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CB has pair of options
by Dudley E. Dawson of HawgsIllustrated.com, January 22, 2004 at 8:26pm ET

David Haynes Profile

David Haynes, the 5-9, 165-pound cornerback from McGregor, Texas, remains committed to SMU, but still has Arkansas on his mind.

The biggest difference right now is that Mustangs are offering a full ride.

The Razorbacks are currently in a scholarship crunch and talking to Haynes about walking on with the opportunity to be on scholarship in Jan. 2005 or for sure by the fall of 2005.

"Obviously I would like to have the full ride and they told me that it may still happen, but they just can't promise that right now," Haynes said. "So they are talking about me coming up there and walking on for a semester or so and it is something I am considering and my dad and I are going to talk about when time comes. But as of this moment I would say I am still committed to SMU because of the full ride."

Haynes, who also took official visits to Texas A&M and Kansas, had his biggest impact this season on offense when as a quarterback he rushed for over 1,200 yards and passed for over 800 more.

Although he did not play defense as much as he would have if he had not been the starting signal caller, he still managed to rack up 25 tackles and picked off a pass for his 9-2 squad.

He knows he will be a cornerback in college.

"I know I am going to be on the defensive side of the ball in college," Haynes said. "When I was in on defense this year, nobody would throw the ball my way."



David Haynes
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CB has pair of options

I wonder how the coaches feel about him publicly discussing that? It almost sounds like he'd go to Arkansas in a heartbeat if they offer him. Based on what we read about him, I hope the Hogs don't offer - he sounds like a great athlete.

i wonder what percentage of arkansas' walkons are "assured" scholarships for the 2nd semester?

Haynes would be the second athlete in one year to choose to walk-on at a BCS school rather take a $100,000 ride to SMU. Food for thought: The first SG Michael Milton decided to attend Tech as a walkon. Before the end of his walk-on year he suffered a heart arthmyia and his future BB career is now in jeopardy. The kid may have flushed a free education down the drain as SMU has traditionally honored scholarship players whose careers were ended for medical reasons.

<small>[ 01-24-2004, 08:38 AM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>

Personal opinion here. Haynes can walk on at Arkansas where he will be redshirted since they are bringing in JC DBs for their immediate needs. It is hard to prove yourself as a redshirt, and who knows what the next year will bring. If he goes with SMU, he will probably get immediate playing time. During that year he can solidify himself as a Mustang, or if he still has dreams of Arkansas and has performed as well as we all anticipate, he could always transfer (with a full scholarship), sit out a year (as he would if he redshirted this next year) and then go forward there. Selfishly, and in light of the scenerio Stallion just laid out as to what could happen, I would suggest he go with the full ride now. Once he becomes a Mustang, hopefully he will grow to love the school as we all do.

BTW from reading the recruiting sites I know that there are at least two other recruits that Arkansas is trying convince to "walkon and "maybe" earn a scholarship next year. Just read one about a RB from Memphis named Payne where they made the same promisises. Sure hope Mr Haynes is aware of these facts.

anyone remember J.D.Blagg? He had the same offer from Arkansas, i.e., to walk on and show us what you've got. That's another story of a kid with chronic injury problems who never saw much playing time. As a parent, you try to impress upon your kids the opportunity for that "free" education, but ya never know.

honestly, it sounds like this guy verballed to us just to keep Arkansas honest. Hes not committed to us at all at this point really.

Arkansas DemGaz reports this morning that Haynes has been offered a full scholarship to attend Arkansas. Haynes says he is still committed to SMU but will do some thinking about it and thinks highly of U of A

Has anyone out there with the right kind of info heard anything more on Haynes since Arkansas offered. The Arkansas paper made it sound like he was still with SMU, but typically Arkansas does not offer this late unless they are expecting acceptance. Downside would be losing Haynes, upside is another slot to fill with perhaps a big lineman, offense or defense. I would not worry nearly as much about my secondary or my quarterback if I had pass rushers or pass blockers.

Offer not shown on rivals. I'm sure the Ark Gazette would know before, but maybe they just confused it with a potential offer or an offer to walk-on.

Arkansas now has 8 commitments from DBs plus 26 total commitments and can only sign 23 according to NCAA mandated probation limits. Plus they still have several targets they are looking at. Of course, some maybe several will not qualify-some could be delayed as greyshirts until the following semester-plus JUCOs and mid-term enrollees could possibly be counted on last years list.

The Arkansas Democrat Gazette was clear that an offer was made and it quoted Haynes as saying he was still committed to SMU right now but would be doing some thinking. In the mind of the reporter there was no confusion. Now...if you ever had to read the DemGaz for your sole source of news you would realize that what is clear to the reporters will never be sidetracked by facts.

I don't like the looks of this whole situation. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm getting nervous.
Come on, Haynes, stay with your commitment!

speaking to the Arkansas affiliate of the Insiders, Haynes says he is confused and needs time to clear his head and will announce Friday. The report indicates he thinks in his heart that he wants to play at a big time program like Arkansas but doesn't feel good about reneging on his commitment. He does say "The people at SMU have been so good to me". Of course, this is an Arkansas website so the report naturally favored Arkansas. Article also says that he had offers from Oklahoma St. and Kansas.

<small>[ 01-26-2004, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: Stallion ]</small>