Arkansas Football's Most Important Players for 2026: No. 13, Khmori House

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — This is the part of the list where things are going to get a little hairy when it comes to ranking standouts because each of them deserve their place in the top five.

Even North Carolina transfer Khmori House deserves to be there due to his body of work across his first two seasons at the college level.

A former 3-star and No. 532 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting class, House signed with the Washington Huskies after being courted by ace recruiter William Inge, who is now the linebackers coach at Tennessee.

House had a very intriguing offer list out of Mater Dei High School in California with schools such as Auburn, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, Tennessee, Notre Dame, and several others in pursuit of his talents. He comes from a very athletic track family with his mother, Disia Page running the 100M hurdles and competed in the long jump for USC.

As a sophomore for the Tar Heels, House earned All-ACC honorable mention after leading his team with 81 tackles, 45 solo stops, 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble and one interception in 12 starts.

Now going to his third different school in three years, and a change in position, the 6-foot-1, 202 pound defensive back feels like he has found a home that will utilize his talent completely.

“I always kind of knew that I wasn’t just a linebacker,” House said in April. “I kind of knew I could do multiple things, because out of high school Coach Roberts wanted me to do that at Auburn. And I always remembered that, so when he called me it just started clicking and he started walking me through when I got here.

“[Coaches] walked me through what I was going to do, how I would help the scheme. It all just started lining up and it’s the best for me going forward.”

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Khmori House (6) celebrates after breaking up a pass play during the spring game at Razorback Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Hog History Lesson

There's a whole lot to love about versatile defenders who coaches can move across the defense and have confidence he can make a difference at multiple positions.

That's exactly what House brings to the table, and will remind fans of another defender during Arkansas' most successful stretch in the SEC.

If you'll open your Arkansas Razorbacks history book and turn to the page to the 2009 and 2010 seasons, there is a former JUCO cornerback by the name of Rudell Crim, who was a bit smaller than House, but contributed at several spots on defense.

Crim was oftentimes out of position defensively during his first year in Fayetteville in 2009, but it was his impact as a hybrid safety/linebacker in 2010 that helped the Razorbacks reach the Sugar Bowl. That season, he recorded 53 tackles, 32 solo stops, 1.5 tackles for loss, five pass breakups and three interceptions.

If House can be that type of athlete, it'll solve so many issues on the backend of a defense that finished dead last in the passing game a year ago.

What Coaches Are Saying

Arkansas secondary coach Deron Wilson comes back to Arkansas after a year away in Florida with new defensive coordinator Ron Roberts and the Gators. He was instrumental in flipping a struggling Razorbacks' secondary once before, improving the Razorbacks from last in 2022 to No. 32 nationally in 2023.

If he is able to work that same kind of magic again, it'll take having House play up to his abilities shown previously at linebacker, but using his track speed to make a difference at the STAR (nickelback).

"Khmori House is what we consider a jack of all trades," Wilson said in March. "He is extremely active on the football field. Great blitzer. He was playing linebacker last year, but when you watch him cover in man-to-man situations, you would have never known he played linebacker.

"He is smart, instinctive. The best way I could describe him is active. You could see it on film at the last place he was at. When he blitzes, how instinctive and natural he was at using his hands, defeating blocks, whether the ball is in phase or out of phase, what tool he would use. He has 'it.'"

Speaking of Roberts, he is quite familiar with what House has to offer defensively given that he was in heavy pursuit of him on the recruiting trail during his time at Auburn. Although he lost the battle to the Huskies, Roberts never stopped keeping an eye on him even after House entered the transfer portal following his freshman year.

"I recruited Khmori out of high school," Roberts said earlier this spring. "I thought he was a Star, and then he didn't commit to us at Auburn early. So we ended up grabbing somebody else, and he goes to Washington and plays linebacker.

"I started looking at Florida," Roberts recalled. "When I went to Florida he was transferring, we had a bunch of them on the roster. I wasn't looking for one. We talked again. And then he goes to North Carolina, plays linebacker."

Roberts saw value in House as a high school recruit, and reminded him of former Baylor safety Jalen Pitre, who he coached from 2020-2021. He helped Pitre become a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and earned consensus All-American honors before being selected as the No. 37 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

"I wasn't sure, how is this was going to pan out," Roberts said. "He spent two years of college playing the linebacker, and I originally thought he would have been one heck of a STAR. I used to talk to him when he was in high school about that. I thought he was Jalen Pitre.

"And I thought [House] is just like [Pitre]. Now, he doesn't have the experience of playing out there, but I think he can be that, and I think he can be physically dominant. We've got to bank a lot of reps in the film room, in the meeting room, because he doesn't have the years of experience playing the position. But I think he's going to be a draft pick at that position. I think he does need two years just because of his unfamiliarity with the position, but I think he's gonna be a heck of a football player for us [at Arkansas]."

#WooPig pic.twitter.com/bmVWLVkIzp
— Khmori House (@khmori_house) May 3, 2026

Razorbacks' Most Important Players in 2026

No. 13.
No. 14 KJ Jackson
No. 15 AJ Hill
No. 16 Steven Soles
No. 17 Jamari Hawkins
No. 18 Ismael Cisse
No. 19 La'Khi Roland
No. 20: David Oke
No. 21: Christian Harrison
No. 22: Jamonta Waller
No. 23: Charlie Collins
No. 24: Miguel Mitchell
No. 25: Caleb Bell
No. 26: Donovan Faupel
No. 27: Reginald Vaughn
No. 28: Maddox Lassiter
No. 29: Ja'Quavion Smith
No. 30: Danny Beale

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