Fayetteville Has Three Purple’Hogs

No. 2

Sunday, December 30, 2012

First there was the Springdale Five, then the Warren Four.

This football season, it was the Fayetteville Three.

Purple Bulldog seniors Austin Allen, Alex Brignoni and Brooks Ellis were recruited to play college football by various Division-I schools across the country. But back on May 21, the three teammates and longtime friends made the decision to stick together when all three committed to Arkansas on the same day.

“The thing about these three is you never hear them talk about it. They never tried to be big-time,” Fayetteville football coach Daryl Patton said. “They were just like the rest of their teammates and they never talked about Arkansas.”

Allen, Brignoni and Ellis had already made a big name for themselves collectively before committing to Arkansas when the trio helped their team stun Bentonville, 29-28, in the Class 7A state championship game during their junior year.

Once committed to the Razorbacks, the only thing left to do was to go out and get another title, and that’s just what they did, leading Fayetteville (10-3) past Bentonville, 31-20, for a second-straight 7A state title.

“It was an easier decision than I thought it would be,” Allen said, when the three players originally committed. “Basically whenever Alex got his offer (from Arkansas) we all sat down and talked about it and decided this was what we wanted to do.”