Arkansas sophomore tailback pledge Braylen Russell (6-1, 225) is not the only 2024 talented prospect with a bright future for Hot Springs Lakeside.
The Rams also have wide receiver Kyler Wolf (6-1, 180), who got a chance to check out the Razorbacks last Saturday along with numerous other prospects.
“It was great, it was fun and I got to meet a lot of people, all the coaches, and got to go to the basketball game and see the Hogs win,” Wolf said.
Wolf had 39 catches for 644 yards and 8 touchdowns as a sophomore for Lakeside (5-5), who lost to Wynne 47-34 in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs. The Rams are coached by former Arkansas quarterback Jared McBride.
“(Wolf) is a guy that we really depended on,” McBride said. “He worked outside for us, made some really big plays and the moment was never too big for him. He made plays from the beginning and showed he deserved to be out there.”
Russell, who committed to Arkansas on Nov. 6 and is the Razorbacks’ only pledge in his class so far, rushed 141 times for 823 and 12 touchdowns this season and also caught 24 passes for 382 yards and 3 more scores.
Two of Russell’s touchdowns came with help from Wolf and Lakeside senior quarterback Jordan Mills, who passed for 3,260 yards with 36 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions in 2021.
“They have made a lot of big plays for us,” McBride said. “They actually hooked up twice for us this past season on the hook and lateral. They made it look beautiful, too. They were great passes from our quarterback Jordan Mills to Kyler, who then lateraled to Braylen.
“They were both game-changing plays – right before halftime against Malvern and then at the end of the year for us against Hot Springs. Both went for long touchdowns.”
McBride is looking forward to the future at Lakeside, who was 4-2 in conference play last season.
“I have a bunch of them,” McBride said. “I have a good group of sophomores. We need some offensive linemen to step up, but we have got good sophomore skill guys, for sure.”
The Rams will be working on that this spring.
“We will be on the field the whole month of May,” McBride said. “We’ll at least have the offensive and defensive lines, but a lot of skill guys will be playing baseball, so we probably won’t see Braylen and Kyler until the end of May. We mostly will be just trying to get better on the offensive and defensive lines.”
Wolf also believes success is pending.
“We should be really good next year,” Wolf said. “Last year we did pretty good, but I think we can do a lot better next season. I am just continuing to work on getting faster and my route running to help as much as I can.”