Highly recruited safety Kahlil Haughton made a return trip to Fayetteville over the weekend for the Arkansas-Alabama game on an official visit after making an earlier visit in June.
"It was a great visit," said Haughton, who arrived about midmorning on Saturday and left about 6:30 pm on Sunday. "I really enjoyed the game. I like talking to the [Arkansas] coaches ... and talking to the players, that was great as well. It was a great visit overall."
Haughton, 6-2, 180 pounds, 4.44 seconds in the 40-yard dash, from Waco (Texas) Midway, has more than 20 scholarship offers, including ones from Arkansas, Oklahoma, TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Duke.
He said the environment around the Arkansas football program and community was why he labeled the trip great.
"It's really family-friendly, energetic environment," Haughton said. "You just get a good vibe about being on campus and just being around the people and the community."
Haughton, who previously made official visits to Oklahoma and Nebraska, said the trip improved the Hogs' chance of landing him.
"Definitely, definitely. Just being around the players, being around the community definitely made this trip a lot better than the unofficial that I took," he said.
Haughton, who has best times of 48.5 seconds in the 400 meters and 22.3 in the 200, could be the big, fast safety the Hogs haven't had since Ken Hamlin, who was a second round draft pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2003.
He met with Coach Bret Bielema before leaving Fayetteville.
"He was saying how he took the job at Arkansas to do something that nobody has ever done before and help them win an SEC championship and a national championship," Haughton said. "He said he loved my style of play and would love to be able to have my skills in the back end."
Alabama came into Saturday's game averaging 554.6 yards a game but was limited to 227 yards against Arkansas. The Hogs also limited highly regarded junior receiver Amari Cooper, who entered averaging 10.4 catches and 149.2 receiving yards per game.
"I thought [Arkansas' defense] did very well in the game," said Haughton, whose father, Gregory Haughton, ran the 400 meters for Jamaica in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, earning a bronze medal as well as a silver and bronze in the 1,600 relay. "They held Amari Cooper to 22 yards and two catches, so it's definitely something that you should be proud about. I thought they did a very good job."
A big part of Haughton's interest in the Razorbacks stems from his relationship with defensive backs coach Clay Jennings, who emphasized Arkansas' NFL type scheme.
"He thinks being an NFL-type defense would be beneficial to me if I have aspirations in playing in the NFL," he said. "He said he likes my character and would definitely like to have me in the secondary."
The raucous crowd of 72,337 and the Hog Call impressed Haughton.
"Oh, it was crazy," he said. "Everybody is just really involved, especially when they do that little Woo Pig Sooie thing. I thought that was kind of funny and cool. Everyone was just super, super friendly."
Having a look
Georgia offensive line commitment Pat Allen of Reisterstown (Md.) Franklin also officially visited Arkansas.
Allen, 6-5, 287, 5.0, has more than 20 scholarship offers. His mother, Minnie Moore, and stepfather joined Allen on the visit. He arrived at about 1 p.m. on Saturday and left early Monday morning.
He's also officially visited Oklahoma, Michigan and Tennessee. He plans to visit Georgia next month.
Having a look II
Linebacker Angelo Garbutt, who has committed to Oregon State, was one of about 60 unofficial visitors on hand for Arkansas' game Saturday.
"I liked it a lot. They were very nice to me and my family," Garbutt said. "Very hospitable."
Garbutt, 6-2, 212, 4.59, of Carrollton (Texas) Hebron, also has scholarship offers from Arkansas State, North Texas, Texas State and others.
The Hogs haven't extended an offer yet, but Garbutt sounded like he would be intrigued by one.
"I'm keeping my options open," he said. "It's closer to home."
Garbutt, who has a 3.0 grade point average and is looking to study engineering, is teammates with Arkansas offensive line commitment Zach Rogers.
"He just loves it there," Garbett said. "He talks about Arkansas all the time."
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 10/14/2014