Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

7/7/2011 at 8:30am

Image by Rivals.com

Arkansas fans have clamored for Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham (6-6, 220, 4.4) to visit the Arkansas campus again and he will get within a few miles on Friday and Saturday.

Green-Beckham and Hillcrest is one of the 24 teams in the Southwest Elite 7-on-7 to be played at Shiloh Christian this weekend. Rivals.com rates Green-Beckham a five-star recruit and the No. 1 prospect in the nation. He has camped at Missouri and Oklahoma earlier this spring and summer. He attended the Arkansas-Alabama game in Fayetteville last year and was impressed at the time with the atmosphere at the game.

Green-Beckham has scholarship offers to schools all around the nation. He has made other unofficial visits to Arkansas and the Razorbacks have an attractive situation for wide receivers. The starters are all three seniors and junior Cobi Hamilton is highly regarded as well. The seniors are Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs. A wide receiver such as Green-Beckham could walk into a situation very favorable for a young receiver. Arkansas runs a Pro-Style offense and the opportunity not only for immediate playing time, but the possibility of starting would be present.

However, the talent going to be on display this weekend includes several others in addition to Green-Beckham. The tournament will include schools from five different states.

Among the other top recruits present are Oklahoma City (Okla.) Heritage Hall running back Barry Sanders, (5-11, 190, 4.4) and wide receiver Sterling Shepard (5-10, 177, 4.45). Shepard is committed to OU while Sanders has Alabama, Florida State, Stanford and Oklahoma State on his list of favorites. Sanders also attended the Alabama-Arkansas game last year and the Razorbacks eventually offered him, but he said recently he's no longer considering the Razorbacks.

Arkansas is among the several schools that has offered Olive Branch (Miss.) wide receiver D'Arthur Cowan, (6-1, 175, 4.5). Memphis, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech have also offered Cowan.

Jonesboro wide receiver-running back Zac Brooks (6-2, 180, 4.4) is rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com. Brooks recently committed to Clemson over Notre Dame, Arkansas and others. Brooks played running back last year, but may make the move to wide receiver in college.

Broken Arrow (Okla.) tight end Zac Veatch (6-4, 245, 4.75) has multiple offers and has seen his stock rise in recent weeks. Kansas, Tulsa, Oregon State and others have extended an early offer to Veatch.

Fayetteville junior quarterback Austin Allen (6-2, 203, 4.7) is the son of Arkansas assistant Bobby Allen and the younger brother of UA incoming quarterback Brandon Allen. Allen and Rogers Heritage sophomore Josh Qualls (6-1, 160, 4.6) are among the top underclassmen quarterback in the state. Springdale Har-Ber wide receiver Michael Fine (6-4, 185, 4.5) and Bentonville wide receiver Desmond Smith (6-1, 165, 4.55) are other top athletes going to be in the tournament. Fayetteville wide receiver Nathan Varady (6-2, 180, 4.5) recently won the fastest-man competition at Arkansas' three-day camp. He is one of Allen's favorite targets. Junior running backs Brice Gahagans (5-11, 170, 4.5) and Tearris Wallace (6-1, 203, 4.6) of Bentonville are also expected to be top recruits in the Class of 2013.

Each team will play seven pool-play games and then be seeded into a 24-team tournament. The pool play will run from 2-6 p.m. on Friday and 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The tournament will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday with the finals set for approximately 4 p.m. that evening.

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The Arkansas Wings 17 & under team won the AAU national title last year and will be trying to repeat the honor this year.

The Wings are expected to get some good news when five-star guard Archie Goodwin (6-5, 185) got his cast off a week ago today and should play in the Peach Jam on July 12. Goodwin had suffered a broken wrist and at first it was feared he would be out the rest of the AAU season, but he has proved to be a quick healer and that is good news for the Wings. Goodwin has offers to Arkansas, Kentucky, Kansas and basically all the other schools across the nation. He could end up being the most highly-recruited athlete from this state.

The rest of the Wings squad includes Fort Smith Southside combo guard Dushaun Rice (6-0, 175), North Pulaski point guard Dayshaun Watkins (5-11, 175), Strong Huttig combo forward Stetson Billings (6-5, 180) Jonesboro swingman Jacob Gibson (6-3, 163), West Memphis swingman Jalen Jackson (6-5, 185), Pulaski Academy sharpshooter Dusty Hannahs (6-3, 195), New Albany (Miss.) power forward-center Moses Kingsley, (6-9, 205), West Memphis power forward-center Willie Atwood (6-8, 200), Little Rock Hall center Bobby Portis, (6-9, 190) and Fayetteville center Tyler McCullough (6-10, 235). McCullough and Portis will be juniors in the fall as will Kingsley, who has an offer to Arkansas.

The Wings are coached by Ron Crawford, Leighton McCrary and Derrick Williams.

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The Junior/Senior Prospect Camp will be held at the University of Arkansas on Saturday, July 16 and several instate recruits will be in attendance hoping to show the UA coaches they are worthy of a scholarship offer.

White Hall two-way end Jeremy Sprinkle (6-6, 210, 4.6) attended the three-day camp in June at Arkansas and earned a scholarship offer. Sprinkle was named the top defender at the camp and is capable of playing either tight end or defensive end for the Razorbacks. A comparison for Sprinkle at the same stage of his career is former Little Rock Parkview and Razorback Jamaal Anderson, who plays for the Atlanta Falcons today. Anderson was a slender wide receiver in high school who made the transition to defensive end at Arkansas and became a star. Sprinkle is a standout on the basketball team and also a starting shortstop for the baseball team. Once he gets to Arkansas and hits the weight room he has a lot of potential.

A few recruits who could really help their case for a scholarship at Arkansas with a good camp performance are Pulaski Academy offensive lineman Jason King (6-4, 305, 5.2), Camden Fairview cornerback Derek Keaton, (5-11, 170, 4.4), Bearden athlete Defonta Lowe (6-3, 185, 4.5), McCrory offensive tackle Jemar Clark (6-6, 300, 5.3), Searcy quarterback Dezmond Stegall (6-3, 205, 4.54), and the Rison pair of linebacker Quanterio Heath (6-3, 205, 4.63) and defensive back Marquis Walker (6-1, 180, 4.47).

King can dunk a basketball at his size, Keaton has committed to Kansas, Clark has several offers including Oklahoma State and Kansas, Stegall is one of the most athletic athletes in the state as is Lowe, Walker and Heath both have multiple scholarship offers. King was recently offered by Colorado and also has multiple offers.

The state has others who could earn an offer and it's not uncommon for a recruit to come out of nowhere to gain an offer at Arkansas.

Tagged: Southwest Elite 7-on-7, Arkansas Razorbacks, Shiloh Christian, D'Arthur Cowan, Zac Brooks, Zac Veatch, Austin Allen, Brandon Allen, Josh Qualls, Nathan Varady, Desmond Smith, Archie Goodwin, Dayshaun Watkins, Stetson Billings, Jacob Gibson, Jalen Jackson, Dusty Hannahs, Moses Kingsley, Tyler McCullough, Jeremy Sprinkle, Dorial Green-Beckham, Bobby Petrino, Barry Sanders Jr.