Razorbacks offer electric athlete from Mississippi

Bedford is purely explosive with ball in his hands and has the knack for being opportunistic when it comes to making big plays.

"He was really good as a freshman playing varsity," Vardaman Rams coach Reggie Buchanan said. "His IQ and skill set is very high and it allows him to make big plays on both sides of the ball and special teams."

Bedford recorded 1,260 combined yards and 15 touchdowns on offense and two kick return touchdowns.

Defensively, he compiled 67 tackles, six forced fumbles, one fumble recovery returned for a score, one pick six and one blocked field goal.

Buchanan is high on his Bedford's potential and expects him to do big things at the high school level.

His impact helped Vardaman reach the quarterfinals of the Mississippi 1A playoffs with an 11-1 overall record, 3-0 in district play and achieve back-to-back undefeated regular seasons.

"He works out five to six times a week and mostly two times a day," Buchanan said. "I could tell he was going to be a special talent in eighth grade, if he stay on this path he’s going to be one of the best players to come out of Mississippi."

Being mentioned in the same conversation like Chris Jones, Jeffrey Simmons, Willie Gay, Deuce McAllister, Brett Favre, Fletcher Cox and many more so early in his career speaks to just how special coaches believe Bedford can be once he reaches his senior year.

Bedford's goals will not change going into his sophomore season as he plans to do much more of the same — dominate his competition.

"My goals this season are to get 2,000 yards, more than 20 touchdowns, surpass the six interception mark and win a Mississippi Class 1A state championship," Bedford said

His offer list consists of 23 programs such as Arkansas, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, SMU and many others.

Although Colorado's two-way superstar Heisman winner Travis Hunter impacted games on both sides of the football, Bedford may decide to focus on one position once he makes it to college despite how good he is with the ball in his hands.

"My favorite position is defensive back," Bedford said. "I feel very comfortable with my coverage ability and it’s very natural to me."

He plans to take several trips to various colleges across the nation this summer including Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

Arkansas currently has offers out to around 60 prospects in the 2028 class, including several around Mississippi such as Tupelo athlete Kaiden Buchanan, Brandon linebacker Travion Washington and now Bedford.

The uptick in Mississippi offers stems from Arkansas defensive backs coach Marcus Woodson, a native of Moss Point who played for Ole Miss from 1999-2002.

Current Razorbacks from the Magnolia State are a pair of 4-star freshmen defensive linemen, Kevin Oatis and Reginald Vaughn.

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