Silverfield Represents Hogs’ Clean Break from Decade of False Starts

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If there is one positive that came out of Arkansas' Junior Day it's that recruits believe Ryan Silverfield has complete control over every detail of his program.

In such a short period of time, the first-year coach has put together a coaching staff that rivals many of the top SEC programs in number of staffers.

Then, he went out and flipped several recruits within the state's borders to become Razorbacks before assembling an impressive transfer portal class that ranks in the top 10, according to On3.

While most recruits will say they are impressed, many firmly believe Silverfield will be the reason Arkansas will finally turn things around after more than a decade of national irrelevancy on The Hill.

There are some doubts Silverfield can actually get things done after his time in Memphis resulted in no conference championships, New Year's Day bowl games or even a College Football Playoff appearance.

The Tigers were very close to achieving their goal following a 6-0 start, including a narrow victory over his new team in late September. However, Memphis wasn't able to sustain the momentum by falling to an 8-4 record on the year with losses in his three regular season games before taking the Arkansas job.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Ryan Silverfield in first day on the job at the Smith Center in Fayetteville, Ark. | Arkansas Communications

Perhaps injuries took a toll, or his roster build on 70-plus transfers didn't quite pan out the way it was supposed to. After a 27-5 stretch, which was one of the best in the nation at that point, showed he was certainly on the right track to become a hot commodity in the coaching carousel.

Whatever happened in Memphis' fall from playoff darkhorse is done and over with, Silverfield gets to hit the reset button and can focus completely on returning his Razorbacks program back to relevance.

Over the years there have been flashes of excellence.

Whether it was 2014 when Bret Bielema finally got the monkey off his back by leading the Razorbacks to back-to-back shutouts of ranked teams in LSU and Ole Miss. That had never been done before and it seemed at that point Arkansas was headed in the right direction, but things never meshed together.

It took another seven seasons before second-year coach Sam Pittman had his Arkansas trending as darlings of the college football world. After an 8-4 regular season, including a ninth victory over Penn State in the 2021 Outback Bowl, it seemed all things were pointing up again.

It was unexpected.

The Razorbacks' brand appeared to be on the rise.

But, just as it seemed Arkansas began to turn the corner, an untimely leap from the 4-yard line resulted in a fumble recovery taken the other way for a touchdown in Jerry's World. While it didn't seem that the pendulum was going to swing the other way at that moment, that single play ended up being the moment everything changed in Pittman's tenure.

From 2021 through the first three games of the 2022 season, the Razorbacks were 12-4 over its previous 16 games and well on their way to back-to-back wins over Texas A&M for the first time since 2011. As fate had it, things fell through and Arkansas went on to finish 17-30 over the previous 3.75 seasons.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach coach Ryan Silverfield calls the hogs during a timeout in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats at Bud Walton Arena. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Now, Silverfield is challenged to pick up the pieces and return Arkansas to its rightful perch among those decent enough to compete against the bigger brands in the SEC.

In-state recruits are begging the Razorbacks' athletic department to turn things around.

They desire to be a part of something great in the state they have grown up in.

Many of them want to wear Arkansas' name across their chest because it means something to them.

In a day and time where money means more than anything in college athletics, particularly football, it's time for donors, and individual fans to collectively come together and buy in to a coaching staff that is "all in" for the greater good of Razorback football.

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