Dennis Ready For College

RECEIVER EXCITED TO JOIN WONDER BOYS

Tony Dennis of Sprindale High expects to play slot receiver next year for Arkansas Tech. Dennis played a similar role for the Bulldogs last season.
Tony Dennis of Sprindale High expects to play slot receiver next year for Arkansas Tech. Dennis played a similar role for the Bulldogs last season.

— Tony Dennis will soon be a Wonder Boy.

He plans to leave July 8 for Arkansas Tech, where he’ll line up next to one of his childhood friends and play for the same football coach his stepfather did.

“I’m super excited to go down there,” Dennis said.

Arkansas Tech coaches have told Dennis that they want him to be a slot receiver who could also run the football, which suits him just fine. He played a similar role last season at Springdale High, where he saw more work at tailback after KD Jones got injured.

“He’s a very versatile athlete,” Springdale coach Shane Patrick said. “There’s really not anything offensively that you can’t do with him to create a threat.”

Dennis’ versatility will be on display at 7 p.m. today when he plays in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Football All-Star Game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. He’ll suit up for the West team, giving him another chance to catch passes with former Springdale Har-Ber wide receiver Michael Fine.

Dennis and Fine have known each other since elementary school, and they’ll soon be teammates at Arkansas Tech. When Dennis arrives on campus next month, it’ll be the latest stop in his long journey back from major injuries that nearly forced him to quit football.

“I was a good player coming up. I had a lot of talent. My injuries set me back a little bit, and I had to work hard to get back,” Dennis said. “I just did what I thought I could do, and I did it.”

The 5-foot-8, 175-pound wide receiver suffered fractured fibulas in both legs during his sophomore season, and he missed all of his junior year after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in July 2010.

Dennis said he reached a low point when he considered giving up football. He had never suffered a major injury in any other sport, and he got down after sustaining several of them in back-to-back years.

“We knew what he was capable of doing and then he went down like he did with that ACL in a noncontact injury,” Patrick said. “It was real disappointing for him, and your heart goes out to a kid like that.

“But you know, he battled back and he had a strong senior year.”

Dennis said his main goal heading into his senior season was to stay healthy. He did more than just that, leading Springdale in total offensive yards with 1,722. But first he had to get over his initial fear that he could suffer another devastating injury.

“The beginning of the season I was a little bit nervous,” Dennis said. “But after that first game, I got that first game under my belt, I felt a lot comfortable and it came natural to me.”

Dennis also starred as a point guard for Springdale’s basketball team, providing relentless defense and clutch scoring for the Bulldogs. He led the team in assists (4.3 per game) and ranked second in scoring (13.8 points per game), but he doesn’t intend to be a two-sport athlete for the Wonder Boys.

Dennis said Arkansas Tech football coach Steve Mullins doesn’t like the idea of the speedy receiver playing basketball, and Dennis said he’s fine with giving up the sport. He’ll settle for catching passes instead of dishing them out to teammates.

“They said come down there and show us what you got,” Dennis said. “And if you fit in, you’ll be out there Saturday nights.”

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