Arkansas will be bringing several interesting personalities onto its campus with the 2021 recruiting class, but only one of them is an offensive lineman prospect who co-owns a ranch with his grandfather near Texas’ borders with Oklahoma and Arkansas.
That would be Bogata (Texas) Rivercrest standout Cole Carson (6-6, 293). He is no stranger to hard work after spending many hours on the ranch with his grandfather and co-owner Sonny Belcher.
They have FI and Brahman cattle as well as other livestock on their property and work begins early in the morning and ends late at night when he is not in school.
“I have always enjoyed it and it has taught me responsibility and that hard work is the only way to succeed, be it in a job on or off the football field,” Carson said. “It is something that I have always really loved being a part of and it has taught me to have a sense of urgency and to strive for perfection in every aspect of life.”
Carson also became one of the nation’s top offensive line prospects with offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Baylor, Iowa State, Arizona, Duke, Vanderbilt, Colorado, Texas Tech, TCU and Air Force among others.
He chose the Razorbacks after a March visit and has been excited with the program’s turnaround under first-year head coach Sam Pittman.
“I am excited as I can be about what they are doing,” Carson said. “I am ready to just go and be a part of a great program and to put out all my effort to make it great. I have loved watching their games every week. I think it is just all good to come from here on out.”
Pittman and Razorback offensive line coach Brad Davis have Carson pumped to arrive in Fayetteville.
“I love Coach Pittman and Coach Davis,” Carson said. “There is just something special about them. They are really great coaches and great men and that’s why I chose Arkansas along with Coach Pittman being the greatest offensive line coach in college football according to everybody that knows and says that all the time.
“You just hear about how worldly Coach Pittman is, just how much of a good person he is and I can hear that when we talk over the phone, just how genuine he is. That’s the big reason I chose them.
“And Coach Davis, he just cracks me up every time we get on the phone. He always has got good jokes and I just love talking to him as well.”
Carson is one of 19 out of 20 Arkansas pledges in the 2021 class planning on signing during the Dec. 16-18 early signing period instead of waiting until Feb. 6.
He will not be one of eight or nine early enrollees, but plans to be ready once he arrives in May or June.
“I may give (Arkansas strength and conditioning coach) Coach (Jamil) Walker a holler and see if there are any specific workouts he would recommend,” Carson said. “I will be doing our off-season workout and continuing to make my upper and lower body stronger and also be competing in track by throwing the shot and running the occasional big-man relay.”
Carson joins Wynne’s Terry Wells (6-5, 307) and Devon Manual (6-8, 315) as the three offensive linemen pledged to sign with Arkansas during the early signing period.
“I have been keeping up with those guys,” Carson said. “I met Devon on our Junior Day trip in March. I’d like to think I was a big factor to get him to come on down and join Arkansas. I have also kept up with Terry Wells and I am excited to become good friends and teammates with them once we all get up there in May.”
Rivercrest finished 7-4 this season, losing a 44-6 Class 2A DI second-round playoff game to Crawford (12-1), who is a favorite to win it all.
“We had us a good season,” Carson said. “We didn’t win every single game like we were hoping to at the beginning of the year, but we fought hard through all the difficult situations and circumstances with covid and injuries, which are things that that you can’t really prepare for.
“We came across the No. 7 team in the state and when you face one of those higher-ranked teams, it gets kind of tough, but we went out there and gave it our all and the chips fell where they did.”
Carson, who plans to major in agriculture education and communications at Arkansas, and his senior class helped turn Rivercrest’s football fortunes around during their four years in the program.
“I was really happy with the group of guys that I was with,” Carson said. “We went and added another trophy to the trophy case this year and our group helped win multiple trophies throughout the last couple of years and been part of the best stretch of Rivercrest football there ever has been.”