Razorback Rebuild on Rocket Boosters with 2024 Recruiting Class

However, all that success comes with giant, unexpected hole that will need to be filled

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jul 15, 2023 11:11 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – To describe the scene surrounding the Arkansas Razorback football program eight months ago as chaotic would be a borderline unforgivable understatement. It was a house on fire in the midst of an earthquake while a tornado bore down upon it.

Swept away in the aftermath were at least 30 players and several staff members, including both coordinators and the strength and conditioning coach, all of which needed to be cleared out if this thing was going to get a fresh start. And get a fresh start it has. In an Eric Musselman-esque manner, Pittman and his new staff hit the transfer portal hard, loading up on high level players looking for a new home for various reasons. Then they turned their full focus to the recruiting class with full determination locked in on not settling on less than the best prospects.

What has resulted is a change in recruiting philosophy and scope that, after a huge night this past Friday, has landed nine recruits ranked in some form of Top 300, including four Top 100 recruits. Selman Bridges, Courtney Crutchfield, Ashton Bethel-Roman and Charleston Collins represent the first widely accepted Top 100 recruits for Arkansas since Hope's McTelvin Agim signed back in 2016.

Crutchfield and Bethel-Roman serve as much-needed elite SEC level receivers, while Collins provides defensive help up front putting pressure on the quarterback while Bridges makes life miserable from the secondary. Factor in Leeds, Alabama defensive lineman Kavion Henderson as a Top 300 recruit, Mississippi's Julius Pope, a linebacker who has floated at the end of Top 300 lists alongside Russell, and plug and play Top 300 athlete Noreel White, and it's easy to see how well the elite talent pool is getting spread across both sides of the team.

That's not including Top 300 quarterback KJ Jackson, a Top 20 quarterback out of Alabama. The only thing missing is a Top 300 offensive lineman, which can be terribly hard to come by as so many more are needed to fill out rosters at places like Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. However, it's been done before.

The last time Arkansas had close to this many elite recruits was in 2015, the last class to have been recruited by Pittman during his tenure with Bret Bielema. That class included three Top 300 recruits who played offensive line for the Razorbacks in Hajalte Froholdt, a defensive lineman the Razorbacks intended to turn into an NFL level offensive lineman, Jalen Merrick and Colton Jackson, all ranked 93, 278 and 300 respectively.

However, if it's going to be done with the 2024 recruiting class, it will take something completely out of left field. There aren't a ton of Top 300 lineman in this year's class and most are committed already. The handful who aren't don't list Arkansas on their offer sheets. That means, with the untimely passing of Dion Stutts, Arkansas has only one offensive lineman in this class who is ranked in Zuri Madison at No. 577. That creates a premium on offensive linemen this spring when the transfer portal opens.

It will be up to Pittman to fill those holes. The last thing a coach who built his reputation on decades of recruiting and molding elite offensive linemen wants to see is one of the greatest collections of talent in Arkansas football history fall short of its potential because of a lack of production along the offensive line. If he can do that, building not only a wall up front, but equally strong talent behind it, the next three years should be very entertaining.