Winkel beefs up body, appeal to bigger colleges

FAYETTEVILLE -- After offensive lineman Ryan Winkel's junior season at Memphis Christian Brothers High School, he received scholarship offers from teams that Power 5 conference schools usually schedule at home in exchange for a hefty financial guarantee.

Winkel's offers included Football Championship Subdivision schools such as the University of Central Arkansas, Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky, Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Western Illinois and Tennessee-Martin.

Central Florida was the only Football Bowl Subdivision team to offer Winkel a scholarship after his junior season, but that was with the Knights coming off a 6-7 season in 2016 before they finished 13-0 last year.

Winkel played so well his senior season that he started getting offers from Power 5 teams, including the University of Arkansas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Mississippi State, Virginia and Northwestern.

"I think it was the same level of effort from Ryan in his junior and senior seasons," said Brandon Pearce, Christian Brothers' offensive line coach. "He just started to see the return on months and months of work. I think it was just true growth he made physically and with his technique.

"A lot of people really noticed it when they started watching the first three or four games he played during his senior season. That really raised his stock. He was moving better in space and getting to the second level, blocking linebackers."

There also was a mental component, Pearce said, to Winkel's improvement.

"He had a chip on his shoulder," Pearce said. "He was like, 'I'm going to make these people notice me.' "

Winkel committed to Arkansas in late January and signed with the Razorbacks on Feb. 7, in the process turning down an opportunity to return to Knoxville, Tenn., to play for the Vols. He played two seasons at Knoxville Bearden High School before his family moved to Memphis.

"With Ryan's ties to Knoxville, we thought it might be tough to pull him away from Tennessee," Razorbacks offensive line coach Dustin Fry said. "But we built a really good relationship with him, and when we got him on his official visit here, that helped convince him to come to Arkansas."

Winkel, 6-6 and 286 pounds, is likely to redshirt this season as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn pectoral muscle. He suffered the injury shortly after arriving on campus in July as he prepared for a weightlifting session.

"He wasn't even lifting, he was warming up to lift," Fry said. "Just kind of a freak deal."

Winkel -- who hasn't been available for an interview since getting to Fayetteville -- is recovered to the point of going through practice on a limited basis while wearing a green jersey, which means no contact.

Fry said before the start of camp that he expects Winkel to be cleared for full contact at some point during the season.

"He'll be able to get some scout-team reps for sure," Fry said. "Then what else he does, who knows?"

Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said he's been impressed with Winkel's progress since his surgery.

"He has a spectacular attitude," Morris said. "He understands what it's going to take to get back to full speed."

Christian Brothers Coach Thomas McDaniel said Winkel played at 245 pounds his junior season, then got up to 275 as a senior.

"He did it the right way and put on good weight," McDaniel said. "He worked his butt off and stayed in the weight room the whole spring and summer.

"He has the frame to carry another 25 or 30 pounds very easily, so I see him getting up to 300 or bigger at Arkansas. He's got a lot of upside.

"The injury obviously is unfortunate, but this year is going to be a great opportunity for him to continue to grow mentally with the schemes that he's going to learn, and then get back in the weight room and give his body another year to get bigger and stronger."

Pearce said Winkel came by a Christian Brothers practice in late July when he was home visiting after the surgery.

"Ryan wasn't down," Pearce said. "He said, 'I'm going to come back better and stronger from this.' He's not afraid to work. He really takes ownership of that."

Pearce, an offensive lineman at Christian Brothers and the University of Memphis, said Winkel has good flexibility in his hips, long arms and quick feet.

"He's a very intelligent kid in the classroom as well as on the field, and I think he probably was undervalued with his toughness," Pearce said. "He's a guy that for two years played here and never missed practice, never wanted to come out of the game.

"I think sometimes private school kids get a bad rap, but he's definitely got the toughness and the mental capacity to play in the SEC."

Hog Futures: Seventeenth in a series highlighting newcomers to the Arkansas Razorbacks football team

Sports on 08/29/2018