Arkansas baseball commit Gideon Motes of Bryant giving up football

The reigning 7A state football title game MVP will stick to the diamond his senior year at Bryant

Nate Olson | May 26, 2023

By Nate Olson | Photo by Jimmy Jones

University of Arkansas baseball commit Gideon Motes’ high school football career is over.

The Bryant High School rising senior quarterback is giving up football to stay healthy for baseball, his mother, Tracie Motes, said via social media this week.

Motes missed most of last season with a right shoulder injury he sustained in the preseason benefit game with Pulaski Academy. Motes rehabilitated the injury and shared time late in the regular season with sophomore Jordan Walker and then replaced Walker in the state title game, earning MVP honors by passing for 197 yards and four touchdowns and running for 67 yards.

Motes, who is ambidextrous and pitches left-handed, threw 56 innings this season with a 2.13 ERA while striking out 65 and walking 38 for the Hornets, who lost in the opening round of the Class 6A state playoffs.

Motes pledged to the Hogs early in 2022.

Published May 26, 2023

NATE OLSON

Nate Olson has covered prep and college sports in Arkansas since 1998. He has managed several newspapers and magazines in The Natural State and has won numerous awards for his work. Nate, who also has six years of public relations experience, has appeared statewide on radio and television throughout his career, and currently co-hosts a high school football postgame radio show.