FAYETTEVILLE — When former North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell announced his commitment to Arkansas on Saturday night, he went with his gut and desire to play for his home state.
“I wanted to come back,” Criswell said. “It's my home state. It wasn't that good of a year and I felt like I could be a difference maker in upcoming years.”
Criswell, 6-1, 207 pounds, completed 18 of 31 passes for 204 yards 1 touchdown against 1 interception in his three seasons in Chapel Hill. He also rushed 20 times for 133 yards and 1 touchdown with a long run of 26 yards.
He arrived in Fayetteville on Friday night and announced his decision to be a Razorback less than 24 hours later in large part because of offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.
“Great guy, people’s person, down to earth,” Criswell said. “Cares for his players, quarterbacks especially. Great coach. I like the scheme and everything he does. Pretty similar to where I came from at North Carolina.
“I'm just excited to get to work with him.”
He started one game against Wofford as a sophomore during the 2021 season and was 11 of 19 passing for 125 yards and 1 touchdown, and rushed 5 times for 66 yards and 1 touchdown.
Criswell was the back up to Drake Maye, who was the ACC’s Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year. Criswell appeared in 3 games and completed 2 of 6 passes for 9 yards, and rushed 4 times for 39 yards.
Despite being a consensus 4-star prospect and having an offer from Arkansas, Criswell was initially lightly recruited by the Razorbacks. He signed with the Tar Heels in 2020 over offers from Georgia, Miami, Ole Miss, Auburn, Oklahoma State and other schools.
"I'm a big believer in Christ,” Criswell said. “If things don't work out the way you planned, at that time North Carolina felt right. But at the end of the day, God wrote the story and I feel like I'm supposed to be back here.”
He plans to enroll in January. Criswell has three seasons of eligibility remaining because of the extra year provided by the NCAA to players who competed in 2020 at the height of the covid-19 pandemic.
Criswell was named Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior in 2019 after completing 206 of 316 passes for 2,869 yards and 27 touchdowns, and rushing 171 times for 1,282 yards and 24 touchdowns.
He placed seventh at the Elite 11 Opening Finals in high school. He had 5,925 passing yards and 58 touchdowns, and 2,568 rushing yards and 41 touchdowns in his career at Morrilton.
Soon after athletic director Hunter Yurachek announced Coach Sam Pittman’s hire on Dec. 8, 2019, Pittman reached out to Criswell to try to change his mind on signing with North Carolina on the 18th, the first day of the early signing period at the time.
Criswell remembers that time well.
“It was bad timing for him,” said Criswell, who's is the half-brother of former Razorback and current San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw. “My coach at North Carolina ended up coming down. Bad timing for (Pittman). We didn't get to talk much.
“But I was really excited. I figured he would go for a late push. The type of person I am, I'm loyal, so I told him I just couldn't do it.”
While loyalty doesn’t seem to be a trait that’s embraced as much as in the past, Criswell believes in loyalty and practices it.
"I mean, when it comes to life, loyalty is everything to me,” Criswell said. “I keep people around who are loyal to me and I'm loyal to them. You don't see it in today's era. I feel like I have a little old school to me. I do everything the right way, what I'm supposed to do, things along that area.
“Loyalty is just huge. Football-wise, it's great to have a football coach like Sam Pittman, Coach Briles, that are loyal to you, as well, want you to come back and represent the state. Not too many coaches would do that and accept that after they got a late push.
“But I was respectful about it. He knew that no matter what things were going to come around and I was going to end being a Razorback eventually.”