FAYETTEVILLE — When Arkansas freshman defensive back Korey Hernandez reported to Fayetteville in January, he soon found why the city and the university is referred to as "The Hill."
“The first day of classes I was like, I have to walk up this hill?" Hernandez said. "By the time I got up there I was 'Whew.' It was over with me. I felt like I wasn’t going to make it to class. My legs were tight. I felt like I went through a whole workout.”
Numerous Razorback players use scooters to get around campus, but not Hernandez.
“They say those things crash a lot,” he said. “People get in a lot of accidents. So I’m going to stay away from scooters.”
While Hernandez doesn’t have a car in Fayetteville, he has his own transportation.
“My feet, that’s all,” Hernandez said. “I jump rides every now and then.”
Getting rides takes some planning, but it’s gotten easier.
“Everybody will give you a ride if they’re going to the same place, and normally we’re all going in the same direction,” Hernandez said. “It’s really not that hard. At first it was because I didn't really know anyone so I was walking everywhere. Now I catch rides almost everywhere.”
Hernandez, 5-11, 175 pounds, of Ellenwood (Ga.) Cedar Grove, finished his high school senior season with 64 tackles, 27 pass breakups, 2 forced fumbles and 3 interceptions, and helped his team to the Class 3A state title.
He chose the Hogs over scholarship offers from Iowa, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, South Florida, Southern Miss, Tulane, Kent State and Toledo.
In addition to the terrain, another adjustment was finding classes. He and the other newcomers first reached out to director of football academics Chris Johnson for help.
“Then we finally found an app, and we started using the app, and then we found shortcuts on our own, and then we would tell each other about the shortcuts,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez and the other members of the 2017 class who enrolled early bonded well but are now looking forward to the others getting on campus.
“We had to because we were outside wolves,” Hernandez said. “We all got along pretty good, and now we’re just waiting for the rest of the class to get here.”
The majority of the others in the 2017 are expected to report to Fayetteville on Sunday.
During spring practice, Hernandez said, the speed of the game was the biggest difference from high school to college, but upperclassmen like Henre' Tolliver and Ryan Pulley have been helpful.
“Henre' and Pulley, they’ve been pulling me along, helping me with everything involved with the program understanding the playing book and getting used to everything,” Hernandez said.
Being away from his family, especially his mother, has been the toughest part of the college life.
“She calls me almost every night,” Hernandez said. “She’s always telling me how I don’t call her, but she’ll get used to it. She knows how busy I am.”
He misses his mother's Curry Chicken and other home cooking.
“I miss that,” he said. “Now I have to get up and go find my own breakfast and find my own lunch.”