Coaches can’t pass up mommas’ mac and cheese
Austin Cantrell’s mother did a little scouting of her own during her son’s recruitment.
Cantrell, a tight end from Roland, Okla., who signed Wednesday with Arkansas, and his family received an in-home visit from Razorbacks Coach Bret Bielema and tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr. on Jan. 25, and the tight end’s mother, LaDonna, made sure she was on top of her game as well.
LaDonna treated the Arkansas coaches to a meal that included meatloaf, a green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, rolls and mounds cake, but the yeast rolls were a bit of a challenge.
“They rose and were all nice and pretty, and then they fell flat,” she said. “I had to throw those out to the dogs and start all over again.”
LaDonna said she took note of some of Lunney’s tendencies during a few of the lunches she and her husband had with Arkansas’ tight ends coach during the contact period.
“I knew he wanted his tea half-sweet and wanted a lime on the side,” LaDonna said. “I was like, ‘All right, Coach, I have your tea just right. I have your lime sliced.’ Coach Bielema was like, ‘Oh my gosh, Barry.’ ”
LaDonna admitted that prior to the visit she was a little uptight about hosting Bielema.
“I don’t know why I was nervous about it, but I kind of was,” she said. “We’ve talked to him so many times. We’ve already covered so much, what else are we going to talk about?”
The anxiety proved to be unwarranted.
“He just came right in and the jokes started and the laughing started,” LaDonna said. “I said, ‘We can do this.’ It was really comfortable. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting to be more formal, but it wasn’t.
“We just sat down and laughed.”
She said she did find something Bielema might not be too fond of.
“I don’t know if Coach B was a big fan of coconut,” LaDonna said. “He didn’t eat any cake. He went back and got seconds on the meal. I think he really liked the mac and cheese.”
LaDonna also liked what Bielema had to say about when Austin gets on campus.
“He wanted to keep that line of communication going while he’s up there,” she said. “If he’s feeling stressed about something, go ahead and open up and talk. If we know if something is going on with him, we need to talk to him so he can talk to Austin.”
LaDonna said she found Bielema and Lunney to be quite the pair.
“They’re funny,” she said. “They have good chemistry together.”
LaDonna said former offensive coordinator Jim Chaney’s departure to take the same position at Pittsburgh didn’t weaken her son’s commitment to Arkansas.
“Those two really made the difference for him,” she said of Bielema and Lunney. “Coach Lunney is great. He keeps the conversation going.”
HAVING SECONDS
Avis Smith, the mother of Arkansas defensive end signee T.J. Smith of Moultrie (Ga.) Colquitt, said she was impre ss e d with defensive coordinator Robb Smith’s appetite during an in-home visit on Jan. 28.
“That little guy can throw down,” Avis said. “He had two plates.”
T.J. Smith’s family hosted Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema, defensive line coach Rory Segrest and Robb Smith during an in-home visit Jan. 28, and Avis Smith had an impressive menu waiting for them.
“Chicken casserole, macaroni and cheese, candy yams — and I’m talking about the real kind the kind you peel — green beans seasoned with smoked turkey neck, cranberry sauce and some dinner rolls buttered up with sweet butter,” Avis said.
The mac and cheese seemed to impress the coaches.
“I think that was their favorite dish,” she said.
Avis spent time with Arkansas’ coaches when she accompanied T.J. on his official visit Jan. 21-23 to Fayetteville. T.J. was committed to Vanderbilt before the trip, but Avis said once they were on campus she knew her son would be a Hog.
“It just had a great home feel to it,” she said. “The coaches are wonderful. My primary concern was academics. I wanted him to get the degree he wanted and to be happy with it.”
T.J. has a 3.8 grade-point average and will major in business. He and his mother were won over by the Sam M. Walton College of Business.
“Overall they just had the best business program, and I just felt really comfortable with everybody,” Avis said.
Ragean Hill, Arkansas football’s director of academics, reassured Avis about the school’s academic support system.
“I think what really put me at ease was after speaking to Reagan,” Avis said, “knowing she knew the importance of education and knowing she had been an athlete herself at a university.”
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