Barring Surprise, Walker White's Announcement Today Puts Hogs in Difficult Situation

What options are left on the table now at quarterback for the Class of 2024?

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Feb 3, 2023 5:48 PM EST
Original:
Feb 3, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Barring some sort of major surprise in Little Rock this afternoon, today will go down as a pretty disappointing day for Arkansas football recruiting.

Little Rock Christian's Walker White, rated one of the country's Top 10 quarterbacks, will announce Friday afternoon where he will play in fall of 2024 and pork does not appear to be on the menu, which puts Arkansas in a difficult situation.

The day word trickled out that new Razorback offensive coordinator Dan Enos might be the man to replace Kendal Briles, the way it was unofficially confirmed in the allHogs offices was by way of a verified report that he was down in Little Rock recruiting White.

White, as high of a 4-star as you can get, is considered the state's top recruit, yet everything we had heard with Briles in charge indicated that Emerson dual threat quarterback Michael Hawkins out of Frisco, