FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas doesn’t have any offensive linemen in its 2020 recruiting class, but new Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman and offensive line coach Brad Jones are looking to change that.
Pittman and Jones, who had been at Missouri, visited with Conway standout Robert Scott (6-6, 310) on Tuesday in hopes of flipping him from his pledge to Ole Miss.
“It is kind of funny because Brad has been recruiting him awhile at Missouri and they have had a great relationship already because of that,” Fimple said. “You get Coach Pittman and you find out that Brad Davis is coming back in and so they hit off again.
“They did a great job yesterday. I fixed coffee for everybody because you could tell they had been on the plane and rolling for 48 hours at least. We sat around and had a great conversation and then they went and talked to Rob.
“Both of those are great recruiters and you can tell they have been in the business for awhile and they know offensive linemen and have done a great job.”
Ole Miss fired head coach Matt Luke on Sunday, Dec. 1 and replaced him six days later with Lane Kiffin, who visited Scott in Conway on Tuesday night.
“(Kiffin) was here Tuesday night,” Fimple said. “He went to his house with his staff, or I guess what he has assembled of it. They talked with him last night and that’s all I know about that right now.”
Scott is a consensus three-star prospect with Hawgs Illustrated dubbing him the preseason top player to the state, Rivals seeing him as No. 3, ESPN 4th and 247 Sports slotting him in as the 5th-best prospect in-state.
Nebraska, Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Kansas, TCU, SMU, Louisville, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette are among others who have offered Scott.
“He has had several schools come through like Kansas and TCU and basically it is the same guys that he had, but they knew he was committed to Ole Miss,” Fimple said. “Once it broke, they were back on the trail recruiting him again.”
Scott has decided to tap the breaks on his recruiting and will sign his national letter of intent on Feb. 5 instead of during the Dec. 18-20 early signing period.
“He had already decided when that went down with Matt Luke that he was going to sign late,” Fimple said. "I think right now when it all went down there on Sunday, I think he kind of took a few days to reflect and see where he was going to go from there.
“These Division I schools, when something goes down like this, they do a great job of staying with the kids and explaining things that you know you need to do.
“That’s where he is at right now. He is listening to them, going back through his list and has got some official visits that he is trying to iron out, where he is going and all that.”
Scott will take an official visit to Oxford, Miss., this weekend.
“That was originally set up this weekend, so they just kind of took that same date right here and after that he is just trying to get it set up with these other guys coming through," Fimple said.
Fimple said that Scott was a big factor in Conway going 8-4 this season, which ended with a 31-21 loss to Bentonville West in the Class 7A state playoff quarterfinals.
“I thought he did a great job for us both athletically and playing tackle, but also as far as being a leader for us this year,” Fimple said. “He really grew into the role that he had this year. He is not one to make big speeches, but he is a guy that everybody can follow because he is full speed most of the time.”
Scott, who has a 6-3 basketball-playing sister in the ninth grade, has also added some bulk since the start of the season and now weighs 310 pounds, according to Fimple.
“I think he has moved around a lot better this season for his size than I think even he thought he would,” Fimple said. “He kind of got into that strength factor this season with the size that he has.”