The Recruiting Guy

Former teammate's good word helps land offer

Dollarway's Henri Murphy scores a touchdown during a game against Star City on Friday, Nov. 29, 2013, at Golden Lion Stadium on the campus of UAPB in Pine Bluff.
Dollarway's Henri Murphy scores a touchdown during a game against Star City on Friday, Nov. 29, 2013, at Golden Lion Stadium on the campus of UAPB in Pine Bluff.

Junior college cornerback Henri Murphy was hoping to receive a scholarship offer from Arkansas while at Dollarway. On Tuesday, he got what he wanted.

"I was like finally. I was proud and happy to hear it," Murphy said. "I've been waiting on it for a long time now, and I finally got it."

Murphy, 5-11, 185 pounds of East Central (Miss.) Community College, also has 10 other offers from Mississippi State, West Virginia, Virginia Tech, Memphis and others. He was teammates with Arkansas junior safety Josh Liddell at Dollarway.

Coach Bret Bielema asked Liddell several questions, then asked him to tell Murphy about the offer.

"He just asked questions like was I reliable and was I good enough and how he felt me playing on the same team as him," Murphy said. "I guess Josh told him everything he wanted to hear, and he offered me."

Murphy had 14 receptions for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns and had 6 kickoff returns for 272 yards and a touchdown as a freshman for the Warriors. Although he played receiver, the Razorbacks are recruiting him as a cornerback.

He ran 4.44 seconds in the 40-yard dash at an Arkansas camp in 2014.

"I attended like three Arkansas camps while I was in high school, hoping I would get an offer from them," Murphy said. "Each time I went up there and ran the fastest 40 time and worked hard and got compliments from all of the coaches and was hoping for an offer, but my grades weren't as good as they could've been."

Murphy was determined to make his way to a major four-year college

"I kept on working and went the juco route and worked hard and picked up some big offers," Murphy said.

While Murphy plans to take his five official visits and graduate in December, Dollarway Coach Cortez Lee said there's a chance Murphy could enroll at a four-year school this summer and play in the fall.

Georgia visit nets offer

Arkansas defensive line coach Rory Segrest recently traveled to Georgia and liked what he saw of highly recruited defensive end Drew Jordan.

"He came to a practice and saw me going through drills, and they saw I could do some things that some other players could not do," Jordan said.

Not long afterward, Segrest told Jordan he had a scholarship offer.

"He would've offered me at the practice, but he had to talk to the head coach about it," Jordan said. "What it was he saw I had a high motor and somebody that likes to use his hands well and very active coming off the ball and just wanted to win."

Jordan, 6-3, 240, 4.52 seconds of North Gwinnett High School in Suwanee, has 17 other scholarship offers including Michigan State, Nebraska, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, California and Boston College among others.

The offer helps the Hogs get in the race for Jordan.

"I have some other pretty good ones that I was focusing on at the moment, but I'll definitely be taking a closer look at Arkansas," he said.

Jordan has a 355-pound bench press, 560 squat and a 345 in the power clean.

"I almost got 350, but just right there on the edge," Jordan said.

ESPN rates him the No. 17 outside linebacker and No. 265 overall prospect in the nation. He said there's a chance he could make a trip to Fayetteville to check out the Razorbacks.

"Obviously, I have to talk it over with my parents," Jordan said. "I have to take time out of my summer and away from the football program to go on visits. My dad and I are going to talk about some schools that I may be visiting, and they [Razorbacks] may be on that list."

Segrest compared Jordan to New England Patriots defensive end Trey Flowers, a former All-SEC performer for the Razorbacks.

"That's one of the guys he said I actually remind him of," Jordan said.

Jordan, who has a 3.4 grade-point average and is looking to major in business, said Segrest talked up the Walton College of Business and corporations in Northwest Arkansas.

"He also alluded to all of the Fortune 500 companies around Fayetteville," Jordan said.

Email Richard Davenport at [email protected]

Sports on 05/27/2016

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