FAYETTEVILLE — Fort Smith Southside junior linebacker Darin Davenport has grown up in a family of Oklahoma football fans, but it isn’t predestined that he will be a Sooner.
Davenport (6-1, 215), coming off a sophomore season that was limited to four-and-a-half games because of an ACL injury, hopes to impress Arkansas coaches during the Razorbacks’ two-day high school camp beginning Monday morning.
“My entire family are OU fans except for an uncle that lives in Bentonville, who is a huge Razorback fan,” Davenport said while participating in the Memphis Mega Football camp on Sunday. “He is always trying to get me to go to Arkansas.
“I like (Arkansas) very much. I would certainly go there.”
Davenport, a 2019 prospect who had a whopping 64 tackles, a sack, an interception and a fumble recovery in those four-plus games, is almost back to full strength after rehabbing his injury.
“I am doing good with that,” Davenport said. “I am almost fully healthy. I would say I am about 95 percent physically and 100 percent psychologically.”
That has allowed Davenport - who has made two trips to Arkansas recently - to participate in a trio of camps, including the one Sunday in Memphis.
“I went to the OU camp and the Missouri camp and tomorrow and Tuesday I will be at the Arkansas camp,” Davenport said. “It’s pretty nerve-wracking, but it is a good experience for me to get exposure from colleges.”
He feels like he was born to play the linebacker spot.
“I like being a linebacker,” Davenport said. “You have got to know everything and know where everyone is going.”