FAYETTEVILLE — Coach Sam Pittman ambled into the media room at Reynolds Razorback Stadium with most of his recruiting staff and sat down with a smile to discuss the University of Arkansas’ recruiting day haul.
“Currently we’re in the top 25 in 247Sports and 17th in Rivals,” Pittman said. “I’m really excited about the guys we have coming in.
“We still have another guy or two that we’re on in high school, and the rest of our scholarships will be used in the transfer portal.”
The Razorbacks brought aboard 19 high school signees, including seven four-star prospects, and landed four from the transfer portal, highlighted by former Morrilton High and North Carolina quarterback Jacolby Criswell and former Pittsburgh rush end John Morgan III, a signing day special.
The class is ranked No. 22 in the 247Sports composite, ninth in the SEC behind No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 6 LSU, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 12 Florida, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 16 South Carolina and No. 19 Auburn. The Razorbacks pulled down their highest-rated class by Rivals since 2009 and their highest-rated by 247Sports since 2015, when Pittman was offensive line coach.
The Hogs’ top-rated signees were cornerback Jaylon Braxton of Frisco (Texas) Lone Star, tight end Luke Hasz of Bixby, Okla., and tailback Isaiah Augustave of Naples, Fla.
The class of four transfers — with wideout Andrew Armstrong (Texas A&M Commerce) and offensive lineman Joshua Braun (Florida) joining Criswell and Morgan — was rated No. 23 nationally and No. 3 in the SEC.
Criswell was one of three Arkansans in the class, along with North Little Rock edge rusher Quincy Rhodes and Bentonville’s Joey Su’a.
The group includes 16 players who will be able to enroll early and participate in spring practices, which turned into a good development for the 2021 Razorbacks.
Pittman said coaching staff changes, such as replacing defensive coordinator Barry Odom with Travis Williams and tight ends coach Dowell Loggains with Morgan Turner, and Nme, Image and Likeness developments, combined with portal tracking — both in and out — and bowl preparations make recruiting a wild affair anymore.
“To be in the top 25 and all that, with the coaches and what’s going on right now, I’m real pleased with where we are. And I’m really ready to attack this portal. I’m ready to attack it. We know exactly what we need to change our football team.”
The Razorbacks have had a large outflow of portal players, with center Marcus Henderson on Wednesday making it 19 departures since the opening of training camp.
Therefore, the Razorbacks will try to capitalize on a hosting period from Jan. 4-8 to woo more transfer portal players to look for impact newcomers and to work on depth.
“The 4th through the 8th, I’m going to tell you it should and it needs to be anywhere from six to 12 kids on campus,” Pittman said. “Now, we have to be position specific and all those type things, but we have some scholarships available and certainly we feel like we can change the depth and the team in that period.”
The Razorbacks excelled in the transfer portal last season, landing a handful of key contributors, led by linebacker Drew Sanders, defensive backs Dwight McGlothern and Latavious Brini, defensive linemen Jordan Domineck and Terry Hampton, wideouts Matt Landers and Jadon Haselwood and quarterback Cade Fortin. Another such haul could help the Hogs stack up at some thin positions.
“You’re talking to the recruit coming in and you’re talking to your own team,” Pittman said. “I think our team finally understands that we’re not going to the portal to put them on the bench. We’re going into the portal for competition and we’re going in the portal because we just don’t have enough scholarship players at their position.”
As a reference, Pittman said the Razorbacks have had four healthy scholarship linebackers during Liberty Bowl practices, and signing day netted the trio of Alex Sanford of Oxford, Miss., Brad Spence of Houston, and Carson Dean of Frisco.
The group has the makings of almost a complete unit on both sides of the ball. There are two quarterbacks, with Georgia dual-threat prep star Malachi Singleton joining Criswell, a tailback in Augustave, two wideouts in Armstrong and Davion Dozier, the tight end Hasz and offensive linemen Braun, Su’a, Luke Brown, and Paris Patterson, a 6-6, 340-pounder from East St. Louis, Ill.
The class has 13 defenders, including a large group of six defensive backs in Braxton, Christian Ford, RJ Johnson, TJ Metcalf, Dallas Young and Dylan Hasz, the twin brother of Lucas Hasz.
The defensive line signees were Morgan, Rhodes, Kaleb James and Ian Geffrard, a 6-5, 370-pounder from Mabelton, Ga., who pulled off a feat of athleticism that blew Pittman away during his recruiting visit.
“You know when [the recruits] go in there and you take pictures and you dress up and all that kind of stuff,” Pittman said. “He did a handstand and walked around on his hands at about 370. I go, ‘OK, I don’t know if he’s going to cost me two scholarships, but I want him.’ A big man that was just moving around.”
Later, Pittman elaborated on the big man’s hand-stand feat.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “I’m like, ‘what?’ I mean, he just did it, and he started walking, you know, or handing, or whatever you call it. He was so light on his feet for 300 … closer to 400. … I’m really excited about him because we don’t have anybody like him.”
Criswell, who attended a practice inside the Walker Pavilion last week, voiced his pleasure about being back in the state after a few years at North Carolina.
“Excited to be back, and get this thing rolling! #WPS,” Criswell wrote on Twitter.
Pittman was equally hyped about having a chance to re-recruit the 6-1, 225-pounder who was a four-star signee. He only had a few days to try to sign Criswell in December 2019.
“He’s a great kid,” Pittman said. “Great parents, great folks that are taking care of him and have. It’s really cool because he’s so mature. He loves Arkansas. When he got in the portal, he immediately contacted us and we were ecstatic about him. Obviously we knew we needed to upgrade there at quarterback.”
The Razorbacks lost a few commits in recent weeks, notably wideout Micah Tease and tight end Jaden Hamm, both four-star players. Hamm signed with home-state Kansas, the Razorbacks’ opponent in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 28. Tease signed with Texas A&M on Wednesday.
Tight end commitment Shamar Easter of Ashdown is expected to sign in February.