FAYETTEVILLE — Even though the most recent recruiting class now numbers 27 — 24 scholarship signees and three blue shirts — Arkansas head football coach Bret Bielema said last week that he likely is not done adding players to the roster for next season.
“Probably one of the more entertaining parts of my job is just keeping in touch with our roster,” Bielema said. “We have 85 scholarship players on our roster and 120 total on our roster, so 35 non-scholarship players.
“That is still kind of moving and bobbing. I had a couple of guys come in and one thing we warned these guys coming back is that we are not going to do anything to make this winter anything more than it needs to be, but if you are not mentally and physically ready to work then don’t come (back).
“So we have had a couple of kids that fall by the wayside so I actually have more than 25 scholarships to give and we have to come up with some creative ways to make that happen.
“…We have one more kid that we could sign in this initial class, but we plan on bringing in an additional three or four kids that could be put on scholarship as soon as the NCAA allows us to do that.
“It will be either defensive lineman or maybe a linebacker, could be an offensive lineman, but one of the things that I learned about years ago when I had a chance to recruit Russell Wilson.
“I only had one scholarship left and he transferred and obviously ending up being very good so have always tried to keep one open for that reason right there.”
So you are looking at possibly 30 new scholarship additions to the roster after a 7-6 season that ended with a skid.
That seems like a good idea to me when you look at the numbers in the 2018 class, which could be really small.
You start with the fact that there are only 13 scholarship seniors currently on the Razorback roster for next season.
So that means that at this very moment that Arkansas could sign just 13 prospects in the 2018 class.
It is likely there will be some attrition as there is in every class, but that number is to end up far closer to 18-20 than the 25 or more added recently.
Two of those spots are already taken with the commitments of Greenwood quarterback Connor Noland (6-2, 185) and Lucas, Texas, Lovejoy linebacker Bumper Pool (6-3, 220).
One would think that Arkansas would combine those two pledges with 10-12 offensive linemen, defensive linemen and linebackers.
You would also expect to add one or two running backs, wide receivers and tight ends each depending on how high the scholarship tally goes.
“Being a coach is sometimes about the math when it comes to recruiting,” Bielema said. “It is something I enjoy and I look forward to again with finishing out this class and moving toward the next one.”