HOG FUTURES MARTRELL SPAIGHT

Transfer’s work ethic impresses

Coffeyville linebacker Martrell Spaight (27) runs down a Highland offensive player during a 2012 game.
Coffeyville linebacker Martrell Spaight (27) runs down a Highland offensive player during a 2012 game.

Martrell Spaight isn’t afraid of a little hard work.

Just ask Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College defensive coordinator Paige Anders, who calls the Arkansas signee the hardest worker he’s ever seen.

“Without a doubt,” Anders said. “That’s not a knock on any of the other players that I’ve had. He’s an animal. He’s a machine in the weight room when he works out.”

The junior linebacker attended North Little Rock High School before heading to Coffeyville, where he became a two-time first-team All-American and was named the Kansas Jayhawk Conference’s defensive player of the year as a sophomore.

It didn’t take long for Coffeyville coaches to learn what type of work ethic Spaight possessed. After a game during his freshman season, the coaches started looking for couldn’t find him. Eventually, the head coach called Spaight’s father, Mark.

Spaight At a Glance

CLASS Junior

HEIGHT/WEIGHT 6-0 1/2, 232 pounds

POSITION Linebacker

PREVIOUS SCHOOL Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College

HIGH SCHOOL North Little Rock

NOTEWORTHY Two-time first-team junior college All-American. ... Sat out his sophomore year at North Little Rock High School because of an injury and played sparingly as a junior before being named to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas team as a senior. ... Signed with Southern Arkansas out of high school before going to junior college.

“[The coach] called about midnight and said, ‘Hey, we can’t find your son,’ ” said North Little Rock Coach Brad Bolding. “So he loaded up and was getting ready to leave about 30 minutes later and he got a call back and they said, ‘Well, we found Martrell. He was out working by the weight room in a sand pit.’ ”

Spaight didn’t always have that type of work ethic. It all started back in the 10th grade at North Little Rock, when he was working out with the upperclassmen.

“I saw how great it made me feel,” Spaight said. “I think ever since that day itjust stuck with me.”

Spaight, 6-0 1/2, 230 pounds, 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash, had 101 tackles as a freshman at Coffeyville, including 9 tackles for loss, 1 1/2 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries and 1 forced fumble. He followed up with 130 tackles, 13 1/2 tackles for loss, 11/2 sacks, 3 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble and 1 blocked kick as a sophomore.

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema and defensive coordinator Chris Ash already have said that they expect the junior college transfer to make an impact this season.

“It’s a great feeling, knowing your hard work has been paying off,” said Spaight, who reported to Arkansas for the first summer semester. “Just knowing the coaches expect that pushes me even harder to work harder in the weight room and work harder on the football field and in the film room.”

Spaight’s dream of becoming a Razorback appeared to be out of reach after the previous Arkansas coaching staff chose not to offer him a scholarship because they believed he was too small to play in the SEC. So Spaight orally committed to Kansas State on Dec. 12, choosing the Wildcats over several other programs that included Rutgers and Minnesota.

Things began to change quickly when the Razorbacks hired Bielema on Dec. 4. Eleven days later, Bielema and assistant coach Bobby Allen made an in-home visit with Spaight and extended a scholarship offer.

The decision to switch to the Razorbacks wasn’t an easy one, even though he had always wanted to play for the Razorbacks.

“I guess the Kansas State fans made it harder on Twitter,” Spaight said. “It was pretty tough. I liked their program and the coaching staff.”

The NCAA dead period for recruiting started Dec. 17, which meant Spaight couldn’t take an official visit to Arkansas until January, but Spaight wasn’t interested in waiting any longer. He gave Arkansas an oral commitment Dec. 19, having never visited the school.

“I just had to go on my faith on this one and pray that I end up with the best, and I feel like I did,” Spaight said.

Spaight said the turning point happened during the in-home visit with Bielema.

“He took me into the kitchen and pulled out a piece of paper and drew a line,” Spaight said. “He said the decision you make right now is going to affect you 15 years down the road. I stopped and I really thought about it, and what he said made perfect sense.

“Once he said that to me, it stuck with me.”

Spaight had to get past the disappointment of the previous staff’s failure to offer him a scholarship, but his father helped him overcome being overlooked.

“He told me how I couldn’t really blame Coach Bielema,” Spaight said.

It didn’t take long for Spaight to see that Bielema looked out for his players.

“I could see that he’s a coach that loves his players and thinks about the person before the player,” Spaight said. “Just talking to him for a good 30 minutes to an hour, I could tell he cares about the person first and then the player.”

Spaight is strong in his faith, posting almost daily reminders on Twitter about appreciating life’s gifts. Anders said Spaight was a spiritual leader at Coffeyville.

“He would get in front of the team every day at practice and remind them of Bible study and what room Bible study was in,” Anders said. “He would go in there and he would pretty much lead the Bible study.”

Anders said he and Coffeyville’s linebackers coach were recently looking at film from last year and lamenting the fact that Spaight has moved on.

“He would all of sudden say, ‘Man, I miss Spaight. Man, I miss Spaight,’ ” Anders said. “I said get used to it, because a kid in junior college like Martrell comes along one in a million.”

Sports, Pages 19 on 07/26/2013

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