The University of Arkansas is trying to regain lost ground in the state of Texas, and began doing just that in 2009 by signing eight players, the most out of the Lone star state since 2006.
Now, Bobby Petrino and his coaching staff are seeking to continue to make Texas a recruiting pipeline, and the coming years should give the Razorbacks an opportunity at a lot of talented players - one of them being Parish Episcopal inside linebacker Rob Hankins.
"Arkansas is one of my top ten schools. I think the odds are very, very good," Hankins said. "Not in a cocky way, but I'm confident that I'll have the athletic ability and the academic ability to go to a bunch of schools, and Arkansas could be one of them."
The 6-1, 195 inside linebacker said that Arkansas interests him because it's a growing program and a division one school - although he admitted he was not very familiar with the coaching staff.
"It's my dream to play D-1 college football, and I have a whole bunch of friends who went to Arkansas," Hankins said. "One of my best friends and his father took me up to Fayetteville over the summer to go fishing, and I went all up over the campus."
Hankins was named an Offense-Defense Top 100 player in the class of 2011, and already has the attention of colleges across America.
"I've gotten brochures from Cincinatti, Colorado, and TCU," Hankins said. "Colorado at Boulder has been calling Coach (Scott) Nady about every week. SMU and Rice have been doing somewhat of the same thing, but not as much."
Recruiting is the only reason Hankins has been in the news, though. In 2007, Hankins started for Plano West High School, a school of approximately 2,000 students - but then transferred to play for Nady at Parish Episcopal with a student body less than 350.
"The Dallas Morning News actually wrote a story about it, why I would leave a starting position at Plano West and come to such a small school," Hankins said. "It was because I just didn't see a bright future ahead of me at Plano. My coach here sells his kids to colleges. We ended having 36 kids on our team and 4 of them had D-1 scholarships, while (Plano) only had one."
Hankins then started at Parish Episcopal, where he was named all-state and all-district as a sophomore, the only sophomore in the classification with those honors. Episcopal is a Division II member of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
"As the only all-state sophomore in my league, I can't thank my coach and teammates enough for pushing me," Hankins said. "I feel like this is just my chance to be great, and that I'm coming back next year with my goals set even higher."
Now, Bobby Petrino and his coaching staff are seeking to continue to make Texas a recruiting pipeline, and the coming years should give the Razorbacks an opportunity at a lot of talented players - one of them being Parish Episcopal inside linebacker Rob Hankins.
"Arkansas is one of my top ten schools. I think the odds are very, very good," Hankins said. "Not in a cocky way, but I'm confident that I'll have the athletic ability and the academic ability to go to a bunch of schools, and Arkansas could be one of them."
The 6-1, 195 inside linebacker said that Arkansas interests him because it's a growing program and a division one school - although he admitted he was not very familiar with the coaching staff.
"It's my dream to play D-1 college football, and I have a whole bunch of friends who went to Arkansas," Hankins said. "One of my best friends and his father took me up to Fayetteville over the summer to go fishing, and I went all up over the campus."
Hankins was named an Offense-Defense Top 100 player in the class of 2011, and already has the attention of colleges across America.
"I've gotten brochures from Cincinatti, Colorado, and TCU," Hankins said. "Colorado at Boulder has been calling Coach (Scott) Nady about every week. SMU and Rice have been doing somewhat of the same thing, but not as much."
Recruiting is the only reason Hankins has been in the news, though. In 2007, Hankins started for Plano West High School, a school of approximately 2,000 students - but then transferred to play for Nady at Parish Episcopal with a student body less than 350.
"The Dallas Morning News actually wrote a story about it, why I would leave a starting position at Plano West and come to such a small school," Hankins said. "It was because I just didn't see a bright future ahead of me at Plano. My coach here sells his kids to colleges. We ended having 36 kids on our team and 4 of them had D-1 scholarships, while (Plano) only had one."
Hankins then started at Parish Episcopal, where he was named all-state and all-district as a sophomore, the only sophomore in the classification with those honors. Episcopal is a Division II member of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.
"As the only all-state sophomore in my league, I can't thank my coach and teammates enough for pushing me," Hankins said. "I feel like this is just my chance to be great, and that I'm coming back next year with my goals set even higher."
