The Recruiting Guy

Brothers get kick out of Pittman

Arkansas associate head coach Sam Pittman during media day Sunday, Aug. 11, 2013 at the Fred W. Smith Football Center in Fayetteville.

Arkansas looks to be in good shape to make the cut for highly recruited Oklahoma City Casady offensive lineman Josh Wariboko when he narrows his list.

Wariboko, 6-3 1/2, 310 pounds, 5.35 seconds in the 40-yard dash, said he plans to trim his list of prospective schools once the spring evaluation period is over and wants to try to make a few visits before making his decision.

Wariboko has more than 25 scholarship offers from schools that include Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Clemson, Southern Cal, UCLA, Tennessee and Texas. He plans to narrow his list to 10 or 12 schools once he makes the cut.

Arkansas coaches visited twice during the spring evaluation period, like several others did as well, and Wariboko said it was good to see the Razorbacks out there.

"They're in a good spot," he said.

Arkansas is also recruiting and evaluating Wariboko's brother, Max, who is a sophomore defensive back at the school. The two visited Fayetteville on Feb. 28.

"I liked the field Fayetteville has and the campus," Wariboko said. "It's a college town. The coaches there are really cool. They showed me a really good academic presentation, and academics are huge for me."

Offensive line coach Sam Pittman's sense of humor has kept Wariboko entertained.

"He's crazy," Wariboko said. "He's cool, too. I've heard some really good things about him. No doubt, he is funny. When I went down there to visit with my brother, he and I were just enjoying our time and making jokes the whole time. It was just a real good time."

Max Wariboko, 5-10, 170, 4.51 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has scholarship offers from UCLA, Tulsa and Louisville. He likely will attend Arkansas' camp in June.

"It's important I get that Arkansas offer so Josh and I get the opportunity to play together," Max said.

He also enjoyed the visit to Arkansas.

"It was so beautiful," Max said. "The campus is on a slope, and it all slopes down to the stadium. It's like everybody kind of has to be drawn to the stadium because of the slope going to the stadium."

Max Wariboko recorded 61 tackles, deflected 5 passes, forced 2 fumbles and recovered 1 fumble last year. He said it's important to the brothers that they play together in college.

"It's more like a motivational thing," Max Wariboko said. "If I ever need help with my homework, he always motivates me to do homework and work out and I do the same for him."

Pittman's ability to draw a laugh impressed Max as well.

"He just says the funniest stuff," Max said. "It feels like he's one of my actual friends that I go to school with everyday."

GRAGG ON MOVE

Highly sought tight end Will Gragg of Pine Bluff will play his senior season at Dumas.

Gragg's father, Kelvin, has been hired as the school district superintendent.

Gragg, 6-4, 247 pounds, 4.8 seconds in the 40-yard dash, is being recruited by many of the top schools in the nation and already has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Florida State, Auburn and Notre Dame, among others.

ESPN rates Gragg the No. 7 tight end prospect in the nation.

BUDDING RELATIONSHIP

Running back Reggie Gallaspy of Greensboro (N.C.) Southern Guilford is looking to visit Arkansas this summer and is hoping to see a scholarship offer from the Hogs come his way.

Gallaspy, 5-11, 215 pounds, 4.53 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has approximately 16 scholarship offers from schools that include Louisville, Michigan State, Duke, North Carolina State, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Vanderbilt.

His lead recruiter at Arkansas, running backs coach Joel Thomas, has visited the school and attended a practice.

Gallaspy said he has "medium" interest in the Razorbacks right now. That could change once he visits campus and gets to know the coaches better.

"We're still building a relationship," Gallaspy said.

Gallaspy had 282 carries for 1,704 yards and 26 touchdowns as a junior and had 1,751 yards and 20 touchdowns on 177 carries as a sophomore.

He said Thomas has given him an idea of what Arkansas is about.

"He was telling me it's a big football city because there's not an NFL team there," Gallaspy said. "That's really the only football that's really around there. It's a really big college town."

E-mail Richard Davenport at

rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Sports on 05/30/2014