Hornets head coach marvels at young Hazen Hulk

Blayne Toll

— When you look at Hazen football standout and Arkansas 2020 defensive end commit Blayne Toll, the phrase "physical specimen" quickly comes to mind.

The so-called Hazen Hulk is a 6-5, 244-pound quarterback/tight end/defensive end who bench presses 410 pounds, runs a 4.88 40-yard dash, has a 31-inch vertical jump and 78-inch wingspan.

Factor in the ESPN four-star prospect is just 16, he skipped the eighth grade and should be a 2021 prospect instead of starting his senior season for the Hornets, the future seems limitless.

“It’s just crazy that he’s that big and that young,” Hazen head coach Joe Besancon said. “He really should just be a junior in high school. He is a man among boys and a big part of what we do on offense and defense.

“He’s also a great leader and he and a few other guys do their best to lead us the right way. He is a man of few words and doesn’t say a whole lot off the field, but when he speaks on the field, everybody listens.”

Toll, who chose Arkansas over co-finalists Tennessee and Oklahoma and host of others, is in Fayetteville on Friday with around 30 of the Razorbacks’ other top recruiting targets in the 2020 and 2021 classes.

They are on campus for Arkansas’ fall preseason cookout, also known as the Woo Pignic.

“I took all the seniors to Mountain View the last few days for a team get-together and he left from there and headed to Fayetteville to meet his mom and dad,” Besancon said. “He is excited about our season and about being a Razorback.”

Toll has plans to graduate soon after his 17th birthday on Dec. 11 and enroll early at Arkansas in January.

That will allow him to go through offseason conditioning and spring practice before his first college season.

It provides a player that ESPN ranks as the 23rd-best athlete and 286th player overall in the 2020 class a chance to get an early start with Razorbacks defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell.

“He really had a tough time with the recruiting and there were a lot of great schools that offered him,” Besancon said. “In the end, I told him to think about who he wanted to be coached by for the next four years. He thought about that and it is just tough to beat a guy like Steve Caldwell. That’s where he always wanted to be anyway.”

Hazen is 23-4 over the last two seasons with Toll, including winning its first 13 games in 2018 before falling to Junction City in the Class 2A championship game at War Memorial Stadium.

The Hornets, who begin practice Aug. 5, will be looking to play in their third state championship in six years and open this season by hosting Cross County on Aug. 30.

Hazen lost its entire offensive line, but returns five starters on offense and four on defense, of which Toll is one of both.

Toll rushed for 756 yards and 8 touchdowns, passed for 601 yards and 6 more scores and also had 5 catches for 101 yards and a touchdown last season on offense.

Defensively, he had 75 tackles, 12.5 sacks, 18 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles and an interception.

The running back duo of Tarrell Penn and Ay’Jon Green rushed for over 1,600 yards each last season and combined for 29 touchdowns.

“I really think we have a great chance to contend again,” Besancon said. “We have to get some help up front from kids that played some last season, but we now take on bigger roles. But I think they really have a chance to take a big step up.”

Hazen is moving ninth grader Luke King up to varsity this season, and that will allow Toll to play several different places.

“(King) is about six-feet tall and can really throw the ball,” Besancon said. “We are bringing him up from the ninth grade and feel like he is going to be a really good one.

“That will allow us to move Blayne around. He’ll still play some quarterback, but he is also a big matchup problem in the passing game and we will play him at tight end and in the slot just like we did last season.”