Bryant dominates media’s prep Super Team for second straight year
By SCOTT McDONALD
The Russellville Courier
The third annual Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Super Team was released this week and for the second year in a row, the Bryan Hornets lead the team with four selections.
As usual, the 27 member Super Team is loaded with seniors who excelled during the 2020 high school football season that wrapped up in late December.
Last year the entire team was made up of seniors but this year there are four juniors that join 23 seniors.
Leading the way is Bryant quarterback Austin Ledbetter, who was the starting quarterback for the Hornets over the last two years and went 26-0, leading them to their second and third straight Class 7A state championship.
In his senior year, Ledbetter was 173 of 269 for 3,086 yards and 41 touchdowns while only throwing five interceptions. He also ran 43 times for 183 yards and two touchdowns.
Ledbetter, who signed with the University of Arkansas to play baseball, finished his career at Bryant as the school’s all-time leading passer in yards (6,957) and touchdown passes (88).
The two running backs named to the team are Dumas senior Kylin James and Pulaski Academy junior Joe Himon. James was the state’s leading rusher in 2020 as he ran for
2,425 yards and 26 touchdowns. He has signed with UCA.
Himon ran for 1,925 yards and 23 touchdowns while he also racked up 1,068 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.
The two wide receivers chosen are Conway senior Bryce Bohanon and Bryant senior Hayden Schrader.
Bohanon caught 66 passes for 1,459 yards and 18 touchdowns. He has signed with Tulane.
Schrader hauled in 70 passes for 1,444 yards and 20 touchdowns as he was the top target for Ledbetter.
The sole tight end selected is Jonesboro senior Connor Clark, who hauled in 75 receptions for 1,0024 yards and seven touchdowns. He has signed with UCA.
The offensive linemen named to the team are seniors Terry Well of Wynne, Jayden Williams of Conway, Makilan Thomas of Little Rock Central and Sam Widmer of Shiloh Christian while Jack Struebing of Springdale Har-Ber is the lone junior.
Wells and Williams are both headed to the SEC next fall as Wells has signed with Arkansas and Williams signed with Ole Miss. Thomas is headed to Arkansas State.
Defensive linemen selected were seniors Jordan Hanna of Greenwood, Rodricho Martin of Bryant and DJ Withers of Joe T. Robinson along with junior Braxton Johnson of North Little Rock.
Hanna had a whopping 139 tackles and 13 sacks for the Bulldogs and will be attending Arkansas as a preferred walk-on.
Martin had 65 tackles and eight sacks. Johnson had 68 tackles and eight sacks and Withers had 13 sacks. Withers has signed with Kansas.
Linebackers selected are seniors Futa Shinkawa of Pulaski Academy, Cole Joyce of Bentonville and Marco Avant of Jonesboro.
Shinkawa had 124 tackles with 6.5 sacks. Joyce racked up 102 tackles and has signed with Central Florida. Avant had 90 tackles with four sacks and is headed to Arkansas.
Defensive backs chosen are seniors Ty Dugger of Harding Academy, Josiah Johnson of Pulaski Academy and Dreyden Norwood of Fort Smith Northside along with junior Jayden Jasna of Greenwood.
Dugger was a force on both sides of the ball for the Wildcats as he lined up at receiver as well. Johnson led his team with 161 tackles. Norwood signed with Texas A&M.
Bryant senior Brock Funk was selected as the state’s top placekicker. He was 70 of 76 on extra points and made 5 of 6 on field goals. He has signed with UCA.
North Little Rock senior Liam Selhorst was named the state’s top punter. Selhorst averaged 39 yards a punt while also handling the placekicking duties for the Charging Wildcats.
Mountain Home senior Logen Walker was selected as the top kick returner. He had 1,210 kick return yards, averaging over 100 yards per game He also had 46 receptions for 861 yards, and 10 touchdowns, setting the Bombers’ single-season school record for receiving.
Two players were picked for the All-Purpose slots, both seniors and both quarterbacks.
Rivercrest’s Kam Turner completed 154 of 243 passes for 3,039 yards and 38 touchdowns to go with 199 carries for 1,762 yards and 24 touchdowns.
Turner also had a 73-yard touchdown reception, racked up 75 tackles on defense while he picked off four passes and returned three fumbles for touchdowns. He even returned one punt for a touchdown.
