LITTLE ROCK — Bryant’s all-time leading rusher Chris Rycraw is one of the finalists for the annual Landers Award, which will be announced tonight at 7 p.m. on KATV. The accolades continue to pour in for Rycraw, who was recently named to the all-Arkansas first team by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and to the Associated Press Super Team.
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Rycraw continues to weigh his options for college. He’ll be taking his official visit to Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia this weekend then to Southern Arkansas University later this month.[more]
“The Division I schools I’ve been talking to aren’t really talking about scholarship,” he related in an interview Sunday. “They want me to walk on.”
That includes, he said, Ole Miss. “I went on an unofficial visit and that’s when they asked me to walk on,” he said. “I really didn’t have a good relationship with their coaches like I do with the SAU coaches and the OBU coaches. I’ve got a good relationship with them. So I like the Division II right now.”
Rycraw has already been offered scholarships from UAPB and Henderson State.
“My top schools right now are SAU and OBU and after I make my visits that’s when I’m going to decide,” he stated. “I’ll sign early.”
OBU already has a stock of Bryant products including Dijon Benton, Taylor Masters and Dustin Holland, Rycraw mentioned.
“I know at Ouachita I can play right off the bat,” Rycraw said, “because they lost a senior all-conference running back and then the running back that was going to replace him, he got kicked off the team. So there’s just one running back there with any experience so it would just be me and him and I’m probably 20 pounds bigger than him right now. I’m at 200 and if I go in and work real hard, hopefully I could play four years.
“That’s why I like OBU and SAU because I could probably play four years at those schools,” he added.
Right before the Christmas break, Rycraw said, UCA contacted him as well. “They told (Bryant) Coach (Paul) Calley that they went to five different states to see 26 running backs but they only put four on the board and I was one of them, the only one from in-state. They said if I can’t play running back at UCA right off the bat, since they have so many running backs, they could play me at corner or safety.
“But I want to play running back,” he asserted.
Apparently, the same thing happened when he talked with the University of Arkansas and Arkansas State when he talked to them during the summer before his senior season. “All they talked to me about was playing corner,” Rycraw related. “And I’ve never played corner.”
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Bryant’s sophomore kicker Jace Denker was named to the all-Arkansas sophomore team by the Democrat-Gazette.
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Josh Hampton, who will be a senior this fall, was invited to and attended a workout for college football recruiting guru Tom Lemming on Saturday, Dec. 28. Hampton was an all-State lineman on both sides of the ball for the Hornets in 2009 and figures to get quite a bit of recruiting attention along the way.
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The annual Bryant Hornets football post-season awards banquet is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 21, at Love Auditorium starting at 7 p.m. As usual, the Hornets highlight video, which is always a treat, will be shown.
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The fundraising for the artificial turf for Bryant Stadium is ongoing. Information can be obtained from the web site www.helpthehornets.com.
Corporate and business sponsorships at a variety of levels are available.
In addition, a Walk of Honor program has been included. The brick Walk will extend from the ticket booth to the home stands. And they can be purchased individually in honor of someone or as part of a donation. The name of the honoree or the donor will be engraved on the brick. Forms for the Walk of Honor bricks are available at the athletic director’s office, area Big Red stores, the web page, any of the football coaches or Bryant Athletic Foundation officer.
Sam Chaloner
Great to see all the good things coming for all the Bryant kids. I hope Coach Calley and his staff keep up the good work and getting more kids an opportunity to further their career and get an education.