When Arkansas extended a scholarship offer to Dollarway’s Josh Liddell on Jan. 16, a fellow Jefferson County prospect, junior tight end Will Gragg was thrilled.
“I called him immediately and I got my phone taken up by the teacher,” Gragg said. “But I was happy for him.”
Liddell, 6-1, 198, 4.43 seconds in the 40 yard dash, committed to the Razorbacks over scholarship offers from Boise State, Arkansas State, Memphis, Louisiana-Monroe and others on Saturday during his official visit to Fayetteville.
Gragg, who has six offers, including Arkansas, Alabama, Louisville, Ole Miss and Tennessee, has known Liddell since about the sixth grade.
“We go way back,” Gragg said. “I think he used to be at the water boy for Dollarway when my brother (Chris) played for Warren against with Jesse Grandy and all those guys.”
Gragg said athletes in Jefferson County are a tight knit group.
“We just got a linked up over time seeing one another around,” Gragg said. “We have friends that are friends and we go to the same sporting events. We have a little small thing going in Southeast Arkansas. Everybody knows everybody, specially when you’re playing ball you play against one another. You just build a relationship.”
Liddell isn’t one to draw attention to himself.
“He’s very humble, quiet guy,” Gragg said. “I would say the one thing that sticks out is he’s very down-to- earth. He only has 2000 tweets so he doesn’t say a lot.”
Gragg said he can learn from Liddell.
“I have 14 to 15,000 tweets to his two,” said Gragg with a chuckle.