FAYETTEVILLE — While hosting a group of 2018 recruits this weekend, Arkansas’ new football coaches also got some work done on 2019 with one of the state’s best juniors.
Camden Fairview offensive lineman Stacey Wilkins (6-7, 275), a cousin of former Razorback and NFL player Shawn Andrews, got an offer from Arkansas head coach Chad Morris, offensive line coach Dustin Fry and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock on Sunday.
“Right now, I am feeling really good because I have been wanting to be a Razorback since I was a kid,” Wilkins said. “Coach Fry, the offensive line coach, got in touch with me along with Coach Craddock and Coach Morris and they said they were pumped when they turned my film on.”
Wilkins now has offers from Arkansas, Memphis, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe and Texas State.
He’s not likely to wait around too long before committing to the Razorbacks.
“I thought about committing right away, but my dad wants me to wait until I go up to Fayetteville to visit in February,” Wilkins said. “I will hopefully decide right after that.”
Wilkins hopes to follow in the footsteps of Andrews, who was a two-time All-American for Arkansas in 2002 and 2003 and the 16th pick of the 2004 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Andrews played in the Pro Bowl three times during an NFL career that lasted from 2004-2010 with his last year playing for the New York Giants.
Stacy Andrews, Shawn’s brother, was a thrower on the Ole Miss track team and played football only his senior season at Ole Miss, but was fourth-round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in that same 2004 draft and played with four NFL teams from 2004-2011.
“After seeing him (Shawn Andrews) and my dad and a lot of other great athletes from here, I told them I was going to grow up and be better than all of them,” Wilkins said. “Hopefully I am now trying to fulfill that promise right there.
“Watching his highlights, it pushed me to work hard.”
Wilkins believes he is a well-rounded offensive lineman.
“One thing that I can say that I need to get better at is staying low, but other than that my coaches have taught me a lot of tools and I use them as a key and it really helps while using my size as an advantage,” Wilkins said.
Camden Fairview was 4-7 overall this season, but rallied to go 4-3 in conference action and made the Class 5A state playoffs before falling to Greenbrier 23-6 in the opening round.
“I think we had an okay season, but we weren’t as good as we should have been,” Wilkins said. “I’ll be becoming a senior soon so I am really going to work with our older guys to really push the younger ones so we can make something happen next year.”