The Recruiting Guy

Charleston QB ready to get down to business

Charleston quarterback Ty Storey runs for 34 yards during a game against Lamar on Friday, Oct. 17, 2014 in Charleston.

Arkansas quarterback commitment Ty Storey of Charleston has visited Fayetteville numerous times over the past few years, but he's looking to learn more when he take his official visit this weekend.

"I think I'm going to be able to look more into getting a business degree and seeing more what the business route has for me," Storey said. "I haven't done a lot of research in business. That's one thing I want to get out of this weekend, what kind of a career plan I can have with that degree."

Storey, 6-3, 210 pounds, 4.84 seconds in the 40-yard dash, announced his commitment June 25, 2013, and was the first 2015 pledge for Coach Bret Bielema.

CBS Sports Network national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming rates Storey a four-star-plus prospect.

"He has the arm, competitiveness and football IQ to make the leap to major-college football," Lemming said. "He can make all the throws and can throw with accuracy while on the move."

Arkansas commitment Austin Cantrell, a tight end from Roland, Okla., also will take an official visit to Fayetteville this weekend.

"He seems like a great guy," said Storey, who plans to enroll at Arkansas in January. "He's gong to be an awesome teammate. I'm just looking forward to getting to know him a little bit better and getting to throw him a few balls the next year or so."

Storey enters tonight's game against Lavaca fourth on the state's all-time career passing list with 10,792. He trails Stefan Loucks (13,703) of Pulaski Academy, Rhett Lashlee (13,201) of Shiloh Christian and Cordell Crisp (10.961) of Bald Knob. He has the third all-time best completion rate of 65.2 percent and is third in career touchdowns with 128.

"That just kind of shows the type of people I'm around more than anything," Storey said. "As a team, that just shows a lot of our accomplishments. I think the best accomplishment of all is all the games we're winning. All that is definitely team stats."

Storey has been active in recruiting other prospects for the already promising 2015 class.

"Everyone seems pretty impressed with Arkansas, just the fan base," he said. "It's kind of like a secret, honestly. It's not as well-known outside the state, but when people get here they seem amazed by it."

MERRICK WILL VISIT

Arkansas will get an official visit from one of the nation's more physically gifted offensive linemen when Jalen Merrick of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., visits Nov. 22 for Hogs' game against Ole Miss.

Merrick, 6-5, 310 pounds, 5.21 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has more than 30 scholarship offers from schools that include Arkansas, Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Michigan State.

He has said for months that he planned to visit Arkansas, but after offensive line coach Sam Pittman attended his game on Oct. 3, Merrick set the date to visit. He said Pittman and Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema have told him how great it is in Fayetteville and have recruited him hard.

"When he [Pittman] came and saw me play, it put the nail in the coffin," Merrick said.

This is Merrick's second year of playing football after previously focusing on basketball. He received his first scholarship offer from Florida Atlantic before playing his first game.

Merrick said during an Oct. 3 game that he drove a defensive end 17 yards downfield and planted him on his back, and as he got up he noticed Pittman on the sideline.

"I saw him jump up and down when I got up from pancaking the guy," Merrick said. "He said the game just made him want me even more, which means a lot."

KAPITA VISITING TOO

Power forward Ted Kapita of Huntington Prep in West Virginia plans to to officially visit Arkansas this weekend. He is expected to arrive Friday and will leave Sunday.

Kapita, 6-8, 235, is a native of Kinshasa, Congo, and is rated a four-star prospect by ESPN and the nation's No. 37 recruit.

E-mail Richard davenport at

rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Sports on 10/24/2014