FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas freshman tight end Dax Courtney announced in a post to his Twitter account Monday he is retiring from football to focus on his health.
“The sport I’ve put my heart into for 19 years is now over for me as a player,” Courtney wrote in part. “Football has been my life for as long as I can remember and will always be my number one story piece, but due to countless (injuries) I have sustained I have to start thinking about life after football.
“Thank you to the Razorback coaching staff for recruiting me here and doing everything y’all could to make sure I had a good career. I apologize for not being able to fulfill the goals we had set out to do.”
A member of Arkansas’ 2022 recruiting class and a consensus 3-star prospect from Clarendon, Courtney (6-6, 210) signed with the Razorbacks over scholarship offers from Baylor, TCU, Penn State, Michigan State and other programs.
He dealt with numerous injuries during his high school career. As a junior, he battled a dislocated knee, but was able to play the back half of the 2020 season after a short time away.
In 2021, he suffered a torn ACL in Clarendon’s season-opening victory over Barton in September. Courtney was on campus during Arkansas’ spring practices this year but did not participate.
He was the Razorbacks’ second commitment in the 2022 class.