Charleston junior quarterback Ty Storey, a member of the 2015 class who is orally committed to Arkansas, has attended games at Texas A&M and Oklahoma the past two weekends but said there is no reason for Razorbacks fans to be concerned.
“I’m obviously still committed to the Hogs,” Storey said. “Those are two Top 25 matchups and they’re just great games. I don’t know who would turn down tickets to that.”
Storey said he believes he can learn a lot from watching quarterbacks like Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M, Blake Bell of Oklahoma, Davis Webb of Texas Tech and Nick Marshall of Auburn.
”You get to pick up on a lot of different stuff and take what they do best and add that to your game and kind of see how they prepare for the game,” Storey said. “You get to see so much more stuff whenever you’re watching in person versus just on TV.”
Storey, 6-3, 217 pounds, 4.92 seconds in the 40-yard dash, chose the Hogs over scholarship offers from Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas State. He completed 328 of 503 passes for 4,397 yards and 46 touchdowns and was named to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Super Sophomore team.
“I’m still 100 percent Hog,” said Storey, who was named a sophomore All-American by Tom Lemming of CBS Sports Network. “There’s just nothing to worry about.”
Storey has completed 149 of 213 passes for for 2,078 yards and 22 touchdowns through 8 games this season. He is unlikely to surpass last year’s totals because of his team’s success, which usually limits Storey to playing only about a half.
“We’ve improved a lot in a lot of phases of our game and our defense has improved greatly this year,” he said. “The last few games they have held them to at least 14 points. We’re just scoring a bunch and they’re holding them, so no need to risk injury.”
Storey completed 16 of 18 passes for 265 yards and 5 touchdowns in Friday’s 42-14 victory over Lavaca.
“My arm has definitely gotten stronger, I think accuracy,” Storey said when asked what he’s improved since last season. “We’ve had a few games where we were 100 percent on completions.”0MITCHELL ON RADAR
Jonesboro Coach Randy Coleman had high exceptions of sophomore running back Denzel Mitchell before the start of the season, and those expectations haven’t changed.
Mitchell, 6-0, 200 pounds, 4.41 seconds in the 40-yard dash, had 13 carries for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns in Friday’s 40-0 victory over Searcy. He has rushed 117 times for 1,205 yards and 13 touchdowns this season.
“You always wonder about a sophomore and how they will be as far as handling the physicality of the step up,” Coleman said. “He punishes tacklers a little bit when he gets to the second level.He hasn’t been hit real hard throughout the season. He’s had some really good collisions, but a lot of times he’s the one delivering the blow.”
Mitchell, who rushed for more than 900 yards and had 83 tackles at safety last season at McArthur Junior High, was elevated to varsity after the end of season and played on special teams and as a reserve outside linebacker.
Arkansas State extended a scholarship offer to Mitchell after he attended its camp in June, and Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr. visited the school last Monday. Coleman said schools have been in constant contact with him about Mitchell.
“We’ve stayed in communication with Arkansas State, with Ole Miss, with Arkansas and Auburn and Clemson,” Coleman said. “Talked a little bit to Texas Tech, and now he’s starting to get the questionnaires from different places.”HIGGINS FAST ENOUGH
Jonesboro Coach Randy Coleman came away impressed with Searcy senior safety Karonce Higgins after watching him chase down Hurricanes running back Darren Veasley, who rushed 13 times for 177 yards and 1 touchdown last Friday.
Veasley broke loose from the line of scrimmage at about midfield and appeared headed to the end zone until Higgins quickly made up ground and tackled him short of the goal line.
“He had at least a 10-yard head start and he ran him down quickly,” said Coleman, who added that Veasley runs the 40-yard dash in the 4.5-second range. “Honestly, I’ve never seen anybody run like that in the open in high school and flat out accelerate like that.”
Higgins, 6-3, 175 pounds, has attracted interest from Arkansas and Arkansas State. Arkansas tight ends coach Barry Lunney also made it to Searcy last Monday to check on Higgins.
Searcy Coach Jeremy Poole said it’s not the first time Higgins has caught someone from behind.
“I don’t know exactly what his 40 time is, but I think he’s the type of kid that doesn’t necessarily have a great 40, he’s just a kid that has great game speed,” Poole said. “He’s ran downs kids from Little Rock McClellan, North Little Rock and Jonesboro.”
E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports, Pages 20 on 10/29/2013