State sports briefs

— BASKETBALL Clarke signs with Arkansas

Junior college forward Coty Clarke made it official on Wednesday and signed his national letter of intent with Arkansas, becoming the fifth signee for the 2012 recruiting class.

Clarke, 6-7, 225 pounds, averaged 16.2 points and was the nation’s second-leading rebounder with 13.5 per game at Lawson State Community College in Alabama. He chose the Razorbacks over approximately 20 other scholarship offers, including Georgia, Mississippi State, Bradley, Auburn and Nebraska.

He’s looking forward to playing for Coach Mike Anderson and helping rebuild the tradition-rich program.

“I just want to get back to winning like it use to be,” Clarke said. “I know coach Anderson knows what he’s doing. I just want to be a part of that and everybody come together so we can do something special.” - Richard Davenport FOOTBALL Funderburk chooses Orange

Former Arkansas receiver Quinta Funderburk intends to enroll at Syracuse, his high school coach said Wednesday.

Richard Morgan, the coach at Oscar Smith High in Chesapeake, Va., said the 6-3, 210-pound Funderburk told him while working out at the school Wednesday that he had decided where to transfer.

“Quinta is going to Syracuse,” Morgan told Rivals.com.

Funderburk enrolled prior to last spring at Arkansas to great fanfare. The No. 35 prep receiver in the nation by Scout.com, he had 65 receptions for 1,464 yards and 15 touchdowns as a senior, earning scholarship offers from coast to coast.

However, Funderburk never panned out for the Razorbacks. He entered last spring with a cartilage problem in a knee that required arthroscopic surgery after spring, and he also had a finger injury.

He missed six practices last spring before returning to campus, then redshirted in the Hogs’ deep receiving corps. Funderburk missed a big chunk of practices this spring, an indicator that his departure might be on the horizon.

  • Tom Murphy

Sports, Pages 25 on 05/17/2012

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