Breaking News: Isaiah Graham Announces Top 5 ahead of Arkansas Visit

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

College football recruiters are all in on Bastrop High School wide receiver Isaiah Graham. The 6’1”, 180 pound, receiver tore up opposing Louisiana high school defenses last year pulling down 48 passes for 1,138 yards with 20 receiving touchdowns leading to double-digit offers heading into his senior season.

The Class of 2016 recruit has offers from top programs from around the nation including Arkansas, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Cal, Nebraska, Miami, Texas Tech, Colorado State, TCU, South Carolina, Louisiana-Lafayette, and Louisiana Tech.

The Rams (1-1) had a tough 2014 season finishing 6-5 but are off to a hot start on offense scoring 56 points in Game 1 against Parkway and topped Shiloh Christian (Springdale, AR) 44-22 on Friday.

I caught up with Isaiah before his Sunday practice with the Bastrop to go over how the early part of his senior season has gone so far, a questionable officiated game against Shiloh Christian, and received some breaking news regarding his recruiting.

Interview

Isaiah, last time we spoke you had 12 offers and LSU was starting to show interest in you. Where is your recruiting right now? Any new offers or any new schools showing interest?

“Right now, I just broke it down to a couple of schools. Right now I have Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, Miami, and TCU. Those are my top schools right now.”

Those five teams are your Top 5 schools?

“Yes sir.”

I always like to find out how each recruit breaks down his pro-con list. I know we’ve talked about it before but now that you have your Top 5 how are you breaking down your list?

“I’m trying to find a school that fits me. I want to go somewhere where I know I can be productive and play and have a great four years. I don’t want to just go to a school based of the name and their crowd. I want to go to a school that fits me.”

Are all the schools recruiting you to play wide receiver?

“Yes sir. I just started playing defense this year.”

Will your Top 5 schools receive your five official visits?

“Yes sir. Right now those are the five that will get my official visits.”

You have an upcoming official to Arkansas right?

“Yes sir. I visit Arkansas this weekend.”

What are you looking forward to during your Arkansas visit from a recruiting standpoint?

“Just hanging around some of the players and getting information about the school. How do they feel about the environment, so I can try to put myself in their shoes.”

Looking at Dan Enos’ offense (offensive coordinator) at Arkansas, in the first two games of the season he has definitely brought a passing attack to Fayetteville. Are you excited about Enos’ passing attack?

“Yes sir. I feel like that is a big step in my recruiting process. I was really concerned at first with Arkansas running the ball a lot. With the new offensive coordinator they are throwing the ball a lot. It’s exciting and I’m looking forward to it.”

How has your senior season started out so far?

“The season has started off good. Our first game we fell short 56-57 by one point (Parkway – last second touchdown). Last Friday we came in and played like we were supposed to but I still feel like we could have played better offensively and defensively. We still came out with the win. We’re going to work today (Sunday), look at the stuff we missed, and get ahead for next Friday (vs. Rayville).”

I saw in the game against Shiloh Christian, Bastrop was called for 32 penalties!

“Yes sir. There was 46 penalties in all called, 32 against us. We had a lot of stuff called back. I had a 69-yard touchdown called back. Its part of the game. We still came out with the win but I don’t know about that game.”

I agree totally. At any point during the game before or after, did the Arkansas fans call the Hogs for you?

“No sir. I did talk to a lot of fans. It was a nice game. My dad talked to a lot of Arkansas fans too. It was good.”

What is your stat line so far for the season?

“Our first game I had six catches for 99 yards, and one touchdown and one rushing touchdown with three tackles. On Friday I had four catches for 50 yards with two tackles.”

What are some of the games you are looking forward to the rest of the way?

“October 9, we play against our rival high school, Neville. They are our big rivals. They have (4-star defensive tackle) Rashard Lawrence. I feel like that will be a real big game.”

Photo credit: nola.com; No. 2 Isaiah Graham.

Photo credit: scout.com; Isaiah Graham.