The starting five of 16-under Arkansas Hawks may have a chance to do something that no other spring or summer basketball team has ever done.
Arkansas received its second oral commitment from one of the Hawks' starting five on Tuesday -- from Fort Smith Northside's Isaiah Joe.
Joe, who will be a junior, chose the Hogs over scholarship offers from Alabama and UALR, Arkansas-Little Rock along with strong interest from Stanford, Tulsa, Auburn, Tennessee and numerous others.
Hawks point guard Justice Hill, a Little Rock Christian sophomore, committed to the Hogs in February.
The Hogs are also heavily recruiting two junior forwards who play for the Hawks: Reggie Perry, 6-10, 225 of Thomasville, Ga., and Ethan Henderson, 6-8, 190, of Little Rock Parkview.
Perry has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Florida State, Mississippi State, Alabama, Iowa State, Miami and others; Henderson has scholarship offers from Arkansas, LSU, Notre Dame, Indiana, Texas and Arizona State.
Junior guard Desi Sills, 6-1, 170, of Jonesboro, rounds out the Hawks' starters and has scholarship offers from Missouri, Alabama-Birmingham and UALR, and one could be coming from Arkansas in the future.
Having the starting five from a spring or summer team sign with different D-I schools is not unheard of, but should the Hawks' starting five all become Razorbacks, it appears it could be a first.
"I've been involved with amateur basketball on the national level for 25 years and I don't recall a Power 5 college taking a starting five off of one team," Hawks founder and Coach Bill Ingram said. "I know some schools have offered a starting five, but never got all five."
ESPN national recruiting director Paul Biancardi, who coached 18 years on the D-I level, said he also couldn't recall a starting five signing with one school.
If all five do go to Arkansas, a lot of the credit will go to associate head coach Melvin Watkins, who's is the lead recruiter for all five.
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"He was big in the Isaiah situation," Ingram said. "I think the relationship with us and Melvin has been really good."
Ingram said Watkins has worked hard developing relationships with his players.
"Melvin has pretty much laid the foundation for all of the Hawks kids," Ingram said. "It pretty much started as soon as he arrived on campus. He started the foundation of recruiting all of the Hawks players."
Arkansas junior guard Daryl Macon played for the Hawks and was also recruited by Watkins.
"He was heavily involved with Daryl and he's definitely been heavily involved with the 2018 and 2019 classes we have," Ingram said.
Ingram said Joe reminds him of Macon.
"He's probably at this stage better than Daryl," Ingram said. "Isaiah has probably grown 4 inches in the last year and a half. You can look at him and tell he's not finished growing yet."
NOT GIVING UP
Defensive lineman Troy James committed to Kansas a few days after he visited Arkansas on June 21 and received a scholarship offer from the Hogs.
Razorbacks receivers coach Michael Smith has continued to recruit James.
"He's really talking to me and telling me about things I should do and things I should look for," James said. "He said even if I don't come to Arkansas, he's telling me things I should look for because Coach Smith sees a lot of potential in me. He said he believes I could really be a next level guy. He said he sees that I could do big things and that's why he wants me so bad."
James, 6-3, 276 pounds of Baton Rouge Madison Prep Academy, has approximately 20 scholarship offers from schools like Arkansas, Kansas, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, SMU and Indiana.
He received his official offer from Arkansas in the mail Monday and is going to visit the Hogs with his parents for the Alabama game on Oct. 8.
"I know that will be a good game because of the way they've played them the last two years," James said.
James recalled the June trip to Arkansas.
"What really got my attention was the players and the way they worked out in the weight room," James said. "There was no playing and they were all motivating each other. By me seeing that I know they're family."
E-mail Richard Davenport at
rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 08/07/2016