THE RECRUITING GUY: Arkansas gains ground after Space makes visit

— Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey and his coaching staff landed combination guard B.J. Young on Sunday and could add small forward Antwan Space sometime this week.

Space, 6-7, 203 pounds, of DeSoto, Texas has more than 15 scholarship offers but recently narrowed his list to Arkansas, Missouri, Gonzaga, Florida State and Maryland. He and Young made official visits to Fayetteville over the weekend.

“It was great,” Space said. “Great atmosphere, great people, and I liked the city. I was able to see everything I’m looking for in a college.”

Arkansas’ team chemistry scored well with Space.

“There was no jealousy, everyone was cool,” said Space, who is rated the No. 84 prospect in the nation by national recruiting analyst Van Coleman of Hoopmasters.com. “Everyone was pulling for each other, and I really like that because you rarely see that in any team nowadays. I just felt real comfortable while I was there with the coaches and the players.”

Space, who averaged about 16 points and 7 rebounds as a junior, praised lead recruiter Tom Ostrom before the visit but enjoyed getting to see the Arkansas assistant coach in person.

“Coach O and I have talked for a while, and he’s cool on the phone, but when I got to meet him he was even better than I thought he would be,” Space said. “He was always there if I had any questions.”

FROM DESERT TO OZARKS

Arkansas’ football team hosted more than 20 recruits for the Tennessee Tech game Saturday, but the only player onan official visit was linebacker/ defensive end Brock Haman of Scottsdale (Ariz.) Saguaro.

Haman, 6-3 1 /2, 230 pounds, 4.61 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, New Mexico State and others while drawing interest from Nebraska, UCLA, Oregon and Utah.

“It was nice to see the game day experience and hang out with the players,” said Haman, who was hosted by defensive end Ryan Calender. “The game was crazy. I’ve never seen so much red at one place at once. The student section was going nuts all of the time.”

Haman met with Coach Bobby Petrino on Sunday.

“He was telling me why Arkansas is the place to be,” Haman said. “It’s definitely looking up for Arkansas right now.”

Haman credits offensive line coach Chris Klenakis’ recruiting efforts with Arizona prospects being interested in Arkansas.

“He’s a huge factor,” Hamansaid. “Obviously, he’s the whole reason why I even know about Arkansas. There are some guys out in the West that have Arkansas at the top. That’s pretty amazing that a coach could do that.”

Haman said he will know sometime today whether he’ll make an official visit to UCLA in addition to his planned visit to Arizona this month. He plans to make a decision soon after his visit to Arizona.

TIGHT END LIKES SCHEME

Though he lives in New Jersey, tight end Jack Tabb watched Arkansas play Tennessee Tech and liked what he saw.

“I watched the game and saw how involved the tight end was,” said Tabb, who plays at Red Bank Catholic. “It was a real good game. I think I would fit in great as a tight end there. I feel like the quarterback always looks for the tight end, not just as a decoy or blocker.”

Tabb, 6-4, 235 pounds, 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has approximately 19 offers,including ones from Arkansas, Florida, Boston College, Michigan State, North Carolina and Rutgers. His mother, Julie, graduated from Lamar High School in Johnson County.

“I may take an unofficial visit because my mom wants to come down to see her family,” Tabb said.

Tabb, who said Arkansas’ chances of getting an official visit are “pretty high,” named Florida, North Carolina and Michigan as some of the others he’s strongly considering for official visits.

TEXARKANA TALENT

Arkansas is evaluating defensive end/linebacker Edwin Hooper of Texarkana, Texas, the same school that produced Razorbacks quarterback Ryan Mallett and receiver Cobi Hamilton.

Hooper, 6-4, 219 pounds, 4.78 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has eight scholarship offers, including ones from Kansas, Duke, Rice, New Mexico, Wyoming and Tulsa, and is drawing interest from Arkansas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Houston, TCU and Missouri.

Arkansas defensive tackles coach Bobby Allen is the lead recruiter of Hooper.

“He was saying they wanted to see me play again this year,” said Hooper, who reports a 31-inch vertical leap. “Last year, I was about 205, 210, but I’ve gained some weight over the summer by getting into the weight room and adding muscle.”

Hooper, who recorded 72 tackles and eight sacks as a junior, plans to attend Arkansas’ game against Alabama on Sept. 25. He said Hamilton has told him good things about Arkansas.

“Cobi loves it up there,” Hooper said. “He spoke highly about all of the coaches and the fans and the city.”

E-mail Richard Davenport at

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Sports, Pages 17 on 09/07/2010

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