THE RECRUITING GUY

OL looks for comforts of home

Sam Pittman, who was hired at Arkansas from Tennessee in December, was given a two-year contract extension and pay raise to $500,000 annually.
Sam Pittman, who was hired at Arkansas from Tennessee in December, was given a two-year contract extension and pay raise to $500,000 annually.

— Arkansas is double-teaming talented offensive lineman Jovan Pruitt of Dallas Bishop Dunne High School with running backs coach Joel Thomas and offensive line coach Sam Pittman.

“They’re saying how they like my film,” Pruitt said. “They want to get me down there to see Arkansas. They’re saying how they’re going to turn the program around next year.”

Pruitt, 6-6, 275 pounds,5.2 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has scholarship offers from 10 schools, including Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Arkansas, which he plans to visit.

“I should be soon, not too soon,” Pruitt said of visiting Arkansas. “But it’s going to be soon.”

Bishop Dunne Coach Michael Johnson said Pruitt’s combination of size and athletic ability is rare.

“He’s a great athlete and very smart and aggressive,” Johnson said. “You rarely see someone that big being able to move as fluid and athletic as he can. He’s a hard worker. He trimmed down from being 340 to 275. That takes a lot of hard work and dedication.”

Johnson is equally high on Pruitt’s character

“He’s a real good kid, very humble,” Johnson said. “You love to be around him, very good manners. He’s a kid you wouldn’t mind marrying your daughter. He’s just that type of young man.”

Pruitt said Pittman has him wanting to visit Arkansas.

“It’s pretty much how Coach Pittman has opened up his arms to me,” said Pruitt, who doesn’t have anyother visits planned. “He’s telling me to come down there whenever I feel like it, me and my mom.”

Pruitt joined teammate and safety Deyleon Williams last fall on a visit to Arkansas for the Alabama game.

“I loved it. It was beautiful there,” Pruitt said. “I would like to come there and see the inside of the football program and see what they’re all about.”

So what will it take to convince him he’s found the right school?

“Mostly the environment that makes me feel at home,” Pruitt said. “That’s really all I’m looking for.”

GETTING REACQUAINTED

Arkansas recently offered a scholarship to Lombard (Ill.) Montini defensive end Dylan Thompson, who is familiar with Coach Bret Bielema, defensive coordinator Chris Ash and defensive line coach Charlie Partridge after attending a camp at Wisconsin last summer.

“I’m planning [a] trip down south this summer, and I plan to go there along with a couple of other schools,” Thompson said. “It’s [a] big plus for me that all the coaches when I went to the Wisconsin camp - Coach Partridge, Coach Ash and Coach Bielema - are all down there. The coaching staff I really connected with this past season.”

Thompson, 6-5 ½ , 280 pounds, 4.83 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has 12 scholarship offers from schoolsthat include Arkansas, Ohio State, Iowa, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Ole Miss. He was one of the standouts in January at the the Semper Fidelis All-American Proving Grounds combine in Carson, Calif.

Thompson said he picked up some tips from Partridge while at the Wisconsin camp that he utilized during this past season.

“He taught me the biggest thing is to react,” said Thompson, who has cousins who live in Little Rock. “IfI’m going into a pass rush, say an arm and a rip or an arm and a swim, he told me to react and do whatever I can to get past, but never go in with a plan.Always be flexible with what you do.”

Thompson’s weight room numbers demonstrate his outstanding work ethic and athletic ability. He reports a 405-pound bench press, a 585-pound squat, a 585-pound dead lift and a power clean of 345. He also has a 31-inch vertical leap and runs the pro shuttle in 4.64 seconds.

Thompson is also planning to visit Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and possibly Missouri when he heads south.

“I’m trying to narrow itdown to five by the beginning of my season,” he said. “I really want to take all of my official visits.”

QB LEARNS PLENTY AT UA

Fort Smith Southside quarterback Isaac Jackson has visited LSU and Mississippi State, but he praised Arkansas for giving him the most detailed vision of what college life would be like after his trip to Fayetteville on Saturday.

“Arkansas, of the three colleges I’ve visited, gave me the most information,” Jackson said. “I guess you [can] say I left with the most knowledge.”

Jackson, 6-3, 215 pounds, 4.6 seconds in the 40-yard dash, has received a scholarship offer from Arkansas State and is receiving interest from Arkansas, Notre Dame, Auburn, Michigan, Oklahoma State, LSU and Mississippi State.

Jackson said Arkansas’ academic structure gives the student-athlete the tools to be successful.

“If we go there and work hard and if we want to graduate, we’ll graduate,” Jackson said. “They had a like a 45-minute lecture on academics, which opened me up to a lot of information.”

E-mail Richard Davenport at [email protected]

Sports, Pages 19 on 03/15/2013

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