FAYETTEVILLE -- C.J. O'Grady and Dre Greenlaw have turned their Fayetteville purple into Arkansas Razorback red.
The attraction of staying close to home and playing Southeastern Conference football in their own backyard was too good to pass up.
O'Grady, a 6-foot-4, 230-pound tight end and Greenlaw, a 6-1, 220-pound safety, sent in their national letters of intent to Arkansas on National Signing Day, joining a 24-player Class of 2015 considered to be among the best in school history.
"We were a 7-6 team up there at Arkansas last year, but I think we were the best 7-6 team ever," O'Grady said. "Coach (Bielema) is doing a great job of getting the players up there. I'm just excited to get up there and be a part of it."
O'Grady had 41 receptions for 775 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior and 45 catches for 884 yards with 14 TDs as a junior. He was ranked as high as the No. 2 tight end in the country by recruiting services.
"I don't know what else you can say about C.J.," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "Arkansas is getting an unbelievable player who will continue to make plays every Saturday. If he continues to work and work in the weight room, he'll be playing on Sundays and making millions and millions of dollars and then hopefully, he can come back here and give back to our school and our coaching staff."
O'Grady joins Will Gragg of Dumas and Austin Cantrell of Roland, Okla., to give Arkansas what is considered to be the top tight end recruiting class in the nation.
"That says something and I think we're going to be really hard to guard," O'Grady said. "Austin is more of a blocking type. Will Gragg can block and catch, and I'm more of a receiving type tight end. So I think it's going to be really hard to defend us."
Greenlaw originally gave an verbal commitment to Arkansas State, but switched to Arkansas last October. The decision to stick with the Razorbacks wasn't easy for the Bulldogs' senior, he admitted, as family ties played a part in his recruitment.
Brian Early, assistant coach at Arkansas State and former assistant at Fayetteville, is Greenlaw's foster father.
"It wasn't a 100 percent certain deal," said Greenlaw, who signed his letter of intent Wednesday while practicing for the USA-Canada International Bowl in Dallas. "I wanted to be close to home, but with my dad being at Arkansas State that made it tough. And even if he wasn't a coach there it was still a tough decision for me."
Greenlaw is known for his big plays on the defensive side of the ball and on special teams over the past two seasons, and also became a top playmaker offensively for Fayetteville in 2014.
As a senior, Greenlaw accounted for 119 tackles, 10 pass breakups, four interceptions, four tackles for loss and two fumble recoveries. On offense, he totaled more than 1,000 all-purpose yards, passed for 129 yards, rushed for 52 yards, had 240 receiving yards and recorded more than 700 special teams yards on punt and kickoff returns.
He expects to start his Arkansas career at safety, but could also get a look at linebacker.
"I'm going to try to go in as a safety at first and see how it goes," Greenlaw said. "I'm just going to go up there and see what I can do. But they may have some plans for me as a nickel linebacker type as well."
Vernon Tarver can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAVernon
Sports on 02/05/2015