Before Arkansas freshman running back Devwah Whaley committed and signed with the Hogs, Coach Toby Foreman gave him a heads-up about the Razorback fans.
Foreman was named the coach of Beaumont Central High School in Texas in February of 2013. Before that, he made several other stops, including as an assistant at Texarkana High School in Texas.
“I lived on the Texas side, but it really didn’t matter; everybody was kind of an Arkansas fan,” Foreman said.
One weekend his parents visited to watch him and the Tigers play a game on Friday night. The next day, they went to eat at a local restaurant with nine TVs in hopes of catching a game with several of players that he had coached.
“Every TV was turned on the Arkansas game,” Foreman said. “So I called the manager over because at the time I had a couple of kids playing at Oklahoma, and I asked him, 'Would you mind putting the Oklahoma game on?' and he said ‘Yeah, no problem,'” Foreman said.
Their viewing of the Sooners was short-lived after some Hog fans objected.
“They changed the TV, and he comes back over in about three minutes, and he said ‘Sir, we’re going to have to put that back over to the Arkansas game,'” Foreman said. “I told that story to Devwah and to his family. I was like, here’s the deal in Arkansas, there are no professional sports; you are the professional sport, and I said Arkansas football is it.”
Whaley, 6-0, 218 pounds, 4.45 seconds in the 40-yard dash, rushed 228 times for 1,701 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior and had 172 carries for 1,225 yards and 11 touchdowns as a junior. ESPN rates him the No. 6 running back and No. 70 overall prospect in the nation.
He made an official visit to Fayetteville for Arkansas’ 51-50 loss to Mississippi State last fall with his stepfather, Steven Haynes. and uncle, Terry Roy.
“I knew once he was up there … you’re not going to have a better fan base than that,” Foreman said. “Arkansas in general … the University of Arkansas football program is hungry to make that next step. I think they’re really close.”