Back during the summer, Arkansas 2022 football commits Dax Courtney and Quincey McAdoo were dreaming of leading Clarendon to the Class 2A state championship.
Courtney (6-6, 212), a tight end who grew up in DeWitt, had moved when his dad Mark took over as head coach at Clarendon, where McAdoo (6-3, 180) was one of 10 starters returning on both sides of the ball from a 7-4 squad in 2020.
The two future Razorbacks, who are set to sign with Arkansas on Dec. 15 at 11 a.m., can claim a state championship berth when Clarendon (9-2) travels to Fordyce (9-3) on Friday night, but they will have different vantage points.
While McAdoo has flourished this season with over 1,500 yards total offense, 19 touchdowns and over 60 tackles, Courtney’s season came to a heartbreaking end with a torn ACL after catching a 10-yard pass in the opening quarter of the opening game.
“It really sucks that I can’t play, it really does,” Courtney said. “But I have tried to help the guys out on the team and help my dad out a little bit.
“The biggest thing to me is my dad having such great success after people started doubting him in DeWitt, mainly in the admin. To go somewhere else and have the success and have a shot to play for the state title is a really good feeling for me.”
Courtney, who had a breakout sophomore season with 36 receptions for 623 yards and 7 touchdowns before going through an injury-plagued junior year, has not given up hope of getting on the field for the Class 2A title contest at War Memorial Stadium.
“It (rehab) is going really well,” Courtney said. “At the beginning, it was hard mentally because I wasn’t able to do some stuff that you just do in every day life. That got to me a little bit.
“But now, I can do about everything and I am trying to get back for the state championship game. I don’t know if that is going go be in the cards, but I do know that I will be back fully healthy before February.”
McAdoo has done his best to keep Courtney in a positive place after the injury.
“I just tell him to keep working, bro, because he already has the hard stuff out of the way,” McAdoo said. “He’s a great player that is going to have a great future at Arkansas.”
Courtney has been impressed with what he has seen from McAdoo this season.
“It has been ridiculous to watch,” Courtney said. “He is the best high school athlete that I have ever seen play in person.”
McAdoo hopes to either play alongside or help replace current Arkansas star receiver Treylon Burks (6-3, 230), who is considered a likely high NFL draft pick if he decides to forego his final season of college eligibility.
“He is big and fast and I think I can relate to his game a lot,” McAdoo said. “I like being in space just like he does. I feel like it is a similar comparison.”
McAdoo is also excited about the opportunity to catch passes from Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson.
“He is a playmaker and he is going to get you the ball when you need the ball,” McAdoo said. “I like him and that is part of the reason I committed to Arkansas.”
Both are excited about the resurgence Arkansas (8-4) has made under head coach Sam Pittman.
“I am stoked to be a part of the program to be honest with you,” Courtney said. “It has always been a life-long dream for me and to be walking into such a great situation with Coach Pittman and all that he has done, that makes it even better in my eyes.
“I have told everybody that I know that there is no fan base like Arkansas has. It is truly the best in the world.”
McAdoo, who originally committed to Florida State before flipping to Arkansas on April 16, is equally excited about becoming a Razorback with both Lions set to be early enrollees in January.
“Coach Sam Pittman has really just been doing his thing,” McAdoo said. “During the recruiting process, they made me feel so at home. They are doing a lot of stuff that people didn’t think that they would be doing like winning against teams they are not supposed to. Or ones that previous (Arkansas) teams couldn’t.”
It will be the second straight season Clarendon and Fordyce have met in the playoffs with the Red Bugs routing the Lions 49-6 in 2020.
Fordyce rallied from a 29-7 deficit in the third quarter last Friday to down Magnet Cove 30-29 on a touchdown and two-point conversion with 23 seconds left.
“That’s a hard team, but we have played them before,” McAdoo said. “…They are a big team and we just have to stop their running game.”
Clarendon, whose other loss was to Hazen, has won its last five games by downing Carlisle (49-8), Des Arc (47-0), Bearden (56-6), Lafayette County (43-0) and East Poinsett County (35-22).
The Clarendon-Fordyce winner will take on the winner of the other semifinal that has McCrory (11-1) battling Poyen (8-4).
McCrory downed Clarendon 34-26 back on Sept. 10.
“I would be stoked to play McCrory again for a state championship to be honest with you,” Courtney said.