Elite FB discusses his top five

The nation’s second-rated fullback prospect appears to be focused hard on five schools.

“I’m looking at Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Alabama,” said four-star Conway (Ark.) product Peyton Hillis. “They’re all about even right now, but Arkansas might have a slight advantage because I grew up a Razorback fan.”

Hillis (6-2, 245, 4.7) is a fullback who can dominate in all three phases of the game – rushing, receiving and blocking. Through eight games this season, he’s rushed for 1,800 yards on only 140 carries (12.8 yards per attempt) and scored 22 touchdowns. Along the way, he recorded the best game of his prep career, a 384-yard, four-touchdown effort against Russellville.

Asked to break down his prospective schools, he offered the following:

“Arkansas is the home state school, my favorite team growing up. I like coach Nutt and his staff. They’re doing a good job there.

“Tennessee has real good coaches, too. They look like they’ll have a strong team coming back next year. I like their stadium. It would be nice to play in front of 107,000 people. They have great fans.

“Oklahoma has been on top of college football lately. Coach Stoops gives me a lot of personal attention. He says I can come in there and play early. They have one fullback right now, and he’s a senior, so they really want me to come in and play as a freshman.

“Nebraska says they’re sure I could play early, too. I like their style and my recruiting coach, coach Gill. That’s one place I haven’t been to yet, so I’m really looking forward to my official visit.

“I like Alabama because of Mike Shula. He’s a real nice guy and seems to run an offense that would suit me. It’s the type of offense that Mike Alstott ran at Purdue, where the fullback gets to carry the ball a lot and catch some balls out of the backfield. He’s my favorite player. I kind of pattern myself after him.”

Hillis has yet to schedule any of his official visits. He says he’s waiting to finish his season, and will make those trips in December and January.

Academically, he maintains a 2.8 GPA and has scored a 21 on the ACT.