CISCO, Texas -- Arkansas will be losing senior defensive ends Deatrich Wise, Ja'Michael Winston and Brandon Lewis after this season, and the Hogs are looking for immediate help for next year.
The Razorbacks are looking to add Micheal Clemons, a defensive end at Cisco College in Abilene, Texas, to the roster. He plans to make an official visit to Fayetteville.
"I've watched Arkansas football the past few years and I'm very excited to get up there," Clemons said. "I want to see what the family atmosphere is about -- the coaches and bonding with the players -- and see everything Arkansas has to offer."
Clemons, 6-7, 240 ponds, 4.53 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina State, Kansas State, Minnesota and others.
He said he's talking to Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and defensive line coach Rory Segrest.
"I talked to Coach Segrest most of the time and Coach B once or twice over the past few weeks," Clemons said. "We're getting to know each other. I can't wait to meet those guys in person."
He also said his relationship with Segrest and Bielema has him wanting to visit Fayetteville.
"They got my attention just by what they've told me," he said.
Clemons, who played at Sachse, Texas, before redshirting last year at Cisco, has 23 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss in 5 games this season. He said he plans to graduate in the spring and will have three years to play three at his next stop.
He also plans to officially visit Oklahoma State, Missouri and Ole Miss. He was hoping to visit Arkansas this weekend. But with the Hogs playing Alcorn State at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Saturday, Clemons said he will visit Oklahoma State instead. He and Segrest are working on a later date.
"I'll be visiting Ole Miss and Mizzou in January," Clemons said.
A school with a strong family atmosphere will find favor with Clemons, he said.
"A good family atmosphere with the players and I want a good relationship with my coaches," Clemons said.
Clemons credits the women in his life for inspiring him. A self-professed "momma's boy," he said his mother, Jameka Clemons, has taught him so much.
"I've seen her working hard to provide for me and my sisters," Clemons said. "She taught me to do the same. She would take me out and show me what a man is supposed to do for a woman."
His girlfriend of five months, Taylor Hayes, who plays basketball at Cisco, has pushed him in the classroom and on the football field.
"I've turned in assignments a week or two early," Clemons said. "I like to give her credit for that. Football wise, she pushes me even when I have a bad day. She always brings out the positive in something and pushes me to work as hard."
The big picture
Arkansas and numerous other schools have offered scholarships to junior linebacker Alston Orji.
Orji, 6-2, 220, 4.7, of Rockwall, Texas, has offers from Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Nebraska, TCU and others. Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema likes to recruit uncommon young men and Orji fits that mold.
"You don't come across kids with his combination of athleticism, physical prowess and a good head on his shoulders," Rockwall Coach Rodney Webb said. "Academically, he's very strong. Sometimes kids are book smart, but not very common-sense smart and they're not very engaging personality wise. He has a good combination of all of that."
In five games this season, Orji has 24 tackles and a pass breakup. ESPN rates him the No. 8 outside linebacker and No. 207 overall prospect in the nation for the 2018 class.
During spring testing, Orji recorded a team best vertical jump of 38 inches. He also has a 295-pound bench press, a 455-pound squat and a 280-pound power clean.
"He's learning to be a good football player," Webb said. "He's an athletic freak and he's got all of the tools to be great and will be great."
Orji, whose mother is a doctor and father is a computer engineer, plans to major in business. Webb said kids often pay lip service to the importance of academics. But with Orji, he said, it's real.
"Wherever he ends up going, it's going to be more about the fit academically than the fit athletically," said Webb, whose daughter is a freshman at Arkansas. "They see the bigger picture."
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 09/27/2016
