Heavily recruited ESPN 4-star junior offensive lineman Dayne Shor knows a little about the University of Arkansas thanks to Coach Sam Pittman and his high school coach.
Shor, 6-6, 300 pounds, of Alpharetta (Ga.) King’s Ridge Christian School, has more than 30 scholarship offers from schools such as Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Auburn, LSU, Florida State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Miami and others.
He met Pittman during a Georgia football camp the summer before his freshman year.
“I respect Coach Pittman a lot,” Shor said. “I’ve seen the way Coach Pittman has coached because I actually went to a UGA football camp my rising freshman year. I learned a lot from that camp from Coach Pittman from just three days. I still use some of the stuff he taught me.”
ESPN rates Shor the No. 17 offensive tackle and the No. 117 overall prospect for the 2022 class. The Razorbacks extended a scholarship offer to Shor on Jan. 13.
He’s in the process of building a relationship with offensive line coach Brad Davis.
“I’ve loved talking to him,” Shor said of Davis. “He’s a really good guy. Very personable guy. I can’t wait to build my relationship with him just because my relationship is fairly new with him, but so far I’ve been having a blast talking to him and all the other guys at Arkansas.”
King’s Ridge Christian School Coach Terry Crowder is a Fort Smith native and 1989 graduate of Arkansas.
“Coach Crowder has told me it’s a great place,” Shor said. “He’s raved about Coach Pittman, and he told me that he would be a really good guy for me. He said he loves it up there.”
Crowder, whose sister Lisa Johnson lives in Greenwood, believes Shor is a rare talent.
“For a kid as big as he is, he comes off the ball,” Crowder said. “His change of direction is really good. He’s just that kid you don’t come across very often.”
Should Shor choose the Razorbacks, he would be the third player Crowder has coached to attend Arkansas. Former Razorback safety Elton Ford signed with Arkansas in 2008, and receiver Kane Whitehurst walked on with the program in 2011. Both played for Crowder at Chattahoochee High School in Alpharetta.
Clint Boling also played for Crowder at Chattahoochee before going on to Georgia and playing for the Cincinnati Bengals for eight seasons. Crowder said Shor and Boling are similar.
“I compare the two because I coached both of them, and Dayne is cut out of the same mold as Clint,” Crowder said. “He’s just that big kid that’s very, very mobile.”
Shor grew up idolizing Boling and hopes to duplicate his success.
“He started all four years at UGA, and then went to the Bengals and played 8-9 years with the Bengals,” Shor said. “Basically started his whole career.”
While Shor is still learning about Arkansas, he is very aware of a famous tradition in Fayetteville.
“I know the tradition of the ‘Woo Pig Sooie’ chant,” he said. “I definitely can’t wait to see that in person. I’ve heard the campus of Arkansas is very pretty. I know they’ve had a great tradition of O-linemen.”
Shor said he communicates with about 28 schools, but he is looking to narrow that list soon.
“I plan to release my top schools in March,” he said. “It will probably be around 12. Those 12 schools will be the schools I take visits to when the NCAA decides to open it up.”