Randon Ray is trading royal purple and old gold for a black and gold.
Ray announced via Twitter Tuesday night he was going to “switch gears” and commit to play football for Harding University in Searcy.
The Bearcat quarterback had previously accepted an offer to the University of Arkansas Rich Mountain in Mena to play baseball.
His Twitter announcement thanked the UA Rich Mountain staff and added #gobucks then called the change of course “one of the toughest decisions of my life so far.”
While playing for the Bearcats the last three years Ray ran for a school record 4,342 yards on 538 carries (8.1 per carry). He surpassed the record previously held by his father, Allen, in his final game which was played, ironically, on the field he will now call home with the Bison.
Ray ran for 1,609 yards during his senior season, including a season and career high 220 in a playoff win over Glen Rose in his final game at Bearcat Stadium.
Ray has the fifth and ninth best single season rushing marks.
Ray also scored a school record tying 33 touchdowns this season. He shares that record with his brother Carson, a 2019 graduate.
Those 33 senior year scores gave Ray 76 touchdowns for his career, which is also a record tying mark, matching the total by Bryson May.
All but two of the touchdowns came on rushing plays with the others being a reception as a sophomore and a defensive touchdown as a junior.
Ray also scored six two-point conversions in his career which gives him 468 total points scored. That ranks third to his father’s 515 and May’s 482.
One of the two-point conversions came in a playoff game. Ray scored 19 playoff touchdowns, which ranks second to May’s 20.
In eight playoff games Ray ran for 999 yards.