Landon Rogers of Little Rock Parkview managed the Patriots offense by running and passing. He scored 28 touchdowns, 22 rushing and six passing. He has signed to play for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
OFFENSE
QB: Austin Ledbetter, Sr., Bryant
RB: Kylin James, Sr., Dumas
RB: Joe Himon, Jr., Pulaski Academy
WR: Bryce Bohanon, Sr., Conway
WR: Hayden Schrader, Sr., Bryant
TE: Connor Clark, Sr., Jonesboro
OL: Terry Wells, Sr., Wynne
OL: Jayden Williams, Sr., Conway
OL: Jack Struebing, Jr., Springdale Har-Ber
OL: Makilan Thomas, Sr., LR Central
OL: Sam Widmer, Sr., Shiloh Christian
DEFENSE
DL: Jordan Hanna, Sr., Greenwood
DL: Rodricho Martin, Sr., Bryant
DL: Braxton Johnson, Jr., North Little Rock
DL: DJ Withers, Sr., Joe T. Robinson
LB: Futa Shinkawa, Sr., Pulaski Academy
LB: Cole Joyce, Sr., Bentonville
LB: Marco Avant, Sr., Jonesboro
DB: Jayden Jasna, Jr., Greenwood
DB: Ty Dugger, Sr., Harding
DB: Josiah Johnson, Sr., Pulaski Academy
DB: Dreyden Norwood, Sr., Fort Smith Northside
SPECIAL
K: Brock Funk, Sr., Bryant
P: Liam Selhorst, Sr., North Little Rock
KR: Logen Walker, Sr., Mountain Home
All-Purpose: Kam Turner, Sr., Rivercrest
All-Purpose: Landon Rogers, Sr., Little Rock Parkview
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Former Razorback and NFL player Brett Goode told Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft on Halftime he wouldn’t want to see Hogs cheating.
Henry makes it a complete returning lineup at linebacker for Hogs
Arkansas’ linebacking corps will be returning completely intact for 2021 as the last one, senior Hayden Henry, made the announcement Tuesday he’ll return.
Henry made the announcement via Twitter:
Grand Finale ? pic.twitter.com/z6ghHsZtFD
— Hayden Henry (@haydenthenry) January 19, 2021
Arkansas returns every linebacker who played a defensive snap last season. While most of them probably won’t be playing at the next level, it is interesting to see that nine seniors who could start their life wanted to come back.
Probably no small part of then returning is what Sam Pittman is building for the Razorbacks is something players are buying into.
Henry played 515 total defensive snaps, while also being a solid special teams contributor. He’s played 780 special teams snaps during his four years at Arkansas, with at least 150 in each season.
It will give him a third season with his brother, tight end Hudson Henry.
Fellow seniors Grant Morgan and Deon Edwards announced previously they are returning.
Other players coming back are wide receivers De’Vion Warren and Tyson Morris, offensive linemen Myron Cunningham and Ty Clary, tight end Blake Kern and running back T.J. Hammonds.
Musselman has lot of things to fix heading into midweek game with Auburn
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman thinks Hogs have to get better everywhere going into Wednesday night’s game with the Tigers at Bud Walton.
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Reed thinks Pruitt ‘should have been fired’ but Vols should blame Phil
Jeremy Pruitt’s firing probably shouldn’t have been much of a surprise and for Tennessee faithful it hopefully marks the end of Phil Fulmer’s involvement.
Pruitt “should have been fired,” Jon Reed of Fox Sports Knoxville told Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft on The Morning Rush this morning on ESPN Arkansas.
Since the start of the 2007 season, Arkansas and Tennessee have both gone through five head coaches with a coach lasting just a single season at both places.
What they didn’t get into was Fulmer’s trying to escape responsibility by announcing he asked to be allowed to retire. Whether that was before or after he was told he was going to be gone either way we don’t know.
But Phat Phil rose to power within the Vols by backstabbing Johnny Majors to get the head coaching job, then stabbed John Currie in the back to get the athletics director’s job in 2017.
Wherever Fulmer was, chaos and drama followed him around. Alabama fans believe he turned the Crimson Tide into the NCAA and a lawsuit was filed. It took a few years to serve him papers but they were served at SEC Media Days in 2008.
Fulmer resigned at the end of that season. Call it the Nick Saban Effect. As long as Alabama was wallowing around trying to figure things out, Florida was going through a string of coaches after Steve Spurrier and Georgia going in circles, Fulmer piled up some wins.
Saban came to Tuscaloosa in 2007, beat Fulmer twice (by a combined score of 70-26) and Phil decided to ride out on the mirage he built that he was a good coach.
The reality is he was lucky as a coach and had no idea what to do as an athletics director and the entire program has turned into a toxic heap.
It kills any chance for Tennessee to hire the fans’ choice (Hugh Freeze). Some sources in Knoxville that are connected to the program say Gus Malzahn is the leader in the clubhouse.
Gus is available after being fired at Auburn. His defensive coordinator, Kevin Steele, is already in Knoxville.
“The belief is he’ll be on this next (Vols) staff no matter what,” Reed said. “To me that eliminates Gus because I don’t think Gus wants to get back in bed with (Steele).”
That is different from what I’ve been told. Malzahn basically turned everything with the defense over to Steele and they had a pretty good relationship, according to sources at Auburn.
But the first hire Tennessee has to make is an athletics director and Reed thinks that John Gilbert from East Carolina is the odds-on favorite.
Gilbert was at Alabama over marketing and fund-raising during Saban’s early years. Then he went to Tennessee before getting caught up in Fulmer’s whirlwind of screwups in 2017.
Pruitt was just a defensive coordinator Fulmer thought he could control and that certainly looks like it could have happened.
“Reports are he didn’t have very many friends over in the athletic building as well,” Reed said about Pruitt. “I wish it had happened earlier.”
Experience has shown with the Vols nobody in Knoxville really knows what’s going to happen.
“At Tennessee, we just kinda make it up as we go along,” Reed said.
There are Razorback fans that have had that same feeling.
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