State sports briefs

— Orlando safety gives pledge to Razorbacks

Arkansas picked up its 12th oral commitment for the 2011 recruiting class from safety Roderick Ryles on Monday after he visited and participated in the junior/senior prospect camp in Fayetteville over the weekend.

Ryles, 6-1, 185 pounds, 4.58 seconds in the 40-yard dash, plays for Orlando (Fla.) Dr. Phillips High School. He chose Arkansas over scholarship offers from Colorado State, Michigan State, South Florida, Central Florida, Utah and others.

“The environment is great,” said Ryles, who plans to major in business management. “I connected with the players and chilled with them. The facilities and the campus are nice. The business school was impressive.”

Graduate assistant Marty Biagi was instrumental in getting Ryles and one of his teammates, athlete LaQuentin Smith, to visit, Ryles said.

“He’s great,” said Ryles, who recorded 84 tackles, 7 interceptions, 1 tackle for a loss and 1 sack as a junior. “I’ve been keeping in touch with him since I got my offer. He showed a lot of interest and wanted us to come up there.”

Ryles said being able to talk to Coach Bobby Petrino during the spring evaluation along with Arkansas’ willingness to play freshmen helped his decision.

“I really want to play,” he said. “I don’t want to sit on the bench.”

Oral commitments are nonbinding.

- Richard Davenport FOOTBALL

Razorbacks hire graduate assistant

Former Louisville and NFL tight end Richard Owens has been named a graduate assistant for the Arkansas Razorbacks, reuniting with one of his college coaches, Razorbacks Coach Bobby Petrino.

Owens will oversee the Razorbacks’ tight ends.

“When I was an assistant coach, I recruited Richard to Louisville and he played for me during my first year there as a head coach,” Petrino said in a news release. “He was an all conference selection in college and has experience in the NFL. Richard will relate well to the players on our team and they should benefit a great deal from the lessons he can share from his career.”

Owens, a native of Middleburg, Fla., played for three teams during a five-year NFL career - the St. Louis Rams, Minnesota Vikings and New York Jets. He appeared in 53 NFL games from 2004-2009, starting seven of them. He was with the Vikings from 2004-2007, serving as special teams captain in 2005, and was a member of the Rams organization from 2007-2008. He was signed by the Jets in July 2009 but was waived that August.

ASU’s Hall named Sun Belt’s top defender

Arkansas State senior defensive tackle Bryan Hall was named Sun Belt Conference preseason Defensive Player of the Year on Monday as part of the league’s annual media days.

Hall was joined on the preseason All-Sun Belt team by two teammates - senior offensive tackle Derek Newton and junior linebacker Demario Davis.

Arkansas State was picked to finish third in the preseason Sun Belt coaches poll. Middle Tennessee was picked to win the conference, receiving 75 points and five first-place votes. Troy was second with 73 points, getting three first-place votes. The Red Wolves received 53 points. Louisiana-Lafayette received the final first-place vote and was picked fourth in the poll with 49 points.

Middle Tennessee senior quarterback Dwight Dasher was named the league’s preseason Offensive Player of the Year.

Hall’s selection as the top defender marks the third time in the past four years that an ASU player has earned the preseason honor. Alex Carrington, now with the Buffalo Bills, received the honor in 2009, and Tyrell Johnson, who plays for the Minnesota Vikings, received the honor in 2007.

A second-team All-Sun Belt selection in 2009, Hall has started every game over the past two seasons. He was second on ASU’s defense last season in tackles for loss (nine) and tackles among defensive linemen (30).

Newton started every game last season when he earned second-team all-conference honors. Davis led Arkansas State with 80 tackles last season.

Three ASU games to be televised

Three of Arkansas State’s conference football games will be televised by the Sun Belt Conference Network during the coming season, the conference announced Monday.

Added to the TV schedule are the Sept. 11 game at Louisiana-Lafayette, the Sept. 18 game against Louisiana-Monroe in Jonesboro, and the Oct. 23 game against Florida Atlantic in Jonesboro.

Those three games give Arkansas State seven scheduled TV games for the coming season.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Ashdown promotes assistant

Ashdown promoted William Frazier to head coach Monday night to replace Chris Hill, who left earlier this month after two seasons for the same position at Shreveport Parkway.

Frazier coached offensive linemen the past two seasons at Ashdown. He spent the previous four years as an assistant at Mountain Home. Hill led Ashdown to a 10-2 record last fall.

- Robert Yates

Sports, Pages 19 on 07/20/2010

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