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Offensive lineman making Arkansas visit today
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In Sunday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, it was reported that one of the hottest offensive line prospects in the nation, Alex Kozan, is scheduled to visit Arkansas today.
Kozan, 6-4, 295, 5.2 seconds in the 40-yard dash, of Castle Rock (Colo.) Valor Christian reports 21 scholarship offers, including Arkansas, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Arizona, Colorado and Syracuse.
“I’m going to make the visit to Arkansas and see Oklahoma State and try and get down to LSU,” said Kozan, who reports a 330 pound bench press, 550 squat and 25 inch vertical. “Hopefully, I think I’ll have a pretty clear view of what all the schools are all about and if it’s place I see myself fitting in. A place where I feel comfortable.
Kozan, who’s being recruited by offensive line coach Chris Klenakis, hopes to narrow his list to 5 to 7 schools by about the end of July.
“I want to take a couple of official visits if I’m not able to see a couple of places that I want to see.” he said.
An excellent student with a 3.8 grade point average, Kozan has a very detailed list of what he desires in a school. A strong business school highlights his list.
“Number two, is the opportunity for success for a school, ” Kozan said. “A team that’s going to have some winning seasons and a chance for some BCS bowls. A place I can player early. Number three is going to be my relationship with the coaches. Coaches I get along with and I want to play for. Number four is the strength and conditioning program. A place where they’ll really develop me as an athlete. Not a place that just gets studs every year and they come out about the same as they came in.”
Also a high priority is a school where he can continue to grow in his faith.
“A place where I can have a strong faith in God and place I can develop my faith in God and has a strong FCA.” Kozan said.
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Comments
I love big, smart offensive lineman. 3.8 GPA is what I love to see in our lineman. Coach K had great success at Nevada and look what he did at Arkansas in his first year. Give him talented athletes with intelligence like this young man has and look out SEC !!!
I think he just described the U of A to a T?
I agree spud. He is the type athlete we want and need at Arkansas. Would be nice to see him an inch or two taller and about 20 pounds heavier. But that is what the conditioning function at Arkansas is all about.
Found this articule on Dorial-Green Beckham. Don’t know the dahttp://www.theringer.com/Football2012/Recruiting/23?player=Dorial-Green-Beckhamte it was written.
http://www.theringer.com/Football2012/Recruiting/23?player=Dorial-Green-Beckham. Hope this one workes
I think we should look like a good fit for this young man after reading his list. I say we sign him and DGB as we get on a roll. where is coach and that crystal ball
This is a gentleman that we must sign. His integrity just screams out a perfect match for The Razorbacks. I’m sure that he will love our weight room and the Strength and Conditioning program.
It would be nice if he could work out with Knile on the weights, then be able to have a chat with our beloved Mr. Baseball McCann about the FCA in the area. McCann is probably not on campus, but should dial (I’m old school) this gentleman up to let him know about it.
I hope you end up calling The Hogs Mr. Kozan! You will never regret it and will be Family for life!
Oh, and did I mention that we have a ROCK STAR SCHOOL of BUSINESS????
Our lack of depth at tackle has gotten a lot of attention with Brey coming in trying to fill a spot as a freshman, and the uncertainty of Oden coming off an illness who hasn’t played much anyway, but with the turn of events over the last couple months, I’m realizing that we are probably thinner at center and guard than we are at tackle.
Three months ago, wasn’t anticipating Oxner leaving or our best recruit on paper in Cam Feldt not making it. And with other top recruit Colby Berna having injuries, we might be playing walk-ons at those positions this year, especially if we lose any more to injury.
We’re really going to need Jucos Chris Stringer and Peacock to be able to step in and help pretty quickly. Grabbing Stringer in the 13th hour might end up being the most important 2011 recruit for 2011.
Would be really nice if Smothers could step in as well and prove espn right that he was a top 100 recruit and not just a 3 star that Rivals had him at.
But it’s a very difficult position for anyone to come in and play effectively right away. It’s a concern.
newscarver…interesting perspective…however if that were true, then why cut Cam Feldt? He is talented and wanted to play..if he played back up next year then he would have moved up to starter soon after. So I don’t see the situation as you do. Petrino obviously sees things that we don’t see.
IMHO
I’m glad that we’re getting a lot of looks from these high profile recruits. I just wish we could get a few more commits. I was looking at the other boards and LSU has 15 commits, Alabama has 14, Florida has 13 and Auburn and Florida are both in double digits. I think we now have 7 commits. I just think that if we are ever going to have a shot a competing with these teams on a regular basis, we are going to have to step up our recruiting. I think Tim Horton is a terrific recruiting coordinator and with the season we had last year I can’t understand why we aren’t further along at this point,
Roger, I never saw an explanation on the Feldt situation, maybe I missed it. I just assumed that he never fully recovered from his high school injury. He was 4th string on the Spring depth chart behind at least one walk on, so no, he wasn’t getting it done on the field for whatever reason.
