Arkansas will get the first
opportunity to host small forward
Cameron McGriff for an
official visit Sept. 4-6.
McGriff, 6-7, 210 pounds,
plays for Grand Prairie (Texas)
South Grand Prairie and
has scholarship offers from
approximately 15 schools that
include Arkansas, Oklahoma
State, Miami, SMU, Houston
and Oklahoma.
ESPN rates McGriff a fourstar
prospect,
the nation’s
No. 19 small
forward and
the No. 96
overall recruit.
Arkansas’
style of play
and McGriff’s
relationship
with Arkansas
assistant T.J.
Cleveland have drawn him
to the Razorbacks.
“He gets my attention because
he can relate to guys my
age,” McGriff said of Cleveland.
“He’s relatively young,
and he’s a real cool guy, just
his style. He’s my type of
dude. We listen to the same
music and things like that.”
McGriff, who averaged 11.8
points and 7.7 rebounds for
South Grand Prairie, played
for Urban DFW Elite during
the spring and summer and
saw the Razorbacks staff at
some of his games.
He said he is looking forward
to learning more about
the program.
“Seeing how the guys work
out,” McGriff said. “The campus
and the atmosphere. Get
to know their tradition for
basketball and the academics
as well.”
McGriff said he plans to
take an official visit to Oklahoma
State the week after
making his trip to Fayetteville.
Miami and Tulsa are
also possibilities for official
visits.
He added offers from
Oklahoma State, Miami and
Nevada after an impressive
showing at the Adidas Uprising
Summer Championships
in Las Vegas in July. He said
the extra offers haven’t complicated
his recruiting.
“Not really,” he said. “I
look to focus on the schools
that kind of showed interest
maybe early, and Arkansas
was definitely one of them.”
McGriff said schools that
offer early often find favor
with recruits.
“I think it has a big impact
because they see a lot of
potential in you, and I guess
the coach really likes you and
they want a relationship with
you,” McGriff said.
His mother, Octavia Goodman,
will accompany him on
his visit to Arkansas.
“ She wants to see a lot of
my games,” McGriff said. “If I
have to go out of state, I think
she’ll understand, but she said
Arkansas is relatively close to
where we are.”
McGriff, who has a 3.2
grade-point average, said he
plans to sign during the early
signing period that runs Nov.
11-18. He said he might just
leave his official visit committed
to the Razorbacks if
all goes well.
“Possibly,” he said. “If I’m
really swept off my feet.”
ALL EYES ON WILLIAMS
Most college prospects
usually have to wait at least
until their sophomore year
before receiving a scholarship
offer.
Central Arkansas Christian
sophomore
guard Christyn
Williams
didn’t have to
wait that long.
She had three
scholarship
offers before
entering the
ninth grade,
with Arkansas
being the first
when it offered in June of 2014.
Baylor and Missouri State followed
soon afterward.
Williams, 5-10, has approximately
14 other scholarship
offers from schools that include
Tennessee, Texas A&M
and Ole Miss. She is rated the
nation’s No. 3 prospect by
ESPN for the 2018 class, and
she impressed college coaches
while playing for the Arkansas
Banshees in the spring and
summer.
CAC Coach Steve Quattlebaum’s
phone has been ringing
with the contact period set
to begin Sept. 9.
“It’s picked up a lot the
last couple of weeks,” Quattlebaum
said. “We had calls
this week from Kansas, Kentucky,
UConn and a couple of
more, so they’re trying to set
up times to come in and watch
us work out.”
Connecticut plans to visit
the school Sept. 25.
Williams, a cousin of former
Arkansas Razorback and
world-class sprinter Wallace
Spearmon, averaged 19 points,
7.2 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists
last season. Quattlebaum
said her work ethic is strong
and that she was such a frequent
visitor to the school’s
gym that the school had to get
another shooting machine.
“She was on it so much this
summer we went and bought
a new one, and she about wore
the old one out,” Quattlebaum
said. “She would shoot for an
hour and a half.”
Quattlebaum has seen his
share of talent in 20 years of
coaching, but no one like Williams.
“We’ve never had one offered
a scholarship before
they played a high school
game,” said Quattlebaum, who
has sent players to Arkansas,
Oklahoma State and Ole Miss.
AGIM’S DECISION
Hope defensive end McTelvin
Agim will announce his
college decision at 9:30 a.m.
Sept. 5 during a family reunion.
Agim, 6-3, 268 pounds, 4.62
seconds in the 40-yard dash,
will choose from among Arkansas,
Baylor, Texas A&M
and Ole Miss.
ESPN rates Agim a fivestar
recruit, the nation’s No. 9
overall prospect and the No. 2
defensive end.
E-mail Richard Davenport at
rdavenport@arkansasonline.com