Gragg Ready To Join Arkansas' Practices

FAYETTEVILLE -- With the addition of Dumas four-star tight end Will Gragg to the Arkansas family on Thursday morning, the Razorbacks are now ready to embark on a new chapter in their history on Saturday.

Gragg (6-foot-4, 245 pounds), the brother of former Razorbacks and current Buffalo Bills tight end Chris Gragg, became the fifth player to sign a financial aid agreement with Arkansas and he will participate in his first Razorback practice on Saturday.

"We're ecstatic to welcome Will into the Razorback family," Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said. "Will is already such a balanced tight end that we're looking forward to see what his physicality and quickness brings to our offense in the spring.

"Will possesses the uncommon qualities that we are looking for in our men on and off the field, and the fact that he is from Arkansas only makes his choice that much more exciting."

Gragg chose Arkansas over some 50 other scholarship offers -- including ones from Texas, Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU and Florida State.

He had 42 catches for 456 yards and two touchdowns this season for Dumas after hauling in 31 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns for Pine Bluff as a junior.

"This is just home," said Gragg, who committed to Arkansas back in September. "There's no place like home and nothing beats home.

"I think it not only made my family happy, but the people we associate with, the people we live with, just the whole state of Arkansas proud."

He joins Charleston quarterback Ty Storey (6-3, 215), Carrollton (Texas) Hebron offensive lineman Zach Rogers (6-3, 300) , Fort Smith Northside defensive end Daytrieon Dean (6-3, 250) and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy defensive tackle Hjalte Froholdt (6-5, 290) as FAA signees with the Razorbacks.

All but Froholdt, who is home in Denmark for the holidays, are eligible to participate in practice Saturday although Dean has a torn labrum and will be unable to do so.

All those guys and Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College defensive end and junior college All-American Jerermiah Ledbetter (6-4, 281), who signed with the Razorbacks on Wednesday, will enroll at Arkansas in January.

That will allow them to go through off-season conditioning and spring practice with their new teammates.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to bring in six or seven guys in January that are high school, mid-year grads, which means they are very smart and very focused on their goals," Bielema said.

Arkansas has 18 commitments in its 2015 recruiting class -- one that is currently ranked 18th nationally by Scout.com.

The Razorbacks (6-6) have room for seven more pledges and hope a win over Texas (6-6) in the Texas Bowl in Houston 0n Dec. 29 will add to both the momentum in that class and the 2016 class.

"I think no doubt a big part of that is to play well in the bowl game, to take that final step of our season, to take the bowl game as a cinder block and boost us into the 2015 campaign," Bielema said. "I think we need to continue to add to our roster. I think there is no doubt in my mind that the last two classes are the two best classes I have had in my college career and that is not easy to do after two poor seasons."

Bielema is proud his team moved its record from 3-9 in 2013 to 6-6 in 2014, but is nowhere near satisfied with that.

"This year gave us a little bit of life, a little bit of mojo," Bielema said. "To finish this recruiting class off the right way would be huge and then to take it into the winter, into the fall, into the spring and make our guys understand that they have not arrived.

"They are in a place to make a nice turnaround, but we need to finish the details to make sure we win a lot more than we lose."

DUDLEY DAWSON IS THE RECRUITING EDITOR FOR HAWGS ILLUSTRATED, AN NWA MEDIA PUBLICATION.

Sports on 12/19/2014

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