Shiloh Christian linebacker Kaden Henley (6-2, 220) and Greenland defensive end JJ Hollingsworth (6-4, 250) became the first two Arkansas 2022 signees to practice with the Razorbacks when they joined in workouts on Monday morning.
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman was both pleased and entertained by them.
“It was awesome to see them looking around lost," he said. "I walked up to them a couple times and said, ‘Hey, you see all these guys around here? They were lost, too. Just kind of fit in where you get in.’”
They are two of 16 early enrollees who will start classes in January and have the chance to go through offseason conditioning and spring practices.
“They ran scout team today and went through individual,” Pittman said. “It was great to have them here. It’s fun to have those guys here. They have no clue what’s going on, but they’re so excited to be here.”
Pittman said an injury to walk-on quarterback Kade Renfro, who tore his ACL in practice, might make Arkansas look in the NCAA transfer portal for another quarterback.
The Razorbacks have starter KJ Jefferson, backup Malik Hornsby, John Stephen Jones and Lucas Coley as scholarship players at the position on the current roster. Jones went through senior ceremonies before the Missouri game, although he has remaining eligibility.
Former Little Rock Parkview star Landon Rogers was signed as a quarterback, but moved to a tight end/wide receiver role where Pittman said he is likely to stick.
“Well, I think it certainly makes you look (at the portal),” Pittman said. “I think if you ended up doing that, you’d certainly need to sit down and talk to Malik and KJ about it before you ever would do it."
Arkansas had several players announce in the last week that they were entering the transfer portal, including defensive lineman Andy Boykin, safety Jermaine Hamilton-Jordan, linebacker J.T. Towers, wide receiver Darin Turner and offensive lineman Jalen St. John.
If they remain in the portal and transfer as expected, it would allow Arkansas to sign a player to replace them from high school, junior college or the portal.
“If we got to a total of six, would we use it on a quarterback? Possibly," Pittman said. “But Coley’s getting a lot of reps right now, as well, so I think you’d have to wait a little bit over the next week and a half to find that out, whether you felt comfortable there or not and he’s getting a lot better.
"We’ll just wait and see on that.”