While last Saturday’s on-campus event hosted by the Arkansas football program was labeled a Junior Day, there were plenty of talented sophomores on hand.
One of them was Phenix City (Ala.) Central cornerback Jayden Coleman (6-0, 175 pounds), who has offers from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Penn State, Purdue, Duke, South Carolina, Indiana, Syracuse and other programs.
"The visit, it went good,” Coleman said. “I like the facilities, the atmosphere, the coaches, and everything went good....The coaches made it feel like home.”
He was offered Sept. 2 by former Arkansas defensive backs coach Sam Carter, who has since been replaced by Dominique Bowman. Coleman was shown around Saturday by Razorbacks defensive graduate assistant Kresean Reed.
Coleman said the highlight of his trip was when Reed showed him around.
"It’s an SEC school," Coleman said. "I wanted to take a visit to an SEC school.”
Coleman was not sure what to expect in Fayetteville, but he was excited about what he found.
“It was way better (than I expected),” he said.
Coleman, who had 32 tackles and two pass breakups as a sophomore, recently participated in the All-America Bowl Combine in San Antonio.
He is from the same high school as former Arkansas running back A’Montae Spivey, who signed with the Razorbacks in 2019 and played sparingly in two seasons before transferring to East Mississippi Community College.
Phenix City is coached by former Auburn star quarterback Patrick Nix, whose son Caleb is the team's quarterback. Patrick Nix is also the father of Oregon quarterback Bo Nix, who was a three-year starter at Auburn before transferring late last year.
Phenix City finished 13-1 last season. Its lone loss was 38-22 to Alabaster (Ala.) Thompson in a Class 7A state championship game between unbeaten teams on Dec. 1.