Tag: arkansas recruiting

Hogs Land Former Bama Backer

Drew Sanders announced on Twitter today that he will be a Razorback.

Drew Sanders announced on Twitter today that he will be a Razorback. The former Crimson Tide linebacker entered the transfer portal earlier this week when he left Alabama. He made an official visit to Arkansas on Friday.

Sanders immediately boosts a linebacker room that loses Hayden Henry and Grant Morgan. Andrew Parker also returns, giving defensive coordinator Barry Odom three options with SEC playing time.

Sanders signed with Alabama out of Denton (TX) Ryan. He comes to Arkansas with a minimum of three years of eligibility.

Arkansas Football Hosts Former Bama Backer

The Hogs are in hot pursuit of another bash brother for Bumper Pool. With Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry moving on, the linebacker room needs more depth.

The Hogs are in hot pursuit of another bash brother for Bumper Pool. With Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry moving on, the linebacker room needs more depth. A highly regarded athlete with SEC experience would certainly help to fill the void.

Former Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Drew Sanders paid a visit to The Hill this week, checking out his potential new home. The former 4-star recruit from Denton, Texas, entered the transfer portal after Bama’s loss in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday. Sanders has a minimum three years of eligibility remaining and would be eligible to play this fall.

Rivals.com evaluates Sanders highly, predicting his decision will come down to either Arkansas or Oklahoma.

COMMITTED: Arkansas lands cornerback from Alabama

Arkansas adds cornerback Dallas Young from Alabama to Class of 2023.

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The fifth commitment in Arkansas’ Class of 2023 has been landed.

Cornerback Dallas Young announced Wednesday his commitment to the Razorbacks. Incidentally, he picked Arkansas over the Hogs’ Outback Bowl opponent Penn State. Young also had offers from Georgia, Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

Young, a three-star recruit, is the first defensive commitment in the class. Per Andrew Hutchinson at Rivals, Young had 60 tackles and eight pass break-ups for Gardendale High in Alabama this year.

Young joins previous commits Shamar Easter and Jaden Hamm at tight end, Joey Su’a on the offensive line and Anthony Evans III at wide receiver in the class.

Arkansas now has the No. 5 2023 recruiting class in the nation with Young’s addition.

Huge numbers of early-enrollees will only help Arkansas recruiting class

Arkansas is likely to have more players come into school in January than they have leave because of exhausted eligibility.

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Times are not far gone from when a college football program getting about a third of its recruiting class to enroll in the spring semester was considered a wild success. Eric Zeier, Georgia’s iconic quarterback of the early 1990s is largely considered the first major early-enrollee and he did it in January 1991.

Since then, the number of high-schoolers opting to skip their second semester of senior year and become college freshmen has boomed. So much so that Arkansas, with its No. 19 recruiting class in the nation, per 247Sports, is going to have 18 of its 23 new players in for spring ball.

“You get a guy in spring ball, you have a chance,” coach Sam Pittman said. “You have a chance to play. Certainly the ones that are ready, we’ll get ready. The ones that aren’t, hopefully we can get them on some type of special teams and help us through there.”

Enrolling early doesn’t guarantee immediate playing time. What it does do, however, is allow for a faster adjustment to the college game (or a new team in the case of transfers) so that when the fall football season rolls around, things don’t feel quite as unfamiliar.

Arkansas has 22 seniors on the roster. Some, like linebacker Bumper Pool, cornerback Montaric Brown and defensive tackle John Ridgeway and running back Trelon Smith, could return because of the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility granted to players who played in 2020 through the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the Hogs are going to lose a number of players in the high teens.

What early enrollees do is allow the body count not to drop for those six months before high school graduation.

“I don’t think it was too many years ago when if you got one, you got two that graduated at Christmas, it was kind of a big deal,” Pittman said. “Now, you bring in 20 guys that you bring in the spring, you’re losing 20-something, you have a chance to continue to get better.”

