Junior linebacker Bumper Pool's future commitment to Arkansas was almost a certainty long before his birth on Sept. 28, 1999.
Pool, 6-2, 216 of Lucas (Texas) Lovejoy High School, chose the Hogs over more than 20 offers from schools such as Southern Cal, Alabama, LSU, Michigan and Texas A&M the day after visiting for the Florida game Nov. 5.
His family's ties to Arkansas runs deep. His father, Jeff, graduated from Allen High School in Texas in 1984, but he was exposed to the Hogs by his stepfather, Al Burke, an Arkansas graduate. He went on to become a 1990 Arkansas graduate.
Pool's two aunts, two cousins and a grandfather also graduated from the UA while his older sister, Maddie, is a sophomore there.
Shortly after graduating with a communications degree, Jeff met Laurie Harper while on a business trip in Maryland. The chemistry was immediate, and they eventually married.
They started a life in Little Rock and Laurie, a West Virginia graduate, became a die-hard Razorbacks fan.
"Once you become part of them, you're always one of them," Laurie said.
They started taking Bumper, Maddie and younger brother Harper to Razorbacks games when Bumper was about 4 years old and did so on a yearly basis.
"He's played more football in the parking lot of the Broyles Complex in Lot 44 than he's played anywhere else," Jeff Pool said.
When Bumper started playing flag football in kindergarten, the talk of him becoming a Hog began.
"We would tease him all the time," Jeff said. "We would be like, 'Someday you're going to play for the Razorbacks.' Probably in the fourth grade, he started believing it."
Bumper told his parents he was close to committing to Arkansas at breakfast before the Alabama game Oct. 8.
"He said, 'I think I'm ready,' " Jeff said.
He had visited Georgia, Texas A&M and Maryland this year and had visits to Alabama and Michigan planned. Laurie wanted Bumper to wait until after those trips to decide.
"It was our job to make sure he saw other places and other opportunities so he was making that decision for him, not for me or Jeff or his sister," Laurie said.
The visits came and went, and even though the Wolverines were tempting, Bumper told Coach Bret Bielema he was committing during a meeting on the Sunday after Arkansas defeated Florida 31-10.
Bumper's first youth team was named the Gators.
"The first team he ever played on was the Gators and the last place he'll play is Arkansas," Laurie said.
While his play on the field has earned him ESPN's ranking as the No. 3 inside linebacker and No. 153 overall prospect for the 2018 class, his first name also has garnered tremendous attention.
During his sophomore year in high school, Jeff got the idea of naming his first son Bumper while playing bumper pool, a pocket billiards game played on an octagonal or rectangular table.
"We would play all day and night long, and I just thought it was a cool name," Jeff said. "That would be cool if I could name my kid Bumper Pool."
His full name, Bumper James Morris Pool, includes part of his grandfather's name of James Morris Walker. Laurie had reservations about the name Bumper, but she liked that he could go by James should he object later in life.
"I said I love it, but I'm concerned when he's an adult and in the business world that he has a good, strong name," Laurie said. "His grandfather was just an amazing man and a great role model."
He's never been referred to any name other than Bumper.
"His name fits him. He looks like a Bumper, acts like a Bumper," Jeff said. "He likes it."
Jeff recalled running into a former classmate from Allen about eight years ago and being told her daughter met Bumper.
"She told her daughter, 'I went to high school with his daddy, and when we were in high school he said if he ever had a boy he was going to name him Bumper Pool,' " Jeff said. "She said, 'Well, he did it.' "
Another lure of the Hogs was the Pool's long-term relationship with the family of Casey and Nathan Dick, both of whom played with the Razorbacks.
Bumper idolized Casey and Nathan and wears No. 10 because Nathan did so while in Fayetteville.
"He said, 'Wow Dad, one day I'm going to do that,' " Jeff said. "I said, 'Yeah, you probably will. Keep it up.' "
Email Richard Davenport at
rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 11/27/2016