I am officially ending my recruitment and committing to The University of Arkansas . Not time just yet for me to leave this state. #WPS
— McTelvin Agim (@So_Splash) September 5, 2015
There it is! Arkansas just picked up a commitment from one of the top targets on their board and unquestionably the top prospect in Arkansas.
McTelvin Agim is a defensive end from Hope who has been coveted by Arkansas and several other programs for well over a year now. ESPN ranks him a 5* prospect and the #9 overall national recruit. Rivals and 247Sports both have him easily in their top 100 lists. The Worldwide Leader is clearly the most accurate evaluation (wink). Kidding aside, some of the recruiting analysts have pushed for an even higher ranking for Agim on the other sites. I believe this is the first time Arkansas has landed a top 10 overall prospect on any of the major outlets in 10 years (hopefully this time it goes better).
How big is this? Arkansas' recruiting class was ranked 38th nationally, but landing Agim vaults the Razorbacks all the way into the nation's top 25, all the way to 23rd in the composite standings. I always say it's silly to spend much time worrying about class rankings this far before Signing Day, but it's good to see the Hogs make that big of a jump.
Agim had offers from just about everybody, including Alabama, Auburn, Oklahoma, Texas, Notre Dame, and LSU. His other finalists were Texas A&M, Baylor, and Ole Miss.
There are some questions about this recruiting class for Arkansas but the defensive line isn't one of them. Agim will highlight what should be a stellar defensive line group along with 4* defensive tackles Austin Capps and Briston Guidry. Arkansas also recruited well on the defensive line last year, landing blue chip players Hjalte Froholdt and Jamario Bell (plus top juco transfer Jeremiah Ledbetter), so it seems safe to say the Hogs will have a really nice defensive line for quite a while.
It remains to be seen if he'll do any of this at Arkansas, but last night in his first high school game of the season, Agim was reportedly returning punts and playing quarterback in Wildcat situations, so it seems he could be a Piesman contender in the near future.
Agim is the 14th commitment for the Razorbacks.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Always good to call the Hogs! Especially from Hope, AR! Building it one day at a time, one <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Uncommon?src=hash">#Uncommon</a> man at a time. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WoooPig?src=hash">#WoooPig</a></p>— Bret Bielema (@BretBielema) <a href="https://twitter.com/BretBielema/status/640238598546067456">September 5, 2015</a></blockquote>
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