Football Has Edge In Recruits

ARKANSAS PROVEN FERTILE GROUND

Northwest Arkansas has proven to be fertile ground for bigtime football talent.

Not so much for basketball prospects, though.

When National Signing Day arrived earlier this month, more than a dozen football players signed with NCAA Division I schools, including five with Arkansas and one with national champion Auburn.

It’s believed to be a record number of Division I recruits for the area in a single year.

And while the talent pool isn’t expected to be as deep next year, college football coaches would be foolish not to troll Benton and Washington counties on an annual basis.

The area, however, isn’t nearly as rich in big-time basketball talent.

Fayetteville guard Calli Berna is headed to Arkansas, and Siloam Springs guard Shelbi Honeycutt will join former teammate Ashley Adams at Ohio State. But that’s it so far when it comes to local basketball prospects signing with large, nationally prominent programs.

Northwest Arkansas has produced a handful of big-time Division I players over the past few years, but it still trails far behind the abundance of football talent that has come through the area lately.

There’s former Fayetteville guards Fred Gulley (Oklahoma State) and Kikko Haydar (Arkansas). Former Springdale Har-Ber star Michael Sanchez is also with the Razorbacks.

And Morgan Hook has made the jump from Rogers High to Oklahoma.

But the numbers are nothing like they are with football.

Auburn’s football coaches were regulars at Shiloh Christian’s football games this past season, and Bobby Petrino’s staff at Arkansas had to fight off outside schools to sign the hometown kids. Is there any doubt that we live in a football state?

“People pay attention to football a lot. I mean, I love football,” said Berna, whose brother Colby Berna signed with Arkansas in 2009 as a big-time football recruit out of Fayetteville. “I think the talent in football is a lot greater, and it’s just kind of focused on a little more.”

Northwest Arkansas is filled with basketball talent, there’s no doubt about that. There are plenty of good players, and a few are still in the mix to sign with Division I schools this year. But the area isn’t bubbling over with recruits like it is with football.

The way the high school athletic schedule is set up could play into there not being as many basketball prospects. The basketball season is sandwiched in between the football and baseball seasons, making it diffcult for teenagers to go from one sport to the next.

The sports overlap, and as a result, some teenagers decide to focus on football and baseball and havea break in between to rest their bodies and transition to the next sport. Basketball coaches often lose some of the most talented athletes to the other sports.

Still, the next few years could produce several Division I recruits, including a pair of players in Prairie Grove’s Justyne Huber and Fayetteville’s Tyler McCullough who are already garnering attention as sophomores.

Texas was aware of Huber a year ago when she helped lead Prairie Grove to a state championship as a 6-foot freshman. McCullough, meanwhile, is hard to miss at 6-foot-9, 235 pounds with a size 18 shoe.

College coaches have taken notice of McCullough, and he’ll likely attract more attention over the next few years while playing for the AAU’s Arkansas Wings. Three of Arkansas’ top recruits - Hunter Mickelson, Aaron Ross and Ky Madden - also play for the Wings.

“I definitely want to go play college basketball,” McCullough said.

Maybe the Class of 2013 will be deep in basketball talent. For now, though, the area is still rich in football recruits.

ALEX ABRAMS IS THE ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR FOR THE NORTHWEST ARKANSAS NEWSPAPERS. HIS COLUMN APPEARS EACH SUNDAY.

Sports, Pages 8 on 02/27/2011

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