Arkansas’ early enrollees

Athlete Rashod Dubinion (3-star)

Running back James Jointner (3-star)

Wide receiver Quincy McAdoo (4-star)

Wide receiver Jadon Haselwood (Oklahoma transfer)

Tight end Dax Courtney (3-star)

Tight end Tyrus Washington (3-star)

Offensive lineman Andrew Chamblee (4-star)

Offensive lineman E’Marion Harris (4-star)

Offensive lineman Eli Henderson (3-star)

Defensive end Landon Jackson (LSU transfer)

Defensive end JJ Hollingsworth (3-star)

Linebacker Mani Powell (3-star)

Linebacker Jordan Crook (3-star)

Linebacker Kaden Henley (3-star)

Cornerback Jaylen Lewis (3-star)

Safety Anthony Brown (3-star)

Punter Max Fletcher (2-star)

Long-snapper Eli Stein (2-star)

Local talent helps turn Arkansas into powerhouse

Fayetteville High School continues to be a place the Razorbacks seek when it comes to recruiting football talent.

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Fayetteville and, really, the surrounding metropolitan area of Northwest Arkansas has always produced a college football player or two for the Razorbacks and other college football programs across the country. Now, though, the area the locals call NWA is showing itself a legitimate goldmine of high-school talent and the Hogs are reaping the benefits.

Brandon Allen. Austin Allen. Brooks Ellis. Dre Greenlaw. Tyson Morris. Fayetteville High has provided a number of excellent players to the Arkansas roster in recent years.

Now the Razorbacks can add two more likely candidates.

Wide receiver Isaiah Sategna and linebacker Mani Powell are the two newest FHS products who will call Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium home. Oh, and for fun, the Razorbacks also landed defensive end JJ Hollingsworth from Greenland, which is a grand total of miles from the Arkansas campus.

Sategna is the gem of the class, it’s highest-rated player. He is the No. 1 player in the Natural State and the No. 115 player in the nation, a four-star, per 247Sports’ rankings. With the loss of Treylon Burks out wide, it’s possible Sategna could step into a role – likely not a starting role – by fall.

Powell is a three-star and the No. 6 player in the state. He missed much of the Fayetteville High season with an injury, but he was so dedicated to Arkansas that moved from Ohio a year prior to be near DWRRS.

Hollingsworth is the No. 10 player in the state and the first-ever Razorback footballer from Greenland, a Class 3A school just south of Fayetteville.

And from one town to Fayetteville’s north, in Springdale, comes linebacker Kaden Henley from Shiloh Christian, which Razorbacks fans know as the former stomping grounds for ex-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

Pittman has almost put up a no-exit fence around the state of Arkansas and the Razorbacks are looking better because of it.

Sam Pittman, the former O-line coach, loves his O-line class

Arkansas’ most impressive group from signing day is a group coach Sam Pittman is awfully familiar with.

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Sam Pittman became a fan favorite during his first stint at Arkansas for his personality and his work with the Razorbacks’ offensive line. Enough so, even, that he was embraced to be the next Hogs coach following Chad Morris’ departure before he even arrived.

And even though Pittman runs the whole shebang now on The Hill, offensive line is still his bread and butter. When Arkansas landed four offensive linemen as part of their 2022 Class on signing day Wednesday, he was all smiles.

“There’s not one kid that we’ve got right now that I wouldn’t have offered when I was the line coach at Georgia,” Pittman said.

Athens was Pittman’s place of employment before he became head coach at Arkansas. The Bulldogs have been known for mauling and athletic offensive lines for most of the last 20 years.

Among the top six recruits, ranked by 247Sports’, that Arkansas landed, three of them are on the offensive line. Two are from inside the Natural State and the other just over the Mississippi River in Memphis. Andrew Chamblee from Maumelle and E’Marion Harris of Robinson High in Little Rock are four-star players. Patrick Kutas, from Memphis, is a three-star.
Pittman didn’t take credit for the haul, though. Instead, he complimented his offensive line coach, and main recruiter for the position, Cody Kennedy
“I thought Coach Kennedy did an outstanding job of coaching this year, and then recruiting,” Pittman said. “That’s part of your job description. You can’t be a great coach and a terrible recruiter, and you can’t be a good recruiter and a terrible coach. You have to be both, and that’s what Coach Kennedy is.”

Pittman and Co. get it done on early signing day

Sam Pittman and his staff were able to recruit one of Arkansas’ best classes, especially with regards to in-state players.

Sam Pittman and his staff were rewarded both for their work on the recruiting trail and during an 8-win 2021 campaign on Wednesday.

20 players inked letters of intent and two transfers (Jadon Haselwood and Landon Jackson) both signed with the Razorbacks.

Pittman was already in a good mood based on the previous day’s news about Jalen Catalon.

He also said during a press conference on Wednesday that he didn’t anticipate losing either Kendal Briles nor Barry Odom.

