FAYETTEVILLE — A vast majority of the top 2018 football prospects in Arkansas will gather at Benton High School on Saturday.
The Arkansas Football Rankings Fab 40 will include such headliners as Arkansas safety commit Sean Michael Flanagan (6-1, 180) of Charleston along with Ashdown defensive back LaDarius Bishop (6-1, 200) and Earle quarterback Gerry Bohanon (6-4, 215), two other 2018 prospects with Razorback offers.
Also scheduled to be on hand are Joe T. Robinson cornerback/wide receiver Nathan Page (6-0, 183), Springdale defensive tackle Isaiah Nichols (6-3, 260), LSU baseball commit Jaden Hill (6-3, 206) of Ashdown and 2019 Jonesboro offensive lineman Darius Thomas (6-6, 280).
Registration will begin at 2 p.m. with action starting on the field and open to the public at 3 p.m., according to organizer Byron Jenkins.
“We are basically saying it is bringing the first family of football in Arkansas together,” Jenkins said. “We want to let them show case their skills for the fans because there has never really been an event where the Top 40 football prospects have been in the same camp like there has been with basketball.
“We want to get these guys together and kind of form a brotherhood. We hope it will start a tradition where the younger kids will really want to be a part of it as they grow up and develop.”
Jenkins hopes a show of support from fans will help Bishop, Bohanon, Thomas and others know they need to stay home and play for the Razorbacks.
“We are a very unique state, a very small state and for the University of Arkansas to win we have to have these kids that are home-bred,” Jenkins said. “Everybody has heard the rumors that the talent level is down. We have gone from eight to 10 kids being recruited by the Razorbacks each year down to five or six.”
Jenkins, a former Little Rock Central player, bemoans the fact that the football-playing numbers and talent level in the Little Rock School District is down.
“I graduated from Central in 1993 and when I started playing there Central was the third winningest team in the country,” Jenkins said. “Today we are 11th and there is no doubt wins are down and Northwest Arkansas has won like the last 12 or 13 state titles in a row.
“There hasn’t been a Hog from the Little Rock School District in 12 or 13 years and we want to get those numbers back up.”
Jenkins is aware of what the reasons are for that.
“I think we have had a record number of murders in Little Rock this year and I think there is a direct correlation to the number of football players in Arkansas,” Jenkins said.
“I know in the 90s when I grew up it was the middle of gang banging in Little Rock and football was an integral part of saving not only my life, but many other young men at the time.
“I just think if kids play together and compete against each other and get to know each other we can kind of curb the violence and maybe we can get some of these kids to continue their education.
“I think the way that you do that is bring back the former players and make it a spectacle.
“If you go to the Real Deal in the Rock (AAU Tournament), you have the top players there, a lot of talent, you've got the former Razorbacks in the house and it created the atmosphere and the buzz with the young kids.
“We have to somehow grab a hold of that with football and with the fourth and fifth graders and have them saying I want to be like Gerry Bohanon, Nathan Page and Isaiah Nichols.”