LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas has made the cut for one of the top prospects in the nation.

Katy (Texas) Seven Lakes offensive lineman Caleb Benenoch, 6-6, 320 pounds, 5.25 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has approximately 25 scholarship offers but has narrowed his list to Arkansas, Texas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Baylor, Northwestern and Stanford.

Benenoch credits Arkansas offensive line coach Chris Klenakis for much of his interest in the Razorbacks.

“Coach K has been a big part in me liking Arkansas,” Benenoch said. “He said he wanted me to explore Arkansas a lot more. That’s why they’re in my top seven.”

Benenoch said running back Jamal James, a former Razorbacks commitment who has since decommitted, also helped stir his interest in Arkansas.

“I know he decommitted, but I talked to him and he talked about the atmosphere at Arkansas,” Benenoch said. “I want to take a closer look.”

Benenoch, who reports a 390-pound bench press and a 470-pound squat, said he will most likely make an official visit to Arkansas before Sept. 28, his target date for making his decision. He said it was tough narrowing list of schools to seven.

“I’ve been going back and forth on some schools,” Benenoch said. “There’s some schools like Alabama that I talked to, but I felt like it wasn’t something I wanted to pursue. It was tough, but my parents helped me out. I’m glad to be narrowing it down.”

Benenoch said he’ll cut his list again in the next couple of months.

“I probably won’t take all five officials,” Benenoch said. “I’ll probably take three of them.” BURNS TAKES NOTE

Arkansas’ success on the football field and in track and field has the attention of highly recruited Florida cornerback Artie Burns, who is committed to Miami.

Burns, 6-1, 185, 4.49, plays for Miami Northwestern High School. Arkansas, Miami, LSU, Florida, Florida State and Southern Cal are among the schools that have offered him a scholarship.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Paul Haynes is his lead recruiter.

“They’ve always been a great program,” Burns said of the Razorbacks. “He said I can run track up there and play football.”

Burns turned in the best high school times in the nation in the 110-meter hurdles (13.35 seconds) and 300 hurdles (36.06).

He said he’s considering official visits to Arkansas, LSU, Southern California and Florida State.

“I’ll probably take a couple during the season,” he said.

Burns took note that Haynes sent eight defensive backs to the NFL during his seven seasons at Ohio State.

“It means a lot, because I would be coached by a guy that knows what it takes to get there,” Burns said.

HAWKS FLYING HIGH

The 17-under Arkansas Hawks wrapped up summer competition with a second-place finish at the Fab 48 Tournament in Las Vegas over the weekend. The Hawks flourished against some of the best competition in the nation this summer.

“We went 20-2, which I don’t know if there’s anybody that has a better record out there,” Hawks chairman Bill Ingram said. “Maybe Sports U Elite [New Jersey], because I don’t think they lost a game this summer.”

The Hawks finished runner-up to Sports U Elite at the Reebok Showdown championship series July 10-13 in Philadelphia out of 128 teams. Two Arkansas 2014 recruits, forward Trey Thompson and guard Kahron Ross, along with point guard I.J. Ready, who has committed to Mississippi State, made the all-tournament team.

The Hawks also won the Under Armour Summer Classic East on July 18-19 in Philadelphia. Ready was named MVP of the tournament, while Thompson, Ross and forward Thomas Alexander made the all-tournament team

Thompson, who has scholarships offers from Arkansas, Florida State, Florida, Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and Memphis, also was selected to participate in adidas Nations, which started Thursday in Long Beach, Calif. The event features many of the top 19-and-under players in the world who comprise nine regional teams from Africa, Asia Pacific, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States.

WINGS WIN TITLE

The Arkansas Wings Elite finished the season by winning their ninth AAU national championship Monday, defeating the Chicago Next Level Players 54-29 in the 11th-grade Division I.

The tournament featured 164 teams at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

Little Rock Hall power forward Bobby Portis, an Arkansas commitment, scored 16 points. Razorbacks prospect Moses Kingsley, a center from Huntington, W.Va., had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists in the championship game.

“These kids were special because there wasn’t one knucklehead in the group,” Wings founder Ron Crawford said. “What I mean by knucklehead is a kid more worried about his and getting into the scorebook than what’s on the scoreboard.”

Crawford said this year’s squad played excelled as a unit.

“I don’t know if I’ve had a team with less talent that played better ,” Crawford said. “This team isn’t as talented as the one that won a national championship in 2010 overall, but we might not of ever had a better front line than Moses and Bobby.”

E-mail Richard Davenport at [email protected]

Sports, Pages 21 on 08/03/2012