Staying home
Fayetteville High keeps feeding Hogs with talent from down the street.
F AYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ football roster includes two players who grew up more than 11,330 miles apart. Mitchell Loewen from Maui, Hawaii, and Hjalte Froholdt from, Svendborg, Denmark, join players from 15 other U.S. states, including New Jersey, Florida, Minnesota, California and Colorado, on the roster.
But one group of nine Razorbacks traveled the shortest distance.
The Fayetteville Hogs played their high school home games at Harmon Field, a half-mile from Reynolds Razorback Stadium, where Arkansas takes on Tennessee-Martin at 3 p.m. today.
“When you play at Fayetteville, your dream is to play at Arkansas,” said Razorbacks senior deep snapper Drew Gorton,
who played quarterback and receiver for the Bulldogs. “It’s great that so many of us are getting to live that dream.”
Fayetteville alumni are playing some of the biggest roles.
Senior quarterback Brandon Allen will make his 33rd career start today and 29th in a row. He’s passed for 5,792 yards and 47 touchdowns, and this season he ranks third in the SEC in passing yards averaging 252.7 per game.
Junior middle linebacker Brooks Ellis, making his 23rd start today, and freshman weakside linebacker Dre Greenlaw, a starter since the third game this season, lead Arkansas in tackles with 58 and 53 stops, respectively. Sophomore Austin Allen is the No. 2 quarterback behind his older brother. Gorton is in his first season as the starting deep snapper after waiting his turn behind Alan D’Appollonio.
“It’s kind of a neat deal a lot of the guys are staying in the same city to play for the team,” Brandon Allen said. “It says a lot about Fayetteville, what they’re doing there and the guys they’re
putting out.
“It also says a lot about the University of Arkansas that they can keep the guys right here.”
Freshman tight end C.J. O’Grady turned down offers from Texas, Oklahoma and Ole Miss to sign with Arkansas. He’s redshirting this season but is practicing with the offense and dressing out for games.
“We’ve got six guys from Fayetteville on the travel squad,” Gorton said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
Freshman fullback Damani Carter, junior defensive back Scotty Thurman Jr. and freshman offensive lineman Cooper Sone are the other Fayetteville Razorbacks.
“I don’t know of anybody else anywhere that’s had the kind of run we’re having right now at Arkansas,” Fayetteville Coach Daryl Patton said. “I’m like a proud dad.”
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and several of his assistants said they have never worked anywhere else where the local high school
produced so many players for the college team.
“It’s truly unique,” Bielema said. “Whatever is going on over there I hope it keeps going, because it’s nice little pipeline.”
Bielema’s 2013 Arkansas recruiting class, his first at the school, included three players from Fayetteville: Austin Allen, Ellis and Alex Brignoni, a safety who is on a medical scholarship because a back injury prevented him from playing for the Razorbacks.
All three committed to Arkansas before Bielema was hired from Wisconsin.
“When I first got here it was like, ‘Three guys committed from Fayetteville High? Come on,’ ” Bielema said. “But it was easy when I popped on the film. I would have offered all three of them as well.”
Ellis said it goes back to what is going on at Fayetteville.
“Coach Patton does a great job of developing players and putting guys in the right spots,” Ellis said. “The fact so many of us are here at Arkansas now is a direct result of what Coach Patton does.”
Brandon Allen and Ellis are two of Arkansas’ four team captains. They are also on the Hog Council — a leadership group that Bielema meets with to discuss team issues — along with Gorton. The council includes one player from each position group.
“Our kids are very, very good leaders,” Patton said. “They’re not the type of kids that say, ‘Hey, look at me.’ They’re the type of kids that say, ‘Hey, follow me.’ They do things the right way.”
Greenlaw led the Razorbacks with 16 tackles in last Saturday’s 54-46 four-overtime victory over Auburn and was named SEC freshman of the week.
Adjusting to college and a new position motivates Greenlaw.
“When people say I can’t do it, that just pushes me harder and harder,” Greenlaw said. “Having the opportunity, I want to make sure I do something with it.”
Arkansas didn’t offer Greenlaw a scholarship until October of his senior season. He had been committed to Arkansas State.
“Last year we kept telling the Arkansas coaches about Dre,” Patton said. “We said, ‘This kid’s a player. He may not be the fastest, he may not be the biggest, but he’s a play-maker.’
“Luckily, a spot came open and they were able to offer him.”
Bielema said he decided to offer Greenlaw a scholarship after defensive coordinator Robb Smith saw him play last season.
“Robb called me midway through the second quarter and said, ‘What are we doing? This kid is everything that we want,’ ” Bielema said. “I think he’s going to be a phenomenal player.”
O’Grady isn’t playing, but offensive coordinator Dan Enos said he’s been impressive in practice.
“Every day he continues to get reps with our twos, he’s in those meetings,” Enos said. “This is going to be a really, really good growth year for him. You see him relaxed more. You see his athleticism showing as he’s able to understand what we’re doing and just play instead of thinking so much.”
Gorton said he and Brandon Allen have been close friends since the second grade.
“I used to be his quarterback,” Gorton said with a laugh.
Gorton was Allen’s backup quarterback at Fayetteville before catching 61 passes after moving to receiver.
“We didn’t know he had such great hands until he started catching everything from Brandon,” Patton said.
Barry Lunney Jr., Arkansas’ tight ends coach, faced the Razorbacks’ Fayetteville contingent when he was Bentonville High School’s offensive coordinator.
“I always knew they were pretty talented coaching against them, and several of them are real impact players for us,” Lunney said. “It’s got to be fun for them to grow up here in the shadows of the university and now be here.”
Allen led Arkansas to touchdowns in all four overtimes against Auburn — plus 2 two-point conversions. He completed 19 of 33 passes for 233 yards and 3 touchdowns, converted first downs three times on keepers and had his first career catch for an 11-yard gain in the second overtime.
“To see Brandon making play after play when the chips were down was really special,” Patton said. “There’s nobody probably in the history of Arkansas football that deserved a game like that more than Brandon.”
Arkansas is showing interest in more Fayetteville players, including senior offensive lineman Noah Johnson, junior quarterback Taylor Powell and junior defensive lineman Akial Byers.
“When you have kids move on and play well, it sets things up for the future,” Patton said. “I’m biased, but I think we have a good program and college coaches know that. They keep coming back wanting the next one.”