By Richard Polen

sports@joplinglobe.com

Two Joplin football players have verbally committed to play at the University of Arkansas next season.

Jordan Rainey, a 6-foot-5, 310-pound guard, and Brad Hefley, a 6-4, 255-pound tight end, have agreed to join the Razorbacks under head coach Bobby Petrino.

Rainey and Hefley will play their senior seasons at Joplin High School this fall. Hefley recently moved to Joplin from Riverton, Kan.

“I believe both of these guys will have the opportunity to play in the Southeastern Conference,” Joplin head coach Doug Buckmaster said. “It’s just a great opportunity with their facilities and coaching staff.

“The venues they’ll be playing in was a big selling point for them,” he said, naming other schools in the conference such as Florida, Alabama, Louisiana State and Tennessee. “All of these schools have great academics.

“He (Rainey) had been to Kansas and Kansas State, but once he set foot on the campus at Arkansas, he decided that was the place he wanted to be,” Buckmaster said.

Rainey attracted the attention of the Razorbacks when offensive line coach Mike Summers saw video highlights of his junior season in high school.

“They did not see him play in person but evaluated him on video,” Buckmaster said. “Jordan, along with our skilled position players, had a tremendous year last year. He (Summers) thought Jordan was definitely a Division I player and would be successful in the SEC.”

Summers was offensive line coach under Petrino in 2007 for the Atlanta Falcons, and the two coached at Louisville from 2003-2006 when Petrino’s teams went 41-9, including a 24-13 victory over Wake Forest in the 2007 BCS FedEx Orange Bowl.

Petrino is in his second season as head coach of the Razorbacks.

“The biggest thing was the coaching/player relationship and the facilities,” Rainey said. “The offensive line coach stressed the bonding that goes on. They go on fishing trips together, things like that.

“I committed before Brad did. That will make things easier, having him with me. We’ve become good friends. Before he came here from Riverton, we had heard a little about him. He’s definitely going to be a good addition to our team.”

Hefley played tight end and inside linebacker last season at Riverton. He had 42 unassisted tackles, 48 assisted tackles, 22 tackles for losses and returned an interception for a touchdown.

On offense, he caught nine passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 10 times for 134 yards and three touchdowns. Arkansas recruited Hefley as a tight end.

“It’s only an hour and a half away, so my parents can see the games,” Hefley said. “Plus, my dad got his degree there. I have a lot of family who live down there.

“The way they use their tight ends is a lot like Joplin. It’s a great fit for me.”

Other schools who recruited Helfey included Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Iowa State and Nebraska. Oklahoma and Missouri had expressed an interested, along with some Big 10 schools, Buckmaster said.

“He will bring more size at the tight end position than we’ve ever had since I’ve been at Joplin,” said Buckmaster, who is 26-14 in four seasons with the Eagles. “We have not utilized the tight end in our passing game.

“We will move him around a lot. We’ll move him out to wide receiver and in the slot,” he said. “There’s a good chance he’ll have some opportunities to run with it also.”

On defense, Hefley will be a defensive end along with Mike Jenkins, a 6-2, 240-pound senior. Rainey will play some at defensive tackle.

“We will be bigger,” Buckmaster said. “We will be playing more offensive linemen on the other side of the ball out of necessity.”

Learning a new position is part of the adjustment Hefley is looking forward to making.

“It’s a really big change going from two people competing for a position to six or seven,” he said. “There’s a lot of competition here. I’m going to learn a lot more because it’s a lot different.

“I haven’t played defensive end but I did it at camp. That’s where other colleges had looked at me. It’s a really fun position to learn, and I love defense.”