Some football players will make a mistake if they enter the transfer portal.
Where the University of Arkansas football program has been the past two years is about to be ancient history. The young men who honor their commitment have a chance to become a special group in the history of the program.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
There is a right time and a wrong time to enter the transfer portal, and this is the wrong time.
The early signing period begins Wednesday, and most coaches won’t look at the portal until this signing period is finished. Many won’t look at it until the second signing period is over in February.
If a guy enters the portal now, he’s going to be there for a while, unless he’s going to go to a lesser conference. Most will have to sit out a year.
The NCAA has tightened up on letting a player transfer and become immediately eligible.
Tom Mars, a great attorney who probably leads the nation in getting transfers eligible, has worked as a consultant with the NCAA to help clear up some of the rules.
What these Razorbacks should do is be patient. See who Sam Pittman is going to hire and learn about his philosophy.
If Baylor can turn around its program in three years, so can Arkansas.
When it starts to turn it won’t stop, and there’s an opportunity to become known as an unforgettable player who stayed, played and made the Razorbacks a contender again.
There’s another big plus for remaining loyal: Pittman’s opinion is highly respected by NFL scouts, so if that is a player’s goal, then he is at the right place.
The Razorbacks have a tough schedule next season, and Pittman wants kids who are unafraid to go to Notre Dame and Auburn.
Pittman showed what kind of staff he wants when he hired Barry Odom as defensive coordinator.
Odom had some success as a head coach at Missouri, but his reputation as a defensive coordinator is nationally known.
What he and head coach Justin Fuente did at Memphis was amazing.
The Tigers were a basketball school that occasionally had good football teams, but they went in there and changed everything. Fuente eventually landed at Virginia Tech, and Odom left for Missouri. Odom, who played at Missouri, returned as defensive coordinator and was later promoted to head coach.
Pittman is looking for established, experienced coaches who know how to run a practice and help players improve.
Chad Morris’ practice style, which worked at SMU, was to run play after play after play, but not stop to teach.
Those days are over.
Pittman is known as a player’s coach, but also a coach’s coach, so there will be no shortage of applicants for jobs on his staff.
Assistant coaches who help turn programs around become head coaches.
Razorbacks basketball is fun to watch again.
There is a rhyme and reason for everything the team does on both ends of the court. It’s that “Mussel Hustle” that led to a 98-79 victory over Tulsa on Saturday. The team rarely needs to be told to play hard because it feeds off Coach Eric Musselman’s energy.
When he calls a rare timeout, there is a reason.
Midway through the final half, Tulsa started to make a run. Musselman called timeout, and Arkansas was back on track to earning a victory and 9-1 record.
The Hogs are unselfish and seem to have great team chemistry. Mason Jones set a personal high with 41 points, and his teammates knew he had the hot hand and got him the ball. The Hogs had 18 assists and only eight turnovers.