The Recruiting Guy

Texas DE wants to visit Fayetteville this summer

Arkansas running backs coach Jeff Traylor throws a football during warmups prior to the Razorbacks' game against Mississippi State on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, in Starkville, Miss.

University of Arkansas defensive end and linebacker target Herbert Gums has seven scholarship offers, including his first Power 5 offer from the Hogs.

Gums, 6-2, 260, 4.8 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Diboll, Texas, has other scholarship offers from Iowa State, Missouri, Texas Tech and Houston. The Razorbacks extended an offer in July of last year.

Diboll, a town of approximately 5,000, is about 100 miles north of Houston. Associate head coach and running backs coach Jeff Traylor heads up Arkansas' recruiting efforts in east Texas and is the lead recruiter for Gums.

"I've been texting coach Traylor," Gums said. "They want me to come visit."

Gums is hoping to visit Fayetteville this summer.

"I really like them, I like coach Traylor as a coach," Gums said. "I have a good vibe with him."

He likely would have more scholarship offers had he not suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in the first game of the season, causing him to miss the remainder of his junior season.

"When it first happened, I thought it was just a little tweak in my knee. I was thinking in my mind 'I hope it isn't an ACL tear,' and the next day they told me it was," Gums said.

Gums, who rushed 71 times for 564 yards and 6 touchdowns as a sophomore, plans to major in kinesiology in hopes of going into coaching because of his love of kids.

He said he gets that from his brother Julien, a freshman running back at Nicholls State.

"As a kid I've always wanted to be a football coach," Gums said. "I like to teach kids."

Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com

Sports on 02/15/2019