Hope defensive end McTelvin Agim revealed his top four schools on Twitter Friday and as expected Arkansas is one of the finalists.
Agim, 6-3, 268, 4.62 seconds in the 40-yard dash, also listed Baylor, Texas A&M and Ole Miss in the four. He has approximately 19 scholarship offers that include such schools as Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Texas and Oklahoma.
Coach Bret Bielema and his staff have made Agim a top priority and have made sure he knows it through communication on the phone, Twitter, mail and visiting his school whenever possible under NCAA rules.
The hard work by the staff along with the direction the program is heading under Bielema helped the Hogs make the cut.
"I'm really big on a family atmosphere and I like how Coach B turned the program around and is changing a lot of things," Agim said.
Agim also said he likes that two friends from the Texarkana area attend Arkansas, including Dustin Thomas, a forward who is transferring into the basketball program from Colorado.
"Dustin Thomas, that's my boy, he just transferred up there and Jarrion Lawson, he's a sprinter and a jumper for the track team and he's up there, so I have ties up there," Agim said.
ESPN rates Agim a five-star recruit, the No. 16 overall prospect and the nation's No. 4 defensive end. He'll take part in The Opening, which features ESPN's top 162 prospects at Nike Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., on July 8-10.
Agim said he plans to visit his four finalists after The Opening and will likely announce his college decision in September.
COMING BACK FOR MORE
A top running back target of Arkansas visited the Hogs on Friday, and it's likely not his last visit.
D'Vaughn Pennamon, 5-11, 200, 4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Manvel, Texas, has more than 25 scholarship offers from schools that include Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Ole Miss and Nebraska.
"The facilities were some of the best I've seen," said Pennamon of Arkansas. "The coaches welcomed me with open arms."
Pennamon spent time with Coach Bret Bielema, describing him as a "great guy and coach."
"He asked when I was coming back," Pennamon said.
He said he plans to make a return trip this summer and an official visit in the fall, when he wants his mother to accompany him.
ARKANSAS MOVES UP
Highly sought linebacker Donta Evans has been wanting to visit Arkansas for a while and after Friday's visit, he's glad he did.
Arkansas' facilities and campus caught him off guard.
"It was a lot more than expected," Evans said. "I wasn't expecting it to be bad, but I know it's SEC and it's going to be nice, but it was just way ahead what I thought it was going to be."
Evans, 6-3, 230 of Lawrenceville (Ga.) Archer, received a scholarship offer from Coach Bret Bielema during the visit and now has approximately 18 offers from schools like Auburn, Kentucky, Iowa, Illinois, Louisville, Missouri and North Carolina.
"He told me he was a linebackers coach his whole career," said Evans of Bielema. "He told me he liked the way I played and I have great instincts and that's something you can't just teach."
Evans said he and his parents left Fayetteville on Friday afternoon for a Saturday visit to Missouri. His experience at Arkansas was very positive, he said.
"It definitely put them on a higher pedestal than what they were before," Evans said.
Evans has visited Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Illinois, Ohio State, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, North Carolina and North Carolina State. He said he plans to announce a top five in the near future.
Defensive line coach Rory Segrest is Evans' lead recruiter.
"Coach Segrest is a really great guy," Evans said. "He recruited one of my trainers to Samford."
MACON TO VISIT
One of Arkansas' top 2016 basketball prospects will be on the Fayetteville campus Monday for an unofficial visit and might leave a Razorback.
Former Little Rock Parkview shooting guard Daryl Macon, 6-3, 185, of Holmes (Miss.) Community College said he is looking forward to the trip.
"I just want to visit the campus and see what it's about on the athletic and academic side," said Macon, who is a 2016 prospect. "I want to see what the practices are like."
Macon, who averaged 21.2 points per game and was named to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps team as a senior at Parkview, earned first-team Junior College All-American honors as a freshman.
His 23.0-point average ranked sixth nationally, while shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 36.9 percent from beyond the three-point line.
He said he communicates with Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson, associate head coach Melvin Watkins and assistant T.J. Cleveland.
"I talk on the phone with Coach Watkins probably three time a week and me and coach T.J. and Coach A, I talk to about two times a week," Macon said. "But it's mainly Coach Watkins and T.J."
The Hogs offered Macon a scholarship on April 1 and he has offers from Alabama, Ole Miss, Louisville, Kansas State and Memphis. His family is fond of the Hogs.
"They love every school they talk to, but growing up here, they're Razorback fans," he said.
He might leave Fayetteville committed to being a Hog.
"There's a chance, but I can't say right now, but there's a chance, it's a high chance," Macon said.
FOOTBALL CAMP
Arkansas starts its three-day camp for high school athletes entering the 9th and 12th grades today. The camp will conclude on Tuesday.
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
Sports on 06/14/2015