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It's not often that basketball gets top billing over football, but that's what we've got this weekend. This is what happens when arguably the best high school player in state history comes to town for his official visit. There are two important football prospects visiting, and that's not minor deal, but Malik Monk is the headliner this weekend.
Basketball
Malik Monk - Unless you're brand new to the Arkansas sports scene, Monk needs no introduction. The consensus top 5 prospect certainly already has a solid understanding of the Arkansas program and the culture surrounding being a Razorback since his brother and cousin were both high-profile Hogs, but Monk is still taking the time to make an official visit this weekend.
So, presumably, he'll still get The Catfish Hole treatment as well as taking in at least part of the football game as well as Arkansas' basketball practice Saturday morning and possibly the Red/White Game Sunday afternoon. Whether or not there will be anything extra special for Monk remains to be seen.
The general agreement seems to be that he'll decide for either Arkansas or Kentucky, where he visited two weeks ago. He's also taken officials to Oregon and Kansas. He hasn't set a commitment date other than saying he doesn't expect to sign with anybody until the spring, although a commitment could come before then.
Even though Monk is expected to be a one-and-done college player, a commitment from him would be huge for Arkansas. It would give the Razorbacks instant credibility on the recruiting scene and make the 2016-17 season one of the most highly anticipated in program history.
From all accounts, Mike Anderson has done as good a job as he can in recruiting Monk, so we'll just have to hope things work out, and that all the fans in Fayetteville this weekend show their usual enthusiasm.
Daryl Macon - The Hogs are also bringing in committed juco guard Daryl Macon to help with recruiting Monk this weekend. Macon, who played high school ball in Little Rock at Parkview, is one of the top juco players in the nation, earning All-America honors as a freshman last season. He was Arkansas' first commitment in the 2016 class and was originally scheduled to visit with Monk last weekend, but changed his schedule to ensure he'd visit with Monk.
Football
Jordan Carmouche - Carmouche is a linebacker from Manvel, Texas the Razorbacks have been on for quite a while. He's an uncommitted high-end 3-star prospect with offers from the likes of Oklahoma, Texas, Stanford, Baylor, Wisconsin, Texas Tech and several others. He took an official visit to Missouri earlier this month and currently has one scheduled to Oklahoma next month.
He's already arrived in Fayetteville as of this writing, and is enthusiastically live-tweeting his visit, for instance:
‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/na3Qdj5RfG
— JBC7‼️ (@itscarmouche) October 30, 2015
D'Vaughn Pennamon - Carmouche's teammate in Manvel, Pennamon is a running back currently committed to Ole Miss. Pennamon has shown interest in the Hogs for quite a while even after committing to the Rebels in July. Like his teammate, he's a high-level 3-star prospect with an impressive offer list. Pennamon's includes Georgia, Florida, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, and a new offer from Alabama just this week.
Arkansas' running back recruiting has been interesting this year. It's been well-known Arkansas has focused most of its efforts toward Devin White and Devwah Whaley, but in recent days they've begun reaching out to other running backs, and Pennamon has been near the top of that group.
Arkansas defensive lineman Taiwan Johnson, a fellow Manvel alum, seems pretty excited about the duo coming to visit.
Manvel taking over Fayetteville this weekend @mavnation_blu @itscarmouche #wps #manvelfootball
— Taiwan Johnson (@TJ_WPS94) October 30, 2015
It would definitely be a nice pickup for the Razorbacks to land one or both of them.
There will likely be a list of unofficial visitors on campus this weekend, and if anything of note happens with them, we'll report it when it happens.