The Recruiting Guy

Hogs' Smith making big push for Louisiana end

Michael Smith is in his first season as Arkansas' wide receivers coach.

Arkansas signed four football prospects from Louisiana in the 2014 class, and three are playing major roles for the Hogs this season.

The Razorbacks are back recruiting some of the best talent in the Bayou State and one of the top prospects, defensive end Isaiah Washington, is planning to make an unofficial visit to Fayetteville for a game.

Washington, 6-5, 245 pounds, 4.75 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of New Orleans Edna Karr, orally committed to LSU in February and has other scholarship offers from Arkansas, Florida, Texas A&M, Florida State, Oklahoma State and others. He's being recruited by Arkansas receivers coach Michael Smith.

"He really wants me to come up there," Washington said. "So I can get a chance to see if l want to do an official."

He recorded 117 tackles, 27 tackles for loss, 11 sacks and 5 forced fumbles as a junior. He hasn't settled on which Arkansas game he plans to attend.

"Not yet, still looking," Washington said. "I want to go to a big home game."

An official visit to Fayetteville is likely, he said.

"Nine times out of 10, I'm still going to do an official," Washington said.

National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of CBS Sports Network rates Washington as a 4-star prospect and the No. 1 defensive end in Louisiana.

"He's a very physical and aggressive ball player," Lemming said. "He's exceptionally quick for a 245-pounder. He changes direction and pursues like a college veteran. He has the growth potential to be a around 280 pounds and once he gets bigger and stronger, look out."

Washington, who's also planning to take official visits to Texas A&M, Florida and LSU, said the Hogs are recruiting him hard.

"They're sending me a lot of mail," he said.

Washington also said, his relationship and trust with Smith is strong.

"When you talk to him, you're for sure," Washington said. "You don't have to worry about him going back on his word."

Record back

Arkansas running back target Patrick Carr became his school's all-time rushing leader Friday night.

Carr, 5-9, 190, 4.4, of The Woodlands, Texas, has 14 scholarship offers, including ones from Arkansas, Arizona State, Illinois, Iowa State, Colorado, California, TCU, Texas Tech and Oregon State.

He had 17 carries for 96 yards and a touchdown in a 24-7 victory over Katy to break the school record of 3,901 yards set in 2010 by Daniel Lasco, who's playing at California.

"It's a lot of hard work, sweat, tears and all of that stuff," said Carr, who has 3,915 career yards. "Just the fact of breaking the record and getting help from the offensive line from 2012 to now, it's pretty awesome. It's a blessing, Rarely do people get records like that because it's so hard to reach them. My team really helped me get that."

Carr, who's being recruited by Arkansas running backs coach Joel Thomas, is eyeing the Alabama-Birmingham game for an official visit to Fayetteville..

"We're trying to go Oct. 25, but we shall see because I don't know if they play early of late," Carr said. "They go off of TV time."

He has a best time of 10.57 seconds in the 100 meters and is also looking to run track in college. Carr rushed 230 times for 1,635 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior.

He was able to watch the Hogs' 49-28 victory over Texas Tech on Saturday.

"The running backs did tremendously well," Carr said. "Those guys upfront, those guys are big. Just the beauty of it, it's like the big Red Sea will open because those guys were just breaking it open."

Woodlands Coach Mark Schmid said Carr's playmaking ability is only surpassed by his character.

"He's an unbelievable young man," Schmid said. "A great leader for our team. Not just in words, but in the way he conducts himself. He's an extremely worker, he understands the God-given talents will only take him so far that he has to push himself to make himself better. He's probably the hardest working player on the football team."

Bad luck

Arkansas offensive line commitment Zach Rogers saw his senior season end with broken ankle on a chop block in Friday's game against Plano, Texas.

Rogers, 6-3, 295, 5.09 of Carrollton (Texas) Hebron missed his junior season because of an anterior cruciate ligament injury. He signed an athletic financial aid agreement with Arkansas on Aug. 7 and will enroll in January.

"The doctor said he should be ready to go well before the start of spring football," said Rogers' father, Randy. "He said his bones are really solid and that will help in the recovery process."

E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Sports on 09/16/2014