Starting with a bang: Hogs’ newcomers could pay early dividends

Arkansas running back Trelon Smith makes a catch in the backfield Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, during practice at the university's practice facility in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Just about every major college football program in the country brings in between 25 and 33% newcomers every season. It's the nature of today's game.

At the University of Arkansas for first-year coach Sam Pittman in 2020, that percentage might creep beyond one-third of the roster being players who have not taken a snap for the Razorbacks.

The influx of new talent isn't just from the freshman class or junior college transfers. Not in the second year of the transfer portal era.

Virtually every class has new blood in it for the Razorbacks, and potential impact talent at every position group, including in the kicking game.

Arkansas welcomed its freshman signees onto campus recently, and Pittman liked what he saw out of the members of the group, who were helped into their rooms by mask-wearing assistants in the age of covid-19.

"You know, I thought they all came in and looked like they were in pretty good shape," Pittman said on a Zoom chat with reporters last week.

Pittman pointed out a few of the freshmen on the call, such as defensive lineman Andy Boykin and quarterback Malik Hornsby.

"Andy Boykin came in, he looks good. He's a little over 300 pounds," Pittman said. "Malik came in, looked good.

"We always take a picture of them when they come in as freshmen and then when they leave and certainly what a huge transformation in all of them. I was pleased with the way they came in."

Boykin, of LaGrange, Ga., was listed at 262 pounds on national signing day, so the highly regarded defensive tackle has been putting on weight the last five months.

"I really like the group," Pittman added. "They've got a great attitude. You have to find people who want to be at Arkansas and want to play the game. I think we did in this group. I'm pleased with how they started."

The new group joins the previously enrolled freshmen and junior college signees, new transfer students and transfers who sat out last season, like tailback Trelon Smith, in comprising the influx of newcomers.

At quarterback, graduate transfer Feleipe Franks and the dual-threat Hornsby will be new to the room, along with walk-on Braden Bratcher of Pulaski Academy and transfer Cade Pearson of Texarkana, Texas, via North Texas. That will give first-year quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles seven players in his room, adding to returnees John Stephen Jones, KJ Jefferson and Jack Lindsey, who started the final three games of last season.

Smith drew raves as an elusive and swift scout team running back last fall as he sat out after transferring from Arizona State.

Former running backs coach Jeff Traylor was a huge advocate of Smith, who had a standout camp and proved to be a great test for the defense.

"He's like a Navy SEAL when it comes to his mental toughness," Traylor said. "He goes every rep full speed as hard as he can."

Smith had 107 "plus" grades out of 118 graded opportunities in a scrimmage in August in which several veteran backs had light days.

Smith and big-back signee Dominique Johnson, 6-1, 220 pounds, join a running back group that already included senior Rakeem Boyd, a 1,133-yard rusher in 2019, senior TJ Hammonds and redshirt freshman A'Montae Spivey.

At receiver, 6-3 Darin Turner is the lone freshman coming aboard after the Razorbacks added a talented class last season led by Treylon Burks and Trey Knox. However, Kendall Catalon will be eligible as a sophomore after a sit-out season following his transfer from Southern, and speedster Jaquayln Crawford will sit out this fall after transferring from Oklahoma.

Tight end signee Collin Sutherland and Blayne Toll, who signed as a defensive end but has already moved to tight end, join a room that had dwindled to one scholarship signee in redshirt freshman Hudson Henry, plus a group of walk-ons, including senior Blake Kern.

Arkansas, intent to begin beefing up, might be most notable on the offensive front, where signees Marcus Henderson, Jalen St. John and Ray Curry will all debut at more than 300 pounds this fall. Another newcomer is 6-5 sophomore Luke Jones of Pulaski Academy, who sat out in 2019 as a transfer from Notre Dame.

In the defensive backfield, four players are new to the squad, including Jerry Jacobs, an Arkansas State transfer from Atlanta who impressed during June workouts after coming off a knee injury.

Junior cornerback Montaric Brown pointed out Jacobs as one of the top performers in the secondary in a Zoom conference last week.

Freshman signees Myles Slusher, Nick Turner and Khari Johnson join with Jacobs to push one of the more veteran position groups on the team, featuring returning starters in Brown and Jarques McClellion at cornerback, Greg Brooks Jr., at nickel back and Joe Foucha at safety.

The linebacker corps is dotted with newcomers, and not just the signing class of freshmen Kelin Burrle, Eric Thomas Jr., JT Towers and Jacorrei Turner. Additionally, former Oklahoma Sooner Levi Draper has joined the roster in an effort to earn playing time at a position where veterans Hayden Henry, Grant Morgan and Bumper Pool lead the list of returnees.

On the same Zoom chat with Brown, Boyd pointed out senior linebacker Deon Edwards as a player that has impressed him in weight lifting and conditioning work in June.

Graduate transfer Xavier Kelly, a backup for Clemson teams that have been competing for national championships the last several years, comes aboard the Arkansas defensive front as a former top 150 prospect out of Wichita, Kan. He's one of a large group of newcomers on the Razorbacks' front that includes junior college transfer Julius Coates, a 6-6, 281-pounder who was an early enrollee in January, Boykin and fellow freshmen Jaqualin McGhee and Jashaud Stewart.

Arkansas struggled to find a difference maker as an edge pass rusher the last two seasons. However, the Hogs hope the return of Dorian Gerald from an artery issue in his neck, a healthier Mataio Soli and improvement from 2019 newcomers Zach Williams and Eric Gregory will be a start to that solution.

On special teams, the placekicking job is wide open after record-setting Connor Limpert's departure, and there are plenty of candidates.

Duke transfer AJ Reed and freshman Vito Calvaruso will join Matthew Phillips, a kicker-punter-kickoff candidate, in the race to replace Limpert, whose field goal accuracy of 78.8% (41 of 52) over three seasons broke the school-record formerly held by Zach Hocker (77.2%).

Punter George Caratan, a 6-2, 221-pounder who was on the Michigan roster the last two seasons, became the sixth transfer of the offseason for the Razorbacks in May. He is expected to be immediately eligible and challenge Sam Loy and Reid Bauer at a position Arkansas has not gotten good production from the last two years.