The only player that is committed to Arkansas that did not sign during the early period on Wednesday was 4-star safety Myles Rowser out of Belleville High School in Detroit, Mich.

Rowser intends on signing in February, but there are rumors that he is wavering on his commitment.

National team rankings as of 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday were as follows:

247 Sports: 13th (7th in SEC)

Rivals: 12th (6th in SEC)

ON3: 20th (9th in SEC)

Should be a consensus top 20 class when all is said and done.

FUTURE HOGS: 2022 early signing day recruiting tracker

Arkansas is off to a great start with the class of 2022 as signatures are rolling in.

Arkansas has gotten busy on early signing day for the class of 2022 thus far.

After Max Fletcher, the Australian punter, got things off to a head start with his signature, the fax machine started rolling this morning.

Here are the signees:

Tyrus Washington, tight end, 6’4, 230, Leesburg, Ga. (Lee County)

E’Marion Harris, offensive tackle, 6’7, 338, Little Rock, Ark. (Joe T. Robinson)

Nico Davilier, defensive end, 6’2, 265, Maumelle, Ark. (Maumelle)

Anthony Brown, cornerback, 6’2, 165, Milan, Tenn. (Milan)

Andrew Chamblee, offensive tackle, 6’6, 293, Maumelle, Ark. (Maumelle)

Isaiah Sategna, wide receiver, 5’11, 165, Fayetteville, Ark. (Fayetteville)

Rashod Dubinon, running back, 5’10, 173, Ellenwood, Ga. (Cedar Grove)

James Jointer, running back, 5’11, 205, Little Rock, Ark. (Parkview)

Jordan Crook, linebacker, 6’0, 225, Duncanville, Texas (Duncanville)

Dax Courtney, tight end, 6’6, 210, Dewitt, Ark. (Clarendon)

Quincey McAdoo, wide receiver, 6’3, 173, Clarendon, Ark. (Clarendon)

Jaylen Lewis, safety, 6’1, 175, Brownsville, Tenn. (Haywood)

Mani Powell, linebacker, 6’2, 225, Fayetteville, Ark. (Fayetteville)

Patrick Kutas, offensive tackle, 6’5, 268, Memphis, Tenn. (Christian Brothers)

Eli Henderson, offensive guard, 6’4, 285, Duncan, S.C. (Byrnes)

Eli Stein, long snapper, 6’3, 215, Cambridge, Wisc. (Cambridge)

Sam M’Bake, wide receiver, 6’2, 217, Kennesaw, Ga. (North Cobb)

Kaden Henley, linebacker, 6’2, 225, Springdale, Ark. (Shiloh Christian)

J.J. Hollingsworth, defensive end, 6’4, 250, Greenland, Ark. (Greenland)

 

Former LSU DL Jackson commits to Razorbacks

Landon Jackson committed to the Arkansas Razorbacks on Sunday.

Landon Jackson, a 4-star defensive end from Texarkana, Texas and most recently a LSU Tiger, decided to make his next destination announcement on Sunday.

LSU hired Brian Kelly to replace the fired Ed Orgeron and a number of players have elected to transfer in the wake of that decision.

Jackson was a star at Pleasant Grove High School in Texarkana, winning two 4A Division II state championship titles during his prep career.

He was the No. 8 edge rusher in the nation and a top 125 recruit in the class of 2021.

Class of 2023 Razorbacks commit Anthony Evans reflects on his decision

Anthony Evans became the fourth member of Arkansas’ 2023 recruiting class last week.

Judson High School wide receiver Anthony Evans became the fourth, and latest member, of the Arkansas Class of 2032 when he committed on Thanksgiving Day.

Evans is a three-start wideout from Texas whose calling card is his quickness. He chose Arkansas over Iowa State, Texas Tech, Texas Christian and Houston. He joins four-star tight ends Shamar Easter and Jaden Hamm and three-star offensive lineman Joey Su’a in the class, which is currently ranked No. 7 the nation.

“I pulled the trigger mainly because of (Arkansas head coach Sam) Pittman and (wide receivers coach Kenny) Guiton,” Evans said. “They’ve been in constant contact several times a week with phone calls and text and truly made me feel like I was a priority.”

Evans said he told the Arkansas coaching staff of his decision during Alabama week.

“The relationship with them made it easy,” he said. :Then when I came up there and actually talked to Treylon Burks, Isaiah Sategna, Lucas (Coley) and other players, they solidified what I was already feeling.”