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Nice article in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette on a January visit Houston Nutt made to see Marcus Shavers. Shavers was very impressed and stated he wants to camp at Arkansas if the Texas High School rules allow. (that is, is the Arkansas camp with or without full pads.)

Of course, many schools will want Marcus to join them, but hopefully he will see the benefits that Dallas has to offer for a favorite son if and when his professional playing career is done.

I am in Arkansas due to family and the fact that I was raised here. But I have lived in Texas and specifically Dallas for a great portion of my adult life and it is certainly a great place for a young man to make his mark. I am living in the land of some of the nation's highest taxes and lowest job opportunity. Make no mistake, I love my life, my work, and my home, but future opportunities for a young man in today's world will be far greater in Dallas than in Fayettville. You can always retire here, the hunting and fishing is great. Hopefully, Coach Bennett will be able to express in his seductive way the advantages of SMU over all of the other schools that will come courting for Mr. Shavers.

By the way, the article did mention that scholarships had been offered by SMU and aTm.

We need to get DeMyron Martin to spend "quality time" with his old teammate.

Shavers should be at - or at least very near - the top of our wish list. By all accounts, he gets better (and stronger) every day.

TheInsiders.com has this to say about Shavers:

Marcus Shavers
Ht: 6-2.5 Wt: 240 40: 4.9
Position: DE, DT
Projected as: DE, DT
High School: Allen (Texas) HS

Biography:
Marcus Shavers projects as a DE first, DT second. Nice-sized kid with a true blue collar work ethic. Should hang around the Texas Hot 100 all season long and have several scholarship/school opportunities.

Schools of Interest:
Arkansas - Medium Interest (offer)
Colorado - Medium Interest
Georgia - Medium Interest
Kansas State - Medium Interest
LSU - Medium Interest
Oklahoma - Medium Interest
Oklahoma State - Medium Interest
SMU - Medium Interest (offer)
Texas A&M - Medium Interest (offer)
Texas Tech - Medium Interest

Rivals now includes SMU on his list.

Nice that SMU is included, but Shavers and 3 others were interviewed last weekend as very interested in Arkansas. Shavers particularly pretty well indcated that Arkansas is his choice at this time. I do not recall if he was on a visit during the interview or not, but there was a lot of devotion to him and the others in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as Texas athletes that Arkansas was aiming for. We really need some one to stress to Marcus the advantages in life after college to a Dallas connection as opposed to a Fayettville connection.

I must say though it is nice to at least be included in the hunt for some of the big boys.

No kidding. The naysayers will say we're not going to get certain kids, which of course is true, but in years past, we haven't been mentioned by NEARLY as many legit prospects as we have this year. It's a nice change to see.

I seem to recall that Shavers reportedly was very close to committing around the same time that Chris Hall committed. Some people seem concerned about the fact that he has not yet committed, but I look at it the other way. No, I'm not being delusional, looking through Red & Blue glasses. Shavers knows what SMU is about, and almost committed. He saw a beautiful campus, a terrific school where he'll get a great education and a program that has a lot of young talent, a team that will get better in a hurry, and a team on which he'll have a chance to play fairly early. I think it's great that he's being pursued by some bigger schools. Might we lose him? Sure, it's always possible. But if we lose him to a Texas or Arkansas, that's a shame, but it's certainly no insult. And SMU is a great school that sells itself, so if (when?) he commits to SMU, he'll be another player who was chased by the big boys and still realized all SMU has to offer.