Hogs in Trouble? Ultimate Roster Rebuild Underway for Pittman

Key starters, contributors are fleeing from Arkansas with no end in sight as Year Six under Pittman not off to great start

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman on the sidelines against the Ole Miss Rebels at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Ark. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- College Football's new revenue sharing model hasn't officially gone into effect but it's not going to matter for the Razorbacks at least in 2025. At this point, 21 players have entered the transfer portal with 12 of those being starters or key contributors this season.

SEC Teams vs The Transfer Portal 👀

Total Number of Players Lost & Gained for every SEC team in the Transfer Portal from 2021-2024

What stands out most to y'all?? #ItJustMeansMore @NCAAPortal pic.twitter.com/Z3M0re7Bui

— 104.5 ESPN (@1045espn) May 23, 2024

Multiple reports have shared that tight end Luke Hasz, defensive back Jaylon Braxton, offensive lineman Patrick Kutas and defensive lineman Nico Davillier are expected to visit Ole Miss. The Rebels and Razorbacks have a longstanding rivalry and these guys are jumping ship for a program in much better shape than the one they were in.

These men aren't backups but significant starters who were all highly regarded coming out of high school with defined roles early in their careers. Just days ago, Hogs coach Sam Pittman mentioned how NIL money was going to be delegated to keep current key players in house first and then add in a handful of instant impact transfers to improve off a 6-6 season.

"But obviously, you have a core group of guys that - Our record's 6-5, so it's not what everybody wants and all that, including me. But we do have a good core group of players that we need to return. And so, we've got to do that first."

"Then you look in your pool and you say, 'Okay. How much I got? Well, I need this many this position. I need this many this position. I need...' You know? And then you kind of look at it and you say in the past, if we got a 100,000 and somebody else got 300,000, we're done. We're out of it. I don't care what people say. You can't talk a guy because he likes you in a $200,000 transition. By the way, if any of you guys got $200,000 more, you'd be gone too. And so now we have it, so let's see what we can do with it."

Bottom line is there are not enough players in the transfer portal at this point to load up next year's roster if Arkansas cannot keep current starters in place. The Portal Report created a graphic Tuesday which detailed where things stood after the first day of the NCAA's winter transfer window.

College Football Transfer Portal stats after day 1⃣

🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/S7b4HOTIuF

— The Portal Report (@ThePortalReport) December 10, 2024

Instant takeaways

•Nearly 9% of transfers are QBs

•30% transfer entrants are juniors

•Linebackers are content where they are

•SEC leads the way with 172 transfers

It's going to be tough for the Razorbacks to stockpile enough talent over the next few months to remain competitive against other SEC programs. Only one transfer has announced publicly that he will visit Arkansas and that is Northwest Missouri State tight end Zach Atkins, who is scheduled to be in town Dec. 11-12, South Carolina Dec. 13-14 and Colorado Dec. 15-16.

Transfers usually make decisions rather quickly to be able to enroll at their next school in time for the winter semester. The final date to enroll for Arkansas' spring semester is Jan. 17.

HOGS FEED:

• Looking at players jumping on portal | Locked on Razorbacks

• Red Raiders have major missing piece ahead of Liberty Bowl

• Another young Hogs' defensive player intends to enter portal

• Davis "has chip on his shoulder" for matchup with Michigan

• Former Razorback may be helping current ones looking at rival

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