The Duece was loose in Northwest Arkansas this weekend.
Owasso, Okla., 2020 defensive back Duece Mayberry (6-1, 173, 4.45), a cousin of former Razorback basketball star Lee Mayberry, played in the Southwest Classic Elite 7-on-7 tournament Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville and Springdale.
He is also the younger brother of Kansas cornerback Kyle Mayberry and a Razorback recruiting target that visited Arkansas unofficially earlier this year to meet new head coach Chad Morris and his staff.
“I love the new coaching staff,” Mayberry said. “The facilities are nice. I enjoyed visiting with them. They can’t really contact me until Sept. 1, but I’m looking it forward to it and I’m really interested.”
Lee Mayberry, who also spent some time on Arkansas head basketball coach Mike Anderson’s staff and is now an assistant women’s coach at Tulsa, has talked up the Razorbacks.
“He’s told me that it is a great school and that he had a lot of fun playing and coaching here,” Mayberry said. “He just wants me to check it out and really give some thought to coming here.”
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State and TCU are among the schools that have shown interest in Mayberry, who has offers so far from Tulane and South Dakota State.
Mayberry had 41 tackles, seven interceptions and 11 pass deflections as a sophomore last season for the Class 6A state champions.
“I have to keep working on everything in terms of getting better at DB,” Mayberry said. “I am working on my backpedal, my break, but I do have comeback speed and athleticism that allows me to do some things.”
Owasso downed Union 21-14 to become the first team to win the Class 6A state title other than Jenks and Union in 22 years.
“It was fun,” Mayberry said. “Every time we went out to face those other teams our intensity was up and we did what we had to do to win. Now this year there is a target on our backs and we’ll have to go extra hard.”
It was the third straight state title in as many seasons for Owasso head coach Bill Blankenship, who won with Union in 2005 before moving on to coach college football at Tulsa and eventually returning to high school football at Fayetteville in 2016 and winning the Class 7A state crown.
“Coach is nice,” Mayberry said. “He helps us with everything and really is just a great coach and I love him.”