FAYETTEVILLE — Junior cornerback Kobe Black made his first trip to Arkansas for the Tailgate on the Hill cookout and it won’t be his last visit.
He was one of about 25 prospects on campus with most of them being committed to Arkansas.
“I had a great time. It feels like family already,” Black said. “I just love everything. The campus, just everybody. Even the recruits that was here, too. They wanted me to commit. They were like, 'Go ahead and commit. It’s nothing but family. You’ll have fun. We want you here.'
"Nothing but love and positivity.”
Black, 6-2, 190 pounds, of Waco Connally, has 22 offers from Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Michigan State and other schools.
He said the highlight was meeting Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman.
“He’s not like the other head coaches,” Black said. “He’s very different. He’s more outgoing, funny and not stuck up. I really like him.
Black said having a head coach like Pittman is important.
“However the head coach acts, that’s usually how the whole program acts,” Black said. “Everybody is outgoing, having fun. Just not stuck up or too serious about everything.”
Black said he and Benton junior running back Braylen Russell have participated in camps together. He said the 2024 Arkansas commit also tried to sway him to be a Razorback.
“He’s cool,” Black said. “He also wanted me to commit, too.”
As a sophomore, he recorded 41 tackles and 7 pass breakups. His brother, Korie is a cornerback at Oklahoma State.
ESPN rates Black a 4-star recruit, the No. 6 cornerback and No. 36 overall prospect in the nation for the 2024 class. The visit helped Arkansas going forward.
“They bumped up a whole bunch,” he said. “At first I didn’t know too much about them and now I do. They’re most definitely up there now. It helped a lot.”
Razorbacks cornerbacks coach Dominique Bowman also impressed him.
“He’s young. He seems like he’s very confident,” Black said. “DBs, we all have to be confident. He’s very confident and he’s going to tell you the truth. He ain’t going to sugarcoat or nothing like that.”
Seeing a cornerbacks coach have swagger is attractive.
“Being a DB you have to have that swag on the field and you have to be smooth and you have to a lot of confidence,” Black said.
He plans to visit Fayetteville in the future.
“I’ll probably try and come up for a game and take an official visit, too,” Black said.