University of Arkansas football Coach Sam Pittman only needed a few minutes to decide to extend a scholarship offer to defensive end Jaqualin McGhee.
McGhee, 6-4, 255 pounds, of Fort Valley (Ga.) Peach County, had scholarship offers from Kansas State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, Troy, Western Kentucky and others before Pittman's offer.
Peach County Coach Chad Campbell said McGhee didn't play football until his junior year.
"He's a guy that nobody knew a lot of because he hasn't played but his junior year," Campbell said. "He put out good junior film and got offers from Kansas State and West Virginia, and Virginia Tech has come on."
Campbell called Pittman on Thursday morning to discuss his highly-recruited junior offensive lineman Terrance Ferguson, who Pittman offered while at Georgia and again for Arkansas on Friday.
"I just wanted to make sure they had communicated and he said, 'Yes,' and I said I need you to do me a favor and look at this defensive end I have," Campbell said.
Within minutes of telling Pittman about McGhee, Campbell received a return call after Pittman viewed McGhee's highlight film.
"He looked at him and he said, 'Coach, we're going to offer him,' " Campbell said. "I respect him and value his opinion."
McGhee is expected to take official visits to Arkansas, Virginia Tech and West Virginia after the dead period of Dec. 16 to Jan. 16 ends. He's pumped about the Arkansas offer, Campbell said.
"He's excited he got his first SEC offer," Campbell said. "He thought he was going to get a couple more. I thought Kentucky was going to offer him this summer and Tennessee. I think they have them on the board."
McGhee recorded 65 tackles, 8 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hurries, a pass breakup and a blocked punt as a senior. In his first season of playing football, McGhee had 55 tackles, 5 sacks, 5 tackles for loss and 4 quarterback hurries.
"He hasn't played but two years," Campbell said. "He has a lot of good football left in him. He's just now scratching the surface, I believe. He started last year for us as a junior and just kept getting better and better. This year he was more confident in what he was doing after playing a year.
"I think he's going to probably blow up and be an inside technique probably. He's a kid that can run 4.6 [40-yard dash]. Explosive."
A consensus 3-star prospect, McGhee hasn't been able to attend camps and get the necessary exposure.
"Our kids don't have a lot of money and if we don't do anything for them, it's hard for them to get to all of these combines where people get rated," Campbell said. "I don't take much stock in all that. We've had nine guys play in the NFL. We've had hundreds of kids go off to Division I schools. Our kids are blue-collar, hard-nosed kids, tough, know how to work."
One of many Peach County players who have gone on to play at Division I schools is McGhee's cousin -- Tyrique McGhee, a senior defensive back at Georgia.
The Trojans went 11-2 this season and reached the Class 3A quarterfinals.
In addition to McGhee, Peach County has several others on the defensive unit that are expected to play college football, including Clemson linebacker commitment Sergio Allen.
"We have eight guys planning to go to the next level that play defense," Campbell said.
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 12/15/2019