Highly regarded sophomore receiver Ryan Wingo left Saturday’s visit to the University of Arkansas with no doubt he was a priority for Coach Sam Pittman and his staff.
Pittman hung out with Wingo during most of the visit, even while attending the Razorbacks baseball game against Southeastern Louisiana.
“He kind of had his hand over my shoulder as we were walking into the baseball game ,” Wingo said. “He was like, I know him type of thing. This is Ryan Wingo type of thing. So that was kind of cool. Kind of funny.”
Wingo, 6-2, 198 pounds, of St. Louis University High School, has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Florida, Missouri, Ole Miss, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Iowa State and others.
He’s the younger brother of Ronnie Wingo Jr., who played for the Razorbacks from 2009-12. He visited Fayetteville for Arkansas’ 40-21 victory over Texas in September.
Wingo enjoyed seeing receivers coach Kenny Guiton again.
“We have a great bond,” Wingo said.
He and his father were driving to Fayetteville to visit on Jan. 15 until hazardous road conditions made them turn back. Saturday’s trip allowed him a chance to see more of the facilities.
“They’re real nice. I saw the locker rooms, they’re nice,” Wingo said. “The game locker rooms are even nicer. Kind of like an NFL type of stadium locker room. The stadium holds a lot of people.”
Like his older brother, Wingo has speed to burn. He ran a personal best 10.89 seconds in the 100 meters as freshman while also recording 21.94 in the 200 and 50.81 in the 400.
He also showed his speed and athleticism during a combine last year by recording a 4.39 in the 40-yard dash, a 36.5-inch vertical leap and a broad jump of 10 feet, 1 inch.
Because he was about five years old during his brother’s senior season as a Razorback, Wingo doesn’t remember much about Arkansas.
“My dad kind of remembers, so he said he [Ronnie Jr.] use to live in a different dorm than they do now,” Wingo said. “I saw the dorm they live in now. Nice dorm. I know that for sure. The field also looks kind of different when I watch his highlights and stuff like that.”
Wingo, who will likely be a consensus 5-star prospect, had 32 catches for 638 yards and 10 touchdowns while scoring 4 rushing touchdowns and passing for 1 more as a sophomore. He had 1,072 total yards and averaged 46.5 yards per kick return.
He doesn’t have any problems following his brother’s foot steps should he decide to be a Hog.
“It really doesn’t matter to me because we both went to the same high school,” Wingo said. “Following his foot steps, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Probably be an even better thing because he already got the fan love from here, so it would just add on to me so it would be good all around.”
Wingo said the visit surpassed his expectations.
“It kind of exceeded especially with Coach Pittman talking to me a lot,” Wingo said. “It kind of made it even better. He’s a real good coach. I would love to play for him one day.”
Wingo said Pittman hit on a variety of things.
“He really [talked] about everything,” Wingo said. “He was talking about life. He wants me to come play for him, so we’ll see.”
He responded after being asked what the visit did for Arkansas’ chances of landing him.
“For sure, it’s giving me a high,” he said. “I like it a lot, so that should be enough there.”
Wingo said his brother doesn’t say much to him about Arkansas.
“He really doesn’t say nothing,” Wingo said. “He’s letting me choose where I want to go. We’ll see what he has to say when I tell him I liked the visit.”
He’s unsure about other visits for the near future but is eyeing a return to Fayetteville for Arkansas’ open practice on April 16.
“I honestly don’t know, I think I’m coming back up here for the spring game maybe if I don’t have a track meet,” Wingo said. “I really don’t know what other visits I’m going on. I’ll probably found out when it gets closer.”