SPRINGDALE — When your dad is a major college head basketball coach, hoops is usually the route you take as well.
But Jenks, Okla., tight end Reese Leitao (6-4, 234) and his dad Dave – in his second tour as head coach at DePaul – decided the right path for the younger Leitao was on the football field.
It turned out to be a great decision as far as Jenks head coach Allen Trimble is concerned.
“His dad came to the University of Tulsa with Frank Haith and he was on a national (basketball) traveling team,” Trimble said, “but it didn’t take him long to figure out and his dad came in and said ‘you know we think we like football better and we think it is going to be his career.’
“So he really committed at that point and stayed with us in the off-season and has really blossomed into what I think is going to be a really special H-back, fullback/motion tight end in college.
“He is also a tremendous student, a 4.0 student and will make somebody a great, great player.”
Leitao, whose team competed in this weekend’s Southwest Elite 7-on-7 Showcase in Northwest Arkansas and is being recruited by the Razorbacks, has numerous offers.
Those offers are from Arkansas State, Duke, Houston, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Miami, Ohio, Minnesota, Navy, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Texas State, Tulsa, UCF and Utah State.
Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma and Penn State are among the teams showing interest.
“I have kind of narrowed some schools down, but I still would like to give every school an opportunity and continue to build relationships with the coaches during the process,” Leitao said.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so I just want to live it up to the fullest.”
Leitao, who had 14 catches for 215 yards and four touchdowns last season, stays in contact with Razorback tight end coach Barry Lunney, Jr., and has visited the campus.
“Me and Coach Lunney stay in contact ever so often,” Leitao said. “Hopefully I can come up again later this summer or even in the fall, get another visit in and see a little bit more about Arkansas.”
Leitao would like to get an offer from Arkansas and the opportunity to join his current teammate Jordon Curtis – a Razorback 2017 cornerback pledge – in Fayetteville.
“When I think of Jordon, I just think of a winner,” Leitao said. “That’s what he does, just goes out competes and wins. He’s a hard worker and Arkansas had a good one coming.”
Jenks won seven of its first eight games this weekend before losing to Shiloh Christian 31-29 in bracket play in a 32-team tournament that was won by Bixby.
“We expect to come out here, work hard and just compete, compete, compete,” Leitao said. “That’s what we like to have as our team motto and we just get out there and do the best we can.”
Trimble thinks Jenks - 12- 1 last season - has a key component in its success.
“We have been blessed to have such success and they were good before I got there,” Trimble said. “But I think they is a love and respect among our players and that’s something I think we may do a little bit better than a lot of other programs.
Trimble has recently been diagnosed with ALS.
“I’ve got a little fight ahead of me, but with these guys behind me and with me I know that that I can do it.”
The Trojans will be trying to win their fifth straight state title.
“We are going to rally behind him and try to win another,” Leitao said.