Petrino certainly didn’t cut him because we had too much talent at the guard position, that is for sure. I thought it was Cam’s idea to leave anyway.
Check out the depth chart and give me your 2 or 3 deep at guard and center and see if you think we are deep at that position. Maybe we’ll get some pleasant surprises from the freshmen or Juco’s coming in, but it’s going to take a couple out of that group to solidify our line. Just saying, it looks like we are lacking in experience there past the starters, Bailey, G. Cook, and Swanson.
If your starter gets hurt or needs a blow and he is replaced by a walk-on, that may not be a good situation to be in, unless the walk-on is deserving of a schlorship.
I think that in the SEC the second or two position needs to be just a good as the starter or a tad less. Yes, I do need to review the depth chart post spring. Is there one out for review?
hmmm….yes after review I can see a bit of thinness at the offensive guard position. But Luke Charpentier could move to OG as well as another.
I count 4 offensive linemen that have played a college game in a Razorback uniform: G. Freeman, G. Cook, T. Swanson, A. Bailey; all really solid players for us but we don’t have enough experience to go across the line once.
You might could add A. Oden as I think he has seen the field, but if so, it was very limited. So adding Oden gives us one deep experience across the front. After that it is all 1st yr Jucos, RS freshmen, true freshmen, and walk ons. We don’t have any scholarship upper classmen back ups that I can I.D.
Just can’t afford much injury here and someone will need to make a name for themselves this year as they almost always do.
Not trying to sound negative at all, just pointing out that its the biggest unknown of our team IMO.
There are 11 other names on the roster under OL, and if any 2 or 3 of them come through for us, we s/b fine and might even turn out to be an area of strength for the team, that is what is interesting about it:
B. Cook, J. Peacock, C. Stringer, L. Charpentier, M Smothers, Danenhauer, Beck.
Anybody know if any of these OL below earned a scholarship as none are in our original signing classes(?) I assume most/all are walk-ons, some of which might see playing time and help us: David Hurd, Tyler Deacon, Blake Gunderson, Brett Crane, Charles Dement, Ray Gervasi.
I look for Tyler Deacon to contribute this season, but I have no clue if he’s currently on scholorship.
Anthoney Oden has all the physical tools, but he looked lost and intimidated early on in his Freshman season start at Bama in 2010.
Then again, everyone looked lost and intimidated in that game.
He also lost valuable playing time and developement last season after catching mono.
I’m concerned he still has a ways to go, so it’s almost like trying to develope 2 Freshmen at the OT positions to compete in the SEC.
I hope these guys are willing to work their butts off this summer. They sure need it.
Whoops! sorry, I mean’t 2009 against Bama.
Young Alex looks like the kind of Lineman who could lead us to a National Championship ! He looks to have all the tools and We look to be all he is looking for in a University.
Mr. Kozan, I truly believe Arkansas will feel like home for you and after you graduate you will see that we take care of our own. Once a Razorback, Always a Razorback ! Thanks for the visit ! Hope to see you on NSD !
why so serious, uncledenver? cheer up, pup. it’s just football banter and the 4th of July is around the corner. on top of that, they’re expressing a legitimate concern. i don’t see it as bleak as playing walk-ons, because I’m pretty sure Peacock and Stringer will be able to contribute early and often. but, the o-line is certainly the least proven attribute of the team.
Uncledenver has been muted.
Do not make a post with profanity even when you add *%# in the place of letters. Not going to have that on the blog.
i think Smothers will come in and reallyt push for some early PT.
stlouishog says:
June 28, 2011 at 3:47 pm
I can’t understand why we aren’t further along at this point,
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Here’s a theory St Louis: Take lsu, they have more commits than us right now, but notice almost all of them are fm La. bama is getting into Ga pretty good, but most of theirs are fm two states, ala and Ga. Fla-most of theirs are in fla. Tx – of course almost all are fm Texas.
My theory is that many of the in-state guys that are going to commit to an in-state school will commit earlier, while the out of state recruits take more time going on out of state trips etc attempting to determine where they wish to go, so they commit later. We have less in-state talent than some of our SEC rivals, thus we typically have fewer commits early. Hopefully CBP and staff will continue to be successful in recruiting out of state talent, but much of it will come later in the process.
There’s still a ton a good talent out there to be gotten.
