Powell said. “I had confidence in the O-line to protect me and the receivers to make plays and all I had to do was get it to them. That’s how it went.”

Powell, 6-1, 190 pounds completed 22 of 28 passes for 305 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions for the game. Video highlights CLICK HERE

He plans to make the loss into a positive.

“It’s going to motivate me even more,” Powell said. “I’ll be working with my receivers and in the weight room just getting better and next year we’ll change this… the result.”

Arkansas, Nebraska and TCU are showing early interest. He’s impressed by the Hogs’ improvement this season

“Coach (Bret) Bielema is amazing with what he has done,” said Powell, whose father is 6-4. “They just completely changed the program and made it a winning program. Next year, I’ll be excited to see where it goes.”

Powell completed 172 of 271 passes for 2,513 yards yards and 20 touchdowns and had 8 interceptions for the season. Prior to the season, he turned heads at an Arkansas summer camp and showed that he has a chance to accumulate numerous scholarship offers in the future.

He credits offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Zac Clark for his progression during the season.

“I started out the year in trusting what coach Clark was saying,” Powell said. “My ninth grade year I kind of went on my own but as a sop more I had to rely on coach Clark because the game is so much faster and I had to rely on what he was saying and trust in my progressions, reads and protections and that sort of thing.”