FAYETTEVILLE — Michigan State and a few other schools made a run at Austin, Texas, Lake Travis star Maleek Barkley late in the process, but he’s made it clear he is going to remain committed to the Razorbacks.
Barkley (6-0, 185) - who led his team to a state title this season - finalized things with Arkansas last week and then took his official visit to Fayetteville this weekend.
“I just feel really good about my future at Arkansas,” Barkley said. “I know that I have got to do really well and show people what I can do.”
The support of the fans were perhaps the biggest official visit impression left on Barkley.
“The fans for sure,” Barkley said. “They are the real deal. They are real fans. It is just awesome and just a great place to be. It is a place that you want to be. There is a lot of great support.
“The coaches are great. They love you and feel the same way that you feel about them and I just feel really comfortable that we are on the same page. I am really comfortable and I love Arkansas.”
His host was Arkansas wideout Jared Cornelius, who will lead a youthful group of wide receivers as a senior next season.
“That was really fun,” Barkley said. “He is really cool and as you know he is really popular around here. He is a really cool guy to be around and I am just going to look around and see what different guys do and see if I can pick up the good habits and just go from there.”
Arkansas wide receivers coach Michael Smith has told his young wide receivers in Barkley, DeVion Warren and Jared Barnes to prepare to play right away.
“That is the way to try and get us hot and work really hard with the team and try to get the job done as soon as possible,” Barkley said.
He made it clear that Smith was a big reason for his commitment to Arkansas in a tweet he sent out on Jan. 15.
“I’m 110 percent committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks,” Barkley tweeted. “I want to be coaches by the best receiver coach in the country Coach Smith…thanks to everyone that believed in me and recruited me, but I'm a Hog."
Barkley is coming off a big senior season in which he led Lake Travis to the Class 6A Division I state title while rushing for 1,386 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also had 613 yards and 7 touchdowns receiving.
He had 138 yards receiving with three touchdowns - two receiving and one rushing - in the championship game as Lake Travis beat The Woodlands 41-13 at AT&T Stadium.
“I just worked really hard with my team,” Barkley said. “We were all just focused and I did what I had to do. We were all on the same page and we always just worked hard since our sophomore year.”