Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Arkansas fans have clamored for Springfield (Mo.) Hillcrest wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham (6-6, 220, 4.4) to visit the Arkansas campus again and he will get within a few miles on Friday and Saturday.

Green-Beckham and Hillcrest is one of the 24 teams in the Southwest Elite 7-on-7 to be played at Shiloh Christian this weekend. Rivals.com rates Green-Beckham a five-star recruit and the No. 1 prospect in the nation. He has camped at Missouri and Oklahoma earlier this spring and summer. He attended the Arkansas-Alabama game in Fayetteville last year and was impressed at the time with the atmosphere at the game.

Green-Beckham has scholarship offers to schools all around the nation. He has made other unofficial visits to Arkansas and the Razorbacks have an attractive situation for wide receivers. The starters are all three seniors and junior Cobi Hamilton is highly regarded as well. The seniors are Joe Adams, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs. A wide receiver such as Green-Beckham could walk into a situation very favorable for a young receiver. Arkansas runs a Pro-Style offense and the opportunity not only for immediate playing time, but the possibility of starting would be present.

However, the talent going to be on display this weekend includes several others in addition to Green-Beckham. The tournament will include schools from five different states.

Among the other top recruits present are Oklahoma City (Okla.) Heritage Hall running back Barry Sanders, (5-11, 190, 4.4) and wide receiver Sterling Shepard (5-10, 177, 4.45). Shepard is committed to OU while Sanders has Alabama, Florida State, Stanford and Oklahoma State on his list of favorites. Sanders also attended the Alabama-Arkansas game last year and the Razorbacks eventually offered him, but he said recently he's no longer considering the Razorbacks.

Arkansas is among the several schools that has offered Olive Branch (Miss.) wide receiver D'Arthur Cowan, (6-1, 175, 4.5). Memphis, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, Arkansas State and Louisiana Tech have also offered Cowan.

Jonesboro wide receiver-running back Zac Brooks (6-2, 180, 4.4) is rated a four-star recruit by Rivals.com. Brooks recently committed to Clemson over Notre Dame, Arkansas and others. Brooks played running back last year, but may make the move to wide receiver in college.

Broken Arrow (Okla.) tight end Zac Veatch (6-4, 245, 4.75) has multiple offers and has seen his stock rise in recent weeks. Kansas, Tulsa, Oregon State and others have extended an early offer to Veatch.

Fayetteville junior quarterback Austin Allen (6-2, 203, 4.7) is the son of Arkansas assistant Bobby Allen and the younger brother of UA incoming quarterback Brandon Allen. Allen and Rogers Heritage sophomore Josh Qualls (6-1, 160, 4.6) are among the top underclassmen quarterback in the state. Springdale Har-Ber wide receiver Michael Fine (6-4, 185, 4.5) and Bentonville wide receiver Desmond Smith (6-1, 165, 4.55) are other top athletes going to be in the tournament. Fayetteville wide receiver Nathan Varady (6-2, 180, 4.5) recently won the fastest-man competition at Arkansas' three-day camp. He is one of Allen's favorite targets. Junior running backs Brice Gahagans (5-11, 170, 4.5) and Tearris Wallace (6-1, 203, 4.6) of Bentonville are also expected to be top recruits in the Class of 2013.

Each team will play seven pool-play games and then be seeded into a 24-team tournament. The pool play will run from 2-6 p.m. on Friday and 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The tournament will begin at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday with the finals set for approximately 4 p.m. that evening.

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The Arkansas Wings 17 & under team won the AAU national title last year and will be trying to repeat the honor this year.