Arkansas Athlete Talks Oklahoma

Warren, Ark., native Jarius Wright is the type of player who is just simply dangerous anytime he gets the ball in his hands, hence the creative ways he has been used throughout the past two seasons at Warren High School. Oklahoma has already offered the prolific athlete and he has the Sooners high on his list.

Jarius Wright started at wide receiver for the first time in his life this season at Warren High School and hauled in 51 receptions for 1086 yards and nine touchdowns. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound athlete also returned two kickoffs for touchdown and hit pay dirt four times as a quarterback. Add that to the experience at both cornerback and safety over the past few years and you have one versatile recruit.

“This year was really my first playing wide receiver, but then towards the end of the season and into the playoffs I played quarterback,” Wright said. “We throw the ball a little, however I was mostly just doing option reads from quarterback and using my athleticism to make plays. I played quarterback from near the end of the season all the way to the state championship game.”

The state championship game ended up being especially tough to handle considering how it turned out in the end. A simple loss would have been much easier to handle then how Warren ended up losing the game according to Wright.

“We were in double overtime and had just scored, but our defense was dog tired, so we decided to go for two and get the win,” Wright added. “I took the ball from center and dove towards the goal line and the ball broke the plain, but they said my knee was down and we lost 21-20. When they showed the replay it was obvious that my knee wasn’t down and we had won, but there was nothing that could be done. Luckily it was my junior season, so we’ll just have to get back there as a team again this year and get it done.”

Speaking of team, Wright and his teammates just went to Oklahoma for a team camp where they spent three days doing 1-on-1, 7-on-7, 11-on-11 and position specific drills and Wright was able to learn a few more things to help himself at wide receiver for the future.

“I have been spending a lot of time working on my route running and learned some things at camp that will help,” Wright stated. “I think the biggest thing was just learning how to finish my routes cleaner and break down better using chop steps. That is the part of my game that I need to work on the most because I am not a big possession guy. I’m a smaller guy with a lot of speed who can score at anytime like Ted Ginn, so I need to be very good at route running.”

Currently, Wright claims to hold seven scholarship offers from Arkansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas Tech and Tulsa. We spent time talking to him about where the Sooners sat in his pecking order and what he likes so far about the program in general.

“My recruiter is Coach (Kevin) Sumlin and he sends me text messages on a weekly basis just keeping in touch with me,” Wright explained. “We have a real good relationship so far and he is very honest and upfront with me, always being blunt about the recruiting game and giving me facts. I have watched Oklahoma on television a few times over the years and like the offense there a lot because they spread the ball around and have had some really good quarterbacks over the years. I know they have a great tradition of winning football there and played for a national championship a few years ago.”

“Another thing is that I know they put wide receivers into the league every year, especially Mark Clayton who is one of my favorites. I like him a lot because he isn’t a big guy, but he is tough and gets the job done just like me. Oklahoma told me that if I come there they are going to put me in a role just like he played in and that is exciting to me. I plan on taking an official visit to Oklahoma some time this fall and right now they are one of my top three schools along with Arkansas and Texas Tech.”

Wright finished his junior season with 51 catches for 1086 yards and 15 touchdowns and was named first-team All-League, All-Area, All-County, All-Southeastern Arkansas and All-State.