A recent football scholarship offer from the University of Arkansas has a promising Florida prospect planning to make an official visit to Fayetteville.
Wide receiver Elijah West, 6-3 and 185 pounds, of Cantonment (Fla.) Tate didn’t have a scholarship offer until Minnesota extended one on Jan. 28. He has since added other offers from Central Florida, Tulane, Troy, Miami (Ohio) and South Florida.
Razorback special teams coordinator Scott Fountain visited West’s school in January and told him of the offer from Arkansas on Feb. 13.
“Out of nowhere coach text me, he liked that we talked in early January and he gave me an offer,” West said. “It was amazing.”
Cantonment is a city about 28,000 people on the outskirts of Pensacola. He said Fountain is similar to a coach on the Tate staff.
“Coach Fountain is a great dude, really funny,” West said. “He feels like one of the coaches I have here at Pensacola. Just to be able to bond with him. He’s really easy to talk to.”
West plans to set a date to make an official visit to Fayetteville for June. He recorded 42 catches for 584 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Aggies as a junior.
Of the four major recruiting services, only 247sports has rated him. The site’s early evaluation lists him as a 3-star recruit. Somewhat of an unknown, West’s offer list will likely increase in the coming months because of his size, burst of speed after the catch and ability to high point the ball.
He likens his game to former Georgia receiver and current Pittsburgh Steeler George Pickens.
“His top-end speed is crazy and the way he blocks,” West said. “I take blocking very seriously, too. Back when I was raised playing little league football my coaches would always say ‘If you don’t block, you won’t get the ball.’ That’s just been instilled in my mind growing up to high school football. ‘If you don’t block, you don’t get the ball.’ I try and get at least one pancake (block) a game.”
West’s pancake blocks haven’t been appreciated by some defensive backs.
“Some of the DBs will try and get mad at me,” he said. “I don’t even respond to them. I’m just doing my job.”
He’s a fan of former Arkansas receiver Andrew Armstrong, who finished his Razorback career with 134 receptions for 1,904 yards and 6 touchdowns in two seasons.
“He’s one of my favorite receivers,” West said. “He’s very underrated. He came out of nowhere.”
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The University of Arkansas football program announced seven additions to the support staff on Monday which included former Texas high school coach Che Hendrix.
He coached the past seven seasons at Boerne High School, leading the Greyhounds to a 71-19 record and an appearance at the Class 4A-Division I state championship game in 2022.
Hendrix was the head coach at Frisco Heritage for seven seasons prior to Boerne.
His son Hutson is committed to be a preferred walk-on fullback at Arkansas, while son Hank is a highly regarded class of 2027 quarterback. Both played for their father last year.
The younger Hendrix is rated a 4-star recruit, the No. 4 quarterback and No. 33 overall prospect in the nation in his class, according to On3.com. He has scholarship offers from Arkansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Washington State and others.
Email Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline.com
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