Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas played host to recruits on unofficial visits this past Saturday and one of the top recruits in attendance was Mount Juliet (Tenn.) cornerback Josh Shelton.

Shelton (6-foot-2, 180 pounds, 4.51 seconds in the 40-yard dash) didn't have to worry whether Arkansas would offer him a scholarship since the Razorbacks had previously offered him. Shelton is being recruited by Arkansas' Steve Caldwell. Shelton was excited a couple of weeks ago when he received the scholarship offer from the Razorbacks, but even then he didn't realize how impressed he would be once he visited Fayetteville.

"It went real good, I liked everything," Shelton said. "I didn't expect it to be like that. Man, Arkansas is like an NFL place with all those facilities. The weight room is 110 yards. The weight room, the (stadium), everything....it (the visit) definitely moved them up on my list."

Shelton had said prior to the visit that one thing he would definitely be interested in was how the coaches were when he got to meet and talk to them.

"I got to meet Coach Caldwell in person," Shelton said. "He is a very nice person. I also got to meet Coach (Willy) Robinson and he seemed really intelligent. I like all the coaches."

Shelton said the recruiting attention he's getting has him excited. Shelton's stock is high with recruiters, in large part due to his height. Colleges are looking for taller cornerbacks now with so many offenses featuring even more multiple-receiver sets than in the past.

"My strength is definitely playing against the big wide receivers," Shelton said. "I can stop them from having big games. With my height, I know when it comes to a jump ball against the receiver I can defend that. There aren't many cornerbacks as tall as I am."

Shelton said he has plans to visit another SEC school and continue his work to improve.

"I will visit Vanderbilt this week," Shelton said. "Other than that, I'm working hard in the weight room training."

Despite the impressive visit to Arkansas, Shelton said he isn't ready to pull the trigger on an oral commitment at this time.

"I will commit somewhere before my senior season," Shelton said. "I want to get (my decision) out of the way so I can enjoy and concentrate on my senior season and try to help us win a state championship."

While Shelton is keeping his options open at this point concerning a school, he does admit any of the 12 schools in the SEC including Arkansas have a huge plus in their favor.