THE RECRUITING GUY : QBs face Top Gun challenge
Posted on Friday, July 4, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/230482/
The fifth annual Top Gun Challenge will be held Wednesday and Thursday at Shiloh Christian High School in Springdale. The competition features 7 events that will be used to gauge the mental and physical ability of each participant.
Twenty-three quarterbacks from across the state will compete for the Top Gun championship and the chance to participate in the National Top Gun Challenge Championship at Jenks (Okla. ) High School on July 25-26.
Participants include Lake Hamilton’s Phillip Butterfield, Springdale’s Ashton Glaser, Little Rock Christian’s Griffin Kuhn and Pulaski Academy’s Spencer Keith along with underclassmen Hayden Smith of Warren, Claude Johnson of Pine Bluff, Brandon Allen of Fayetteville and Kiehl Frazier of Shiloh Christian.
The event was created in 2004 by former Arkansas quarterback Jason Allen and Gus Malzahn, the former Springdale coach who is now Tulsa’s offensive coordinator. The Arkansas event will be one of seven across the country. The top two quarterbacks from each competition along with two others selected from the Darin Slack Quarterback Academy will meet in Tulsa.
Slack, who is considered one of the best quarterback instructors in the nation, acquired ownership of the Top Gun Challenge and turned it into a national event. Allen has joined the company’s staff.
Slack played quarterback at Central Florida in the 1980 s and has trained more than 16, 000 athletes since opening his academy in 1988. One of the more recent success stories is LSU quarterback Matt Flynn, who led the Tigers to the 2007 BCS national championship.
“We want to give these quarterbacks the opportunity to compete and showcase their talents,” said Cameron Bowman, Top Gun’s marketing director. “Some of the quarterbacks don’t get the chance to go to the bigger camps and position camps and we’re providing them an opportunity to come in and compete with guys on their level.”
Quarterbacks will be graded on mental and physical tests during the first day. The physical tests will include the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, standing broad jump and others. The mental testing will involve general football vocabulary, coverages, awareness and other gamelike situations.
The second day schedule consists of events focused on speed, mobility, accuracy and arm strength. The competition will be held at Shiloh’s Field of Champions in Springdale beginning at 7 p. m. Thursday. Fans are invited to attend the night event. Admission is $ 5.
Participants in the challenge will also be taught character and leadership skills, the same formula that Allen and Malzahn started with five years ago,
“The challenge is more than a competition. Yes, we teach them about football,” Bowman said. “We go over different skills; we do different drills that help them improve on Friday nights. What we really do is give them the tools and training to be leaders on the football field but leaders off the field as well. Jason takes that to heart. He lives that daily. He was a leader on the field and a leader off the field as well and he’s still that to this day.”
A free clinic will be conducted for children ages 12 and under from 10: 30 to 11: 30 Thursday morning. Members of the Darin Slack Quarterback Academy staff and participating Challenge quarterbacks will focus on leadership and basic quarterback techniques and drills.
RASNER LIKES HOGS Athlete Ross Rasner, 6-0 197, 4. 52 of Waco (Texas ) Reicher visited Arkansas during the Red-White spring game and encountered his first Hog call.
“I think it’s real cool that the whole city and state is dedicated to Arkansas football,” said Rasner, who has recorded a 4. 19 pro-shuttle. “They had a bunch of people there for the game. As soon as I got to Fayetteville everything was red and everyone had Arkansas stuff on. I thought it was neat how they call the pigs. I talked to Coach Petrino for a while when I was up for junior day. I loved all the coaches up there.”
Rasner has a scholarship offer from the Razorbacks along with SMU, Louisiana Tech, Utah, Tulsa, Rice and Navy. He’s made visits to Vanderbilt and SMU and has camped at Baylor.
Defensively, Rasner played linebacker and recorded 80 tackles and 1 interception. He was very productive at tailback, rushing 119 times for 703 yards and catching 31 passes for 409 yards while scoring 15 touchdowns.
Rasner said he’s nearing a decision and the Razorbacks are looking good.
“I think I’m done with camps,” he said. “I think I’m getting closer to making a decision. I would say Arkansas is No. 1 right now.”
Assistant coach Bobby Allen is recruiting Rasner and has persuaded him to attend Arkansas’ senior camp July 19.
“Coach Allen wants me to come up for the Arkansas camp in July,” Rasner said. “I’m definitely going to come up for that. I talk to him probably once a week and he’s real nice.”
Because of his versatility, Rasner doesn’t know where he’ll play if he chooses the Hogs.
“He [Allen ] said at first they were talking about outside linebacker and safety,” said Rasner, who sports a 31-inch vertical jump. “But the last time I talked to him, he said the running back, linebacker, safety and receivers coaches wanted to look at me at a few different positions.”
Surprisingly, Rasner said the hometown Baylor Bears do not have an inside track to his services, despite his family’s long history with the Baptist school. “Pretty much everyone in my family went to Baylor,” said Rasner, who sports a 3. 31 GPA. “My mom went there, both sets of grandparents went there. Also my uncle [and ] I think my aunt did but I kind of want to get out of Waco.” E-mail Richard Davenport at rdavenport@arkansasonline. com
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