By Otis Kirk
Bentonville Class of 2021 linebacker Cole Joyce showed off his speed and talents on Saturday at Arkansas’ Elite Camp.
Joyce, 6-0, 209, talked about his performance following the camp.
“I felt like I did good,” Joyce said. “My 40 wasn’t the best I have ever had, but I felt like winning the Fastest Man was good. I did well in 7-on-7.”
He ran a laser 4.77 on Saturday at Arkansas when running the 40-yard dash solo. However, in the Fastest Man against the other linebackers he probably would have had a much faster time had he been timed since he won that by 3-4 yards. He turned in a laser 4.65 at a Rivals camp and also was timed at a hand-held 4.41 40-yard dash by the Bentonville coaches this spring.
Joyce holds offers to Tulsa, Bowling Green, Louisiana-Monroe and UAB. He’s hoping his performance on Saturday helped him with the Hogs.
“I think I did,” Joyce said. “I don’t know if it will be today, but hopefully soon.”
As far as the linebacker drills Joyce talked about how those went for him.
“I thought I did well,” Joyce said. “We had two rounds. The first round I didn’t do as well, but then I started picking it up at the end.”
At the camp, Joyce got to work with John Chavis. That was an experience he enjoyed.
“We did a lot of drills out there that I didn’t really know about,” Joyce said. “I really like playing under him and stuff.”
Joyce said he learned some things from Chavis that will help him during his junior season at Bentonville. Joyce has ties to the Razorbacks since his father was a high school close friend and then college roommate at Arkansas of Mike Neighbors, the women’s head basketball coach. Joyce talked about what an offer would mean to him.
“It would mean a lot,” Joyce said. “I have lived about 20 minutes from them my entire life. It would just be nice to get my home town.”
As a junior, Joyce had 80 tackles, four tackles for loss, one sack and three pass breakups in 2018.
