Recruiting Guy

UA fan base impresses Florida running back

Punta Gorda (Fla.) Charlotte running back Maleek Williams

Arkansas fans are one of the reasons why highly sought-after running back Maleek Williams has the Hogs as one of his top schools.

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Williams, 5-11, 215 pounds, 4.42 in the 40-yard dash, of Punta Gorda (Fla.) Charlotte has approximately 17 scholarship offers from schools like Arkansas, Illinois, North Carolina, Boston College, Kentucky, Tennessee and others.

"Illinois and Arkansas are definitely my top two schools," he said.

Razorbacks fans have watched his highlight film that's posted on hudl.com hundreds of times.

"The fan base is crazy," Williams said. "I remember my Hudl was like 200 views and then in about a week it was like 600 or 800 views and now it's like a 1,000. It was right after Arkansas offered."

Williams rushed 59 times for 664 yards, a 11.3 yard average per carry and had 12 touchdowns as a junior while sharing the work load with Elijah Mack, who signed with South Florida in February.

"I believe that every time you get the ball you should score, if you're not scoring go hit someone and let them know that the next play I'm scoring," Williams said.

Defensive coordinator Robb Smith visited his school last week while running backs coach Reggie Mitchell attended his spring game Friday.

He said Mitchell has taken over his recruiting and their conversations have been frequent.

"He's a really nice dude," Williams said. "He has a great resume. He said I definitely have the talent to do something special and he's going to train me to where I can best use my talents."

Williams said his coaches are planning to bring him to Arkansas for a visit during the early summer. He doesn't have a time frame for a decision.

He has done a good amount of research online about the Hogs and other schools.

"I know the town is all about Arkansas," Williams said.

Williams was born in Jamaica before moving to the United States with his family when he was 5.

"They're so grateful and just wanting on me to take advantage of what we have in America," Williams said of his parents.

Deep-snapper love

It's rare for a long snapper to receive a scholarship offer, but Adam Bay already owns one from Memphis and is hoping to earn others, including from Arkansas.

Bay, 6-1, 215 pounds is rated the No. 1 snapper in the nation by Kohl's Kicking. He's been communicating with special teams quality control coach Tanner Burns and has plans to attend the Hogs' specialist camp June 18

"Arkansas is one of the schools that's been hitting me the most lately," Bay said. "With them being in the SEC it's definitely a level of football I would like to play at. It's the top conference in the nation in my opinion, that's why I would like to play at a school like that."

Bay is also drawing interest from Missouri, Alabama, Wisconsin, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.

He's familiar with former Arkansas long snapper Alan D'Appollonio, an Arizona native.

"He loves it, he loves the atmosphere, he loves the fans, the city," Bay said. "He loves everything about it."

He's enjoyed getting to know Burns, who is the son of former Razorback defensive back and defensive coordinator Keith Burns.

"He's a really cool coach," Bay said. "He's definitely straight up and he tells me how the program is. I like the honesty."

Michigan QB impresses

Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos made his way to Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Mich., recently and was highly impressed with sophomore quarterback Theo Day.

"He said he's got the most live arm I've seen in any class and I've seen a lot of quarterbacks," said Divine Child assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Chris Laney.

Day, 6-5, 200, 4.7, transferred to Divine in January after spending the last two years at run-heavy Detroit Catholic Central. Enos called Laney a few days later hoping to get Day down for a summer camp.

"Coach Enos said he's a kid we could offer," Laney said. "We have to get him down here so the rest of the staff can see him."

Day, who's also drawing interest from Michigan State and Northwestern, will drive to Fayetteville with his father and attend the Hogs' prospect camp June 11. His school has final exams June 6-10.

"They're going to drive 13 hours to Fayetteville after his last exam and stay the night and camp there on the 11th," said Laney, who has two cousins in Little Rock. "He was real excited to have a school like Arkansas come up here to Michigan."

E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Sports on 05/22/2016