Razorbacks Recruiting: Arkansas lands two 2025 5-star signees on McDonald’s All American team; four visitors update; more
on 2025-01-28 18:00 PM
By Kevin McPherson
LITTLE ROCK — When it comes to John Calipari’s high school recruiting, he’s the best college coach ever to stack up McDonald’s All American studs, and for the second consecutive recruiting class since coming to Arkansas he’s nabbed at least two burger boys.
That’s because the Razorbacks’ two class of 2025 national Top 10-rated / 5-star guards – Darius Acuff, Jr. (6-2, Detroit native, IMG Academy, ESPN national No. 4 prospect) and Meleek Thomas (6-4, Pittsburgh native, Overtime Elite, Rivals national No. 7 prospect) — were both named to the prestigious McDonald’s All American team on Monday.
Acuff will play for the 12-player East squad while Thomas will play for the 12-player West squad. The 2025 McDonald’s All American game will be played on Tuesday, April 1, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY (8 p.m. CT, ESPN).
Both Acuff and Thomas were recently among 25 players named to the Naismith Trophy High School Player of the Year Mid-Season Team.
Calipari’s first Arkansas recruiting class in 2024 included a total of three McDAA’s — two from high school signees in 5-star prospects Boogie Fland and Karter Knox plus Kentucky transfer DJ Wagner (the latter was a 5-star McDAA in 2023).
Acuff was also recently named to the Team USA squad that will compete in the prestigious annual Nike Hoop Summit (Saturday, April 12, Moda Center, Portland, Ore., USA Network). Additionally, Acuff was recently named 1 of 10 players on the MaxPreps National Player of the Year watch list.
Acuff certainly has performed on a national-player-of-the-year level so far in his senior 2024-25 season, garnering Co-MVP honors in December at the highly regarded City of Palms event in Florida.
Thomas has been a star, too, averaging 26.9 points, 8.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.9 steals in 31.6 minutes per game while shooting 44.0% overall from the field, including 38.7% from 3, and 79.2% from the free throw line so far this season on OTE.
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Hoop Hogs hosted at least four recruits spanning last 30 days: The latest priority recruit parade began with 2026 in-state 5-star prospect JaShawn “JJ” Andrews, who took his official visit to Arkansas on Dec. 29-31.
During his visit, Andrews (6-6 wing, Little Rock Christian Academy) attended the Razorbacks’ 92-62 home win over non-conference foe Oakland on Dc. 30 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, and sources told Hogville that Andrews also attended a practice as well as the Hoop Hogs’ team shootaround prior to the Oakland game.
“It was a great visit,” Andrews told Hogville. “I was excited to be able to get an inside scope of what it is like to play basketball fo Coach Cal at the University of Arkansas.”
Andrews had previously taken OVs to Missouri and North Carolina State, and a week following his Arkansas visit he took an OV to LSU. He has at least two more visit scheduled — both in February — to Marquette and Oklahoma.
Andrews — he was also courtside to watch the Razorbacks’ 82-57 non-conference win over in-state Division 1 foe Central Arkansas on Dec. 14 at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock — scored a career-high 43 points to go with 13 rebounds in LRCA’s 80-63 win over Maumelle last week. The 2023-24 4A state title game MVP and two-time defending state champion is averaging a double-double for the Warriors on the season — 28.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.
The next visitor in for a game was 2026 ESPN national No. 17 / 5-star prospect Jalen Montonati (6-6 wing, Owasso, Okla.), who as an unofficial visitor attended Arkansas’ 71-63 home loss to then-No. 8 Florida on Jan. 11 at BWA. Regarded as one of the top sharpshooters from distance in the nation, Montonati has been at Arkansas to attend games multiple times.
In for the Hogs’ most recent home game — a 65-62 loss to Oklahoma on Saturday at BWA — was a pair of unofficial visitors in 2027 247Sports national No. 31 / 4-star prospect Beckham Black (6-3 point guard, Duncanville, TX) and 2025 Hogs signee and ESPN national No. 67 / 4-star prospect Isaiah Sealy (6-7 combo guard, Springdale).
Black is the younder brother of former Arkansas star and current Orlando Magic guard Anthony Black. Like his older brother, Beckham Black is a skilled and savvy playmaking facilitator whose three-point shooting is one of the strengths to his game.
Sealy was named MVP of the prestigious King Cotton Holiday Classic in December after averaging 20.0 points to lead his team to the event’s championship while more than holding his own against 5-stars Shelton Henderson (2025) and Alex Constanza (2026) as well as highly regarded 4-star Florida Gators signee Alex Lloyd.
Sealy joined Acuff and Thomas in pledging and signing during the NCAA’s early period in November. The Razorbacks’ 2025 three-player high school recruiting haul is ranked top 5 nationally in each of the various national recruiting services.
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Hogs make cut for top-shelf recruit from Virginia: 2025 priority Razorbacks target and composite national No. 4 / 5-star prospect Nate Ament last week narrowed his list of college suitors down to 11 schools: Arkansas, Duke, BYU, Louisville, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, Notre Dame, Kansas State, and Georgetown.
Calipari has prioritized Ament (6-9 jumbo wing / combo forward, The Highlands School in Virginia) by making multiple stops in Virginia and other scattered events to see the sharpshooter in action.
A source told Hogville weeks ago that Ament is looking to visit Arkansas during the current basketball season to attend a Hogs game at BWA, but no visit date has been confirmed or announced publicly yet.
Like Acuff and Thomas, Ament was announced to the aforementioned 2025 McDonald’s All American team on Monday. He’ll play on the East squard with Acuff. And like Acuff, he was named to the aforementioned Team USA squad that will compete in the 2025 Nike Hoop Summit.
(Last updated: 2025-01-28 18:00 PM)