Northwest Arkansas still untapped by ASU

Coach Chris Young is shown at the NWADG football media day at Arvest Ballpark, Springdale, Arkansas, Tuesday, August 3, 2021.
(Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/ David Beach)
Coach Chris Young is shown at the NWADG football media day at Arvest Ballpark, Springdale, Arkansas, Tuesday, August 3, 2021. (Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/ David Beach)


Coach Chris Young might live in Razorback country, but when his Greenwood staff comes together, there's plenty of Red Wolves flavor.

Between Austin and Hunter Moreton, the Bulldogs' offensive and defensive line coaches, as well as co-offensive coordinator Stephen Hogan, three former Arkansas State players have returned to their Northwest Arkansas roots.

Bizarrely enough, that trio alone makes up more than half of the scholarship players the Red Wolves have recruited from the region since 2010. It's a fact that puzzles Young.

"I think that the colleges lose perspective on how much more it means to an in-state kid to play there," Young told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "If you've got a kid from Arkansas and you've got a kid from Texas ... and they're very close, to me it's a no-brainer."

Jonesboro is about a four-hour drive from Fort Smith and then as much as an hour more off Interstate 40 to get to the likes of Bentonville.

While travel isn't prohibitive in that sense, ASU Coach Butch Jones and his staff might be as likely to visit St. Louis or Atlanta, where they get to with a drive or flight of the same length.

"Much of it is being efficient when you're out, so the travel is a challenge," Jones explained Monday after speaking at the Little Rock Touchdown Club. "A lot of [getting to Northwest Arkansas] comes down to your resources and individuals that are willing to give you their planes in the recruiting process."

What's changed since Jones' arrival is that ASU staff members are a more frequent presence in the region.

Fort Smith Northside Coach Felix Curry said offensive line coach Matt Limegrover came for the Grizzlies' combine earlier in the year. Young added that offensive coordinator Keith Heckendorf has checked in on Greenwood quarterback Hunter Houston on multiple occasions, and Young said he sat alongside Jones and Heckendorf at a coaches clinic in Hot Springs.

Bentonville Coach Jody Grant said he's had a couple meetings with defensive coordinator Rob Harley and pointed to first-year special teams coordinator Jake Schoonover as a college assistant he's known from Schoonover's previous coaching stints.

Grant pointed out that the distance works against the Red Wolves from the players' perspective as well.

Current ASU linebacker Joe Britton, a Bentonville alum, transferred after spending four seasons at Missouri.

"When Joe went for his visit, he called me on his way back," Grant said. "He's like, 'This place is awesome. I had no idea.' "

The Red Wolves don't want to be an unknown to an entire portion of Arkansas. It's why Jones has assigned each of his schools to a set of in-state high schools.

Although the Red Wolves have yet to pluck a scholarship player out of Northwest Arkansas in Jones' first two full recruiting classes, former Fort Smith Northside wide receiver Walker Catsavis is part of ASU's 2022 roster as a walk-on.

But the same problem that applies to much of Arkansas, with the exception of Little Rock and its surrounding area, exists in Northwest Arkansas: There's not nearly the density of talent.

"Go park in Atlanta. You can go in a doggone 10-mile radius and you can fill up a couple of teams," said Curry, who moved to Fort Smith from Georgia in 2013. "But before you go to Atlanta or go to Texas, I think you should check this state out."

All three coaches added that it's not just ASU that has neglected the region in recent years.

Of the University of Central Arkansas' 49 in-state players, its NWA contingent consists of three, all from Fort Smith. Curry also said he thinks there are more guys from the area who could play for the University of Arkansas, on top of the three in last year's class and Bentonville's Joey Su'a in the 2023 crop.

"They overlook the kids in Arkansas," Curry said. "It's a 'the grass is greener' thing.' ... There are not as many players here in Arkansas, but of some of the top-level kids, they'll hold their own anywhere in the country."


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