University of Arkansas linebacker commitment Brad Spence didn’t react kindly to last week’s opponent talking trash before the game and an offensive lineman paid dearly for the verbiage.
“I had a little fire under my butt,” Spence said.
Spence, 6-3, 232 pounds, and Houston Klein Forest traveled to Humble, Texas, last Thursday and on the first play from scrimmage, Spence blasted a pulling guard to set the tone for the Eagles in a 24-17 victory.
The Wildcats’ first snap came from their 6 with Spence lined up on the outside shoulder of the left tackle. The tackle went inside to block a linebacker and Spence took three steps toward the backfield where he took on the pulling right guard at the 4.
Spence’s violent collision sent the 260-pound lineman flying back to the 2 while Spence tackled the running back for no gain as the lineman’s legs shot straight up to the sky.
“Kids know about me. They know I’m going to Arkansas, so they have no reason but to try me. So I knew it was coming,” Spence said. “He pulls around and I just see this lineman here and I’m already have like a full head of steam. I’m a train when I start … and the rest is history.”
He finished the game with 9 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and a half-sack. Spence recorded 72 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 1 1/2 sacks, 6 pass breakups and 1 recovered fumble as a junior while being named a District 15-6A first-team selection in the state’s largest classification.
Klein Forest Coach Johnny Wilson said he wasn’t surprised by Spence’s physicality.
“He’s a great kid with great character. I always tell people that to start off and two, he’s an amazing football player and he’s a very physical football player,” Wilson said. “He will knock the crap out of you.”
Spence’s physical play is aided by his strength, which includes a 350-pound bench press and 530-pound squat despite not lifting weights until his freshman year. National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming of CBS Sports Network said two things come to mind after watching Spence demolish the offensive lineman.
“Big-time strength and aggressiveness,” said Lemming, who rates him a 3-star plus prospect.
Spence, who’s also expected to play as an edge rusher at Arkansas, pledged to the Razorbacks on July 12 over 30 scholarship offers, including ones from Texas, Arizona State, Louisville, California, Duke, Missouri, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Utah and Wisconsin.
“I’m just a rough guy. I don’t feel nothing when I’m in the game,” Spence said. “You can’t stop me, it’s up to me to stop myself.”
Wilson said he recalled getting on to Spence during a spring practice only to feel bad for one of his teammates afterwards.
“In spring ball, a kid blocked him pretty good and I started kind of getting on him. ‘That’s how you block Brad and get after him,’ and then the next play he just destroys this kid,” Wilson said. “This poor kid. I felt so bad.”
Wilson, who reports Spence running 10.94 seconds in the 100 meters during the spring, said he strikes fear in quarterbacks.
“He’s 230 pounds running like that,” Wilson said. “Those QBs are running for their lives when they’re running from him.”
While Spence’s physicalness is advanced for the high school level, so is his football IQ and mental approach thanks to his father Armand Spence, who played linebacker at Oklahoma in the late 1990s.
“You get to know certain stuff that people don’t know,” Brad Spence said. “You’re more advanced. You’re ahead of everybody on the field. You know it’s coming, you know it’s going to happen.”
Spence, who has a 3.7 grade point average, is working to graduate early so he can enroll at Arkansas in January.
“I can’t wait to get up there,” he said. “I’m working on it right now to get up there early.”
He also said he’s looking forward to playing for Razorback linebackers coach Michael Scherer.
“That’s my guy there. He and I almost talk to each other every day,” Spence said.
Scherer was also giddy by the leveling of the lineman, Spence said.
“He said, ‘That’s how you take on a puller,’ ” Spence said. “He was excited. I think they’re glad I’m going to be a Hog.”
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com