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Thomas says Hogs knew early Atwater was going to be great one

Steve Atwater came to Arkansas in 1984 as one of four freshmen quarterbacks and it lasted for three days before he got moved to the secondary and now he’s in the Hall of Fame.

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Steve Atwater came to Arkansas in the fall of 1984 as one of four freshmen quarterbacks and it lasted for three days before he got moved to the secondary.

Apparently Ken Hatfield and his staff saw what got Atwater to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in an official announcement made Saturday by the NFL.

“We knew he was destined for greatness early on,” said former Razorback quarterback Greg Thomas, who was the only one of the four freshmen that stayed under center. “As soon as the upperclassmen came in after the third day, he was moved to safety.”

The fact of the matter is Atwater probably should have been in a few years ago. The combination of the political selection nature and lack of safeties in Canton kept him out a few years.

“It had been tough on him not getting in,” Thomas said Saturday night after the official announcement. “I love him to death. He’s one of the coolest cats ever.”

In Hatfield’s system, the defense actually played with two safeties unlike today’s game which has more cornerbacks on the field. He was an All-American selection his final year, 1988.

Atwater was a first-round draft choice of the Denver Broncos and proceeded to make the All-Rookie team in 1989 and have eight Pro Bowl appearances and three Super Bowl appearances, winning two of them.

He had over 1,000 tackles and most of them were remembered by the guy getting tackled.

Thomas said they noticed that in Fayetteville, too.

Especially because he had to go against him live in practices and that was in the days of Hatfield’s Flexbone offense where the quarterback did a lot of running.

“He never blew me up, though,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t going to let him hit me. He came inside out at you, so you either had to make him miss or out-run him. He tackled me a lot, though.

Maybe no play symbolized his career more than a hit he made on Kansas City’s Christian Okoye, who was known as the “Nigerian Nightmare” because he simply ran over people.

On a Monday night in Denver in 1990 he tried to run over Atwater, but it didn’t work. Atwater, who spent five years hitting people with the Razorbacks, knocked Oyoye backwards with a tackle that didn’t involve his helmet.

At Arkansas, though, Atwater delivered big hits and could also play pass defense.

“When we played Baylor in 1985 when they had Cody Carlson at quarterback was when you knew Atwater could really play,” Thomas said, recalling how the then-redshirt freshman played in that game.

The Bears came into the matchup at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock ranked No. 11 and the 12-ranked Hogs knocked them off, 20-14.

“In 1986 against Texas A&M, he almost killed Rod Bernstine,” Thomas said. “But we knew in the ’87 season he was playing like an All-American and he made that in 1988.”

In Atwater’s four seasons with the Razorbacks (1985-88), the team went 38-11. It was a period of time that was about as good as it’s ever been, finishing three of those years ranked in the Top 20 with appearances in the Cotton, Orange, Liberty and Holiday Bowl games.

Atwater is a member of the UA Sports Hall of Honor as well as the school’s All-Century and All-Decade teams. He was named to three All-America teams as a senior in 1988 (Associated Press and Sporting News second team, Football News third team).

Atwater was a three-time All-Southwest Conference performer (1986, 1988 first team, 1987 second team). The St. Louis native still holds the school record of 14 career interceptions.

He also recorded 229 career tackles and 28 pass deflections in his Razorback career.

Atwater becomes the third Razorback selected to the Hall of Fame for his playing days. Lance Alworth and Dan Hampton were selected previously.

Jerry Jones was selected for his contributions as owner of the Dallas Cowboys in 2017 and Jimmy Johnson will join Atwater going in this year for his time as a coach with the Cowboys and Dolphins.

Former Cowboys free safety Cliff Harris, a native of Hot Springs who played at Ouachita Baptist, is the third Arkansas connection that will be inducted this summer in Canton.

But Atwater’s selection is something his former teammates will be celebrating along with the fans.

“Now I can tell everybody I’ve got a teammate in the Hall of Fame,” Thomas said. “I can say I hung out in college for four years with a Hall of Famer.

“Man, I’m loving this.”

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (18)8-02521
2.Conway (6)8-02302
3.Greenwood (2)8-02103
4.Little Rock Parkview7-11714
5.Bentonville5-31416
6.Benton7-11265
7.Fayetteville6-21008
8.Pulaski Academy6-2757
9.Rogers5-3459
10.Shiloh Christian6-24010
Others receiving votes: Marion 13, Valley View 9, Joe T Robinson 8, Mountain Home 4, Cabot 3, Elkins 3.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (20)8-01241
2.Conway (6)8-01052
3.Bentonville5-3753
4.Fayetteville6-2455
5.Pulaski Academy6-2354
Others receiving votes: Rogers 5.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (26)8-01301
2.Benton7-11022
3.Shiloh Christian6-2713
4.Marion7-1524
5.Mountain Home7-131
Others receiving votes: Little Rock Catholic 4.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (23)7-11271
2.Joe T Robinson7-1902
3.Valley View (3)8-0803
4.Hot Springs Lakeside7-1484
5.Farmington7-130
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 4, Maumelle 4, Morrilton 3, Greenbrier 2, Harding Academy 1.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (19)8-01161
2.Arkadelphia (5)6-2792
3.Little Rock Mills (1)8-0703
4.Warren6-2404
5.Malvern (1)8-0315
Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 22, Southside Batesville 11, Mena 8, Bauxite 7, DeWitt 4, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
4.Bismarck (15)8-01054
5.Fordyce (4)8-0765
Prescott (3)7-1531t
1.Osceola (2)6-149
3.Mayflower (1)8-036
Others receiving votes: Booneville (1) 31, Rivercrest 19, Mansfield 14, Charleston 4, Rison 3.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (21)8-01211
2.Conway Christian (4)8-01042
3.Des Arc7-1663
4.Bigelow (1)6-2455
5.Murfreesboro6-230
Others receiving votes: Marked Tree 10, Mineral Springs 6, Junction City 5, Cross County 1, Mount Ida 1, Poyen 1
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (25)5-0761
2.Midland (1)7-0502
3.Cedar Ridge7-1253
Others receiving votes: Rector 5.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.