Maumelle teammates sticking together at UA
A crowd of family, friends and classmates gathered in the Maumelle High School gymnasium Wednesday morning to watch Andrew Chamblee and Nico Davillier, key parts of the University of Arkansas’ 2022 early recruiting class, sign their letters of intent.
Chamblee and Davillier are considered the secondand eighth highest-rated Razorback prospects among those who signed their letters, according to 247Sports.
“It feels great,” Chamblee, donning an Arkansas hoodie, said after signing. “All my nerves are gone, and now all that’s on the brain is getting up to The Hill and working.”
Chamblee, who’s listed at 6-6, 285 pounds, said he intends to enroll early, moving to Fayetteville and joining the program in January. Davillier, who was recruited to play on the defensive line, intends to join the team this summer, as he’ll stay in Maumelle to compete with this year’s senior high basketball team.
Davillier, 6-4, 275, averaged 10.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game for a Maumelle team that made a Class 5A state championship game appearance last season. Davillier said while at first the decision to stay was difficult, a discussion with the Arkansas coaching staff helped change his mind.
“I talked to Coach [Sam] Pittman and Coach [Jermail] Ashley, and they were like, ‘Yeah, you can hoop. It’ll keep you in shape, keep you in good footwork, and it’d just be better all around.’”
While the pair will arrive in Fayetteville six months apart, Chamblee said the hope is they can still be roommates. The two have played together since ninth grade, and Chamblee said they played against each other frequently in youth leagues.
“The bonding and connection that we’ve got, it’s unbelievable,” Chamblee said about he and Davillier. “And it’s like that throughout the whole group chat.”
The two were a part of several Arkansas commitments from the Central Arkansas area to sign their letters of intent Wednesday. In Little Rock, Joe T. Robinson’s E’Marion Harris and Parkview’s James Jointer, who was at Maumelle on Wednesday, both signed, while Quincey McAdoo and Dax Courtney did the same in Clarendon. In total, 10 instate recruits signed with Arkansas.
“I think it made my decision easier because I knew everybody that actually committed to the Hogs,” Davillier said. “And being with Andrew everyday at practice, working with him, doing oneon-ones, just getting better all around, making both of us better, it’s just iron sharpens iron. So, we’re ready to get to The Hill.”