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Forrest City’s Sleepy McKinney awoke the scoreboard just three plays into his first game at his new home up in Fayetteville.
Though not yet playing for the Razorbacks, University of Arkansas freshman receiver Davyon “Sleepy” McKinney snagged a 16-yard touchdown on the game’s third play from scrimmage igniting the East to a 32-3 victory over the West in Thursday night’s Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“First catch and I get a touchdown,” McKinney said. “The first time to catch it I got six wanting to be a Razorback and now I am a Razorback.”
McKinney actually has been a Razorback for a few weeks now, attending UA summer school classes upon graduation from Forrest City High and doing all the “voluntary” summer conditioning with Razorbacks teammates until the week of All-Star practices. Then as Razorbacks it was just McKinney and West defensive tackle Grady Ollison of Malvern competing in Thursday’s High School All-Star game. “Grady is my roommate, McKinney said “I told him, ‘We we win, we are going to be talking about it all night.’ If I lose, he is going to be talking about it all night. But we gave them a butt whipping - 32-3? We gave them a butt-whipping!”
Also from East quarterback Seth Keese of Harding Academy, McKinney snagged a 10-yard second-quarter pass fueling to the East to a field goal drive en route to a route.
Pretty energetic night for a guy named “Sleepy.”
“Sleepy came from Peewee football,” McKinney explained. “My coach said, ‘What are you doing sleeping, yawning all the time?’ My little cousin started calling me ‘Sleepy’ and when I got to high school everybody started calling me ‘Sleepy.’ They call me that more than my real name.”
Forrest City receivers coach Tommy Wheetley, attending McKinney’s All-Star practices and game, thinks McKinney will be the sleeper redshirted in 2011 jolting Razorbacks fans awake in 2012 with heralded 2011 senior Razorbacks receivers Joe Adams, Greg Childs and Jarius Wright graduated by then. “He just needs to get a little bigger and stronger,’ Wheetley said of Adams, a still developing 6-3, 185-pounder. “ A redshirt year might take care of that. I think his future is bright. He’s 4.5 (40-yard dash) and can probably get quicker and he’s really football smart.”
Under ex-NFL coach/fourth-year coach Bobby Petrino, “Sleepy” awakens among the smartest, deepest, quickest and strongest receiving corps in the country. “We tried to throw as much to him as we could,” Wheetley said of McKinney at Forrest City High. “But up here he is going to love it. I figure he will fit right in and they will love his work ethic. He picks things up quick.”
Forrest City’s Sleepy McKinney awoke the scoreboard just three plays into his first game at his new home up in Fayetteville.
Though not yet playing for the Razorbacks, University of Arkansas freshman receiver Davyon “Sleepy” McKinney snagged a 16-yard touchdown on the game’s third play from scrimmage igniting the East to a 32-3 victory over the West in Thursday night’s Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star game at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“First catch and I get a touchdown,” McKinney said. “The first time to catch it I got six wanting to be a Razorback and now I am a Razorback.”
McKinney actually has been a Razorback for a few weeks now, attending UA summer school classes upon graduation from Forrest City High and doing all the “voluntary” summer conditioning with Razorbacks teammates until the week of All-Star practices. Then as Razorbacks it was just McKinney and West defensive tackle Grady Ollison of Malvern competing in Thursday’s High School All-Star game. “Grady is my roommate, McKinney said “I told him, ‘We we win, we are going to be talking about it all night.’ If I lose, he is going to be talking about it all night. But we gave them a butt whipping - 32-3? We gave them a butt-whipping!”
Also from East quarterback Seth Keese of Harding Academy, McKinney snagged a 10-yard second-quarter pass fueling to the East to a field goal drive en route to a route.
Pretty energetic night for a guy named “Sleepy.”
“Sleepy came from Peewee football,” McKinney explained. “My coach said, ‘What are you doing sleeping, yawning all the time?’ My little cousin started calling me ‘Sleepy’ and when I got to high school everybody started calling me ‘Sleepy.’ They call me that more than my real name.”
Forrest City receivers coach Tommy Wheetley, attending McKinney’s All-Star practices and game, thinks McKinney will be the sleeper redshirted in 2011 jolting Razorbacks fans awake in 2012 with heralded 2011 senior Razorbacks receivers Joe Adams, Greg Childs and Jarius Wright graduated by then. “He just needs to get a little bigger and stronger,’ Wheetley said of Adams, a still developing 6-3, 185-pounder. “ A redshirt year might take care of that. I think his future is bright. He’s 4.5 (40-yard dash) and can probably get quicker and he’s really football smart.”
Under ex-NFL coach/fourth-year coach Bobby Petrino, “Sleepy” awakens among the smartest, deepest, quickest and strongest receiving corps in the country. “We tried to throw as much to him as we could,” Wheetley said of McKinney at Forrest City High. “But up here he is going to love it. I figure he will fit right in and they will love his work ethic. He picks things up quick.”
One thing McKinney picked up quickly was don’t approach the August preseason like you are redshirting even if the presence of three senior stars and junior star in his own right Cobi Hamilton makes a redshirt year likely and advisable. “They said when it comes down to two-a-days, you put out the potential then you’ll be one,” McKinney said. “I am trying to make the team.”
He’s already fitting in, so far immune to the homesickness often afflicting football freshmen jump-started to college summer school classes and Division 1 conditioning drills just days out of high school.
“Naw, I’m not homesick, McKinney said. “I love it up here. They are getting me bigger, they are getting me stronger and they are getting me smarter.” Just like he knew they would as a receiver in Petrino’s pro style offense, an offense McKinney said made it easy to follow his heart in his home state even if Ole Miss at Oxford is a whole lot from Forrest City than is Fayetteville. “I had Ole Miss recruiting me” McKinney said “but Arkansas was always my first choice. Arkansas was my No. 1 choice the whole time. I grew up a Razorback fan all through my life and I committed in the 11th grade. Being a receiver, I wanted to get to the best passing team and that’s Arkansas.”
