Silverfield brings experience needed for prime bargain shopping

New Arkansas Razorbacks coach can avoid overvalued goods from AAC bin

Memphis Tigers running back Sutton Smith (5) runs for a touchdown against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the second half at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium. | Wesley Hale-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There's a little bit of an unforeseen advantage that comes with hiring Ryan Silverfield out of Memphis to be the Hogs' next coach.

Yes, there is theoretically supposed to be come sort of increase in NIL. However, literally every other school in the conference is coming up with more money, including even Vanderbilt these days.

That doesn't mean Arkansas is gaining a leg up on the competition. Instead, it likely just means the cost of going business is going up, especially in the SEC.

In fact, after all this effort by athletics director Hunter Yurachek to squeeze more money out of the fan base, boosters and local business, it's very possible the Razorbacks saw the coffers go up by X percentage, while falling another 15% behind the rest of the field because of gains made at all the other schools.

It's kind of like how many of you may have received a modest raise this past year, but feel more broke and have less buying power because things have gotten so much more expensive over the past year. Your check is more while its value is less.

That's why Silverfield is so vitally important.

The Hogs need to get as much bang for the buck as possible, which means shopping the Group of Five schools as often as possible while identifying maximized talent at minimized cost.

No conference provides a higher level of translatable discount talent than the AAC, which is the megapower conference of the G5s.

Navigating that means making use of a coach who has not only heavily scouted AAC players in the portal, but throughout the week leading into Saturdays.

Perhaps no one knows the skills and personal disposition of this pool of players more than Silverfield.

More than any of his fellow AAC coaches who flooded the conference this past December, he needs to be able to shop the conference efficiently.

The Alex Goleshes and Jon Summeralls of the world may share his knowledge, but because they likely have higher NIL budgets, they aren't as likely to share his needs as much. That's what makes Silverfield's experience more valuable even though it's pretty much the same as his counterparts.

So, as he's looking to find the best deals across the AAC, what is Silverfield seeing it and how does that compare to have average Razorbacks fans are going to perceive things?

Looks can be deceiving

Every time a player from the AAC hits the portal, the question that immediately pops up is whether Silverfield thinks that player is good enough to make an impact.

The one thing that is becoming obvious is that much like coaches, if there is a high quality athlete, he is looking to bounce from the conference also with much anticipation as to where he is going to land.

The hard part of this carnival ride as a fan is since very few people spent time really soaking in AAC football this past season like many tend to do when it comes to the SEC, there is little known.

Sure, running back Sutton Smith is well known by Arkansas fans because he put up nearly 150 yards on 12 carries against the Hogs, so they assume he must be a beast.

BREAKING: Memphis RB Sutton Smith is entering the @TransferPortal, he tells @On3Sports

He totaled 1,058 all-purpose yards & 8 TDs this season

Earned All-AAC honorshttps://t.co/RlUbB6Fk7q pic.twitter.com/oZASDgpUuf

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) December 22, 2025

However, that perception is flawed. The Razorbacks defense truly was as bad as fans remember.

That's not bad on an SEC level. That's bad on an all conferences of Division I level.

That not only was Smith's season high by a mile, that performance accounted for nearly a fourth of his 668 yards of rushing production for the season and he only had 109 receiving yards.

The 1,058 all-purpose yards looks like a bid deal until fans realize 40% of that is kick-off returns, punt returns and the Arkansas game.

He played in 11 other games. That's why it's so important that it's Silverfield evaluating these players instead of Arkansas fans, and there has to be trust that he's going out and getting the best athletes rather than doing personal favors for old friends.

Florida Atlantic, Tulsa, UAB, Rice, Tulane, Navy and South Florida combined to give up roughly the same amount of yards to Smith that the Razorbacks defense allowed that day.

Who is worth pursuing?

The best option is to be able to steal a few players to plug holes and provide depth for the offensive and defensive line on a relatively cheap budget.

The only problem is that while scanning through All-AAC team list, the players at those positions either turn out to be too small to be effective in the SEC or out of eligibility.

For instance, Santana Hopper of Tulane is one to keep an eye on. However, at 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, there is little chance of him holding up against the grind of facing SEC offensive lines each week.

Does Arkansas have players that small playing defensive line on the roster? Well, there are players that light, but not also that short.

Instead, there is a small group of players at the position who are marinating at roughly 260, but taller because the idea is they will grow into the position, which, in the Hogs' case, requires players to bulk up to around 300 pounds once they mature.

To put things into perspective, Quincy Rhodes, who just now got big enough to play defensive end, which is a much smaller size range than a tackle, began the year at 6-foot-6, 275 pounds.

The only lineman worth considering on either side is Tulane's Shadre Hurst. He is a red-shirt junior, which is a plus, and, despite being a tad short at 6-foot-2, is reportedly a two-time All-American at guard while also landing on various watch lists.

At 293 pounds, he has the weight to player on the interior line in the SEC. The only question is whether his footwork will hold up with that weight spread across such a short frame against SEC linebackers and defensive linemen.

The good news is he appears to carry the weight well. He looks closer to being a WWE wrestler than a sloppy 293 that is often seen at the Group of Five level.

Final analysis

The bad news is Hurst is from Georgia, so getting to Florida would put him closer to home while also elevating into the SEC on a team with a larger NIL budget and a coach who is probably willing to fudge on the higher end of NIL offers to have an elite player who happens to know his system.

In other words, help in the trenches from the AAC is going to be hard to come by. Unfortunately, it's a similar landscape in another area of need — wide receiver.

The Golden Goose

That leaves little to covet. However, there is one player all Arkansas fans should want a crack at in a few days — Elijah Green, defensive back, Tulsa.

There's just one little problem. As of Saturday afternoon, he doesn't appear to be in the portal.

Then again, as everyone knows, all players are technically in the portal. They just don't know it yet.

Green is a sophomore cornerback out of Midwest City, Okla. who recorded 42 solo tackles (not overall, solo) and snagged five interceptions. That makes him the unicorn of college football.

He is coming out of the elite of the bargain bin conferences from an NIL standpoint having faced the crop of talent that's about to move up to the Power Fours at a high success rate with plenty of mileage left on the tires.

Two of those interceptions came against Memphis, so there is little doubt Silverfield is very aware of Green and his skills. The only question is whether he has the negotiation skills needed to land his former nemesis.

Final analysis

Silverfield provides a three-pronged approached to what the Hogs need right now.

He is knowledgable enough to not get sucked in by a single good game against the Razorbacks on Smith, he provides at least an inside shot on Hurst, and he offers an "if you can't beat them then join them" approach to inviting Green into the fold at a reasonable price.

That's about all Arkansas fans can hope. As for the rest of the roster?

Well, that's another story.