PK – if Smothers and Brey come in there as true freshmen and become OL studs by the bama game we’ll be in great shape on the line, because I expect the two juco’s to contribute if they can master the mental side of the position in a hurry.
It’s a lot to ask of a true freshman but it’s not like it hasn’t been done before. Shawn Andrews comes to mind immediately and there have been others. But lets not kid ourselves, it’s a short list, but we don’t get talent like Brey and Mitch every year, so it will be interesting.
I wouldn’t try to talk myself into expecting miracles by the time we play Bama.
That all sounds great and everything, but developing O-lineman in the SEC is a different animal all together.
If the O-line can hold it’s own early on in the season, that’s all we can ask for, but Freshmen are still Freshmen.
We’re still taking steps into putting our program on the national sceen. We aren’t there yet, but we will be in time.
Remember, this may not be our year just yet, but we still have another year of developing young players to put it all together.
I’m not trying to sound like a negative nancy or anything, but solid and consistant O-line play is important in this league and I haven’t seen that from a True Freshmen O-lineman in this league yet, no matter how great they were as a high school recruit.
Remember, Cam Newton was a great player in Gus’s offensive system at Auburn, but even he had a Sr. dominated O-line in front of him. Just a thought.
I hear ya Gonzo, but I think we have seen a few true freshmen hold their own in the SEC, and that is all we’re asking. I already mentioned Andrews, but also the big dude fm bama came in and did ok a few yrs ago. Plus we can roll Wilson out a lot since he is good at throwing on the run and can be evasive.
This will be a big test for O-line coach Chris Klenakis. We’ll certainly need a good blocking TE in there to help.
I’m not real sold on next year being “the year” when we have a lot of good seniors/junior draftees on this team that will need to be replaced at RB, WRs, DE, LBs. We could lose 4 receivers after this season if Cobi goes early, plus our All SEC DE, LB, and RB.
Wilson is a 4th yr junior and s/b ready, our skill positions are peaking this year. Our D-line and LBs are the best we’ve had in a long time. We need a couple of CBs to step it up and a couple of OL to step it up and a little luck on injuries and we have what it takes to be right in there with anyone.
I was under the impression that the JUCO OL we signed late will redshirt. I doubt Smothers starts over Alvin Bailey or Grant Cook.
It can be done. I don’t remember how good he was as a freshman, but Ziemba started from day one. Our guys have the talent, it’s just – will they hang their head if they get beat, and they will get beat from time to time, or will they get better every game out. And, of course, injuries always play a part.
I think Smothers was projected to be an OG in college. He’s 6-4, 290, so I’m sure they still want him bigger to play in the SEC.
He’s probably close to what the coaching staff wants in size, but he didn’t get play in the spring like Brey Cook did as an early enrollee at the university.
We all seen the potential of Cook, but also know he has a long ways to go with learning the play book and being consistant every play.
It’s going to an even rougher road for Smothers.
Alvin Bailey was great as a Freshman last season, but he was a 2nd year, RS Freshman. Big difference.
I hear what you’re saying about Ziemba, spud. Very good point, but every player has a different circumstance.
Ziemba had no competition to go up against when he signed with the Tigers.
He struggled with procedure penalties for at least his first two seasons.
mrprfct says:
June 30, 2011 at 6:51 am
I was under the impression that the JUCO OL we signed late will redshirt. I doubt Smothers starts over Alvin Bailey or Grant Cook.
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That would not be good news if we have to redshirt Stringer being that we are so thin at Center and Guard, but I can understand that it would be very difficult to show up in August and have the playbook down pat in 6-8 weeks, might be asking too much. Hopefully Peacock will be an effective 1st yr Juco having gone through Spring practice.
My comment about having some of the inexperienced players step up was in regards to backing up those starters. This is football, you don’t look at five positions to fill across the offensive line and think that you need only five players for the entire season. Players get injured, players get tired and need a quick breather from time to time and you can’t afford a lot of drop off in talent and execution in our OL just because a guy needs to come out for a play to get his breath or get re-taped.
If that happens then we are going to need a lot of depth at QB because Wilson will be getting sacked a lot.
Fortunately we have one of the highest football IQs coaching the team. As he has a huge aptitude for identifying and preying on weaknesses of defenses, he’s is equally apt at identifying and protecting his offensive weaknesses.
With the biggest question (and I really don’t think it’s that big of a question, we’re just not as strong at OL as we are at other positions considering we have among the best stable of RBs and WRs in the nation) being the OL, I have no doubt Petrino can easily overcome any shortcomings there now that we have a more mobile QB and capable blockers at RB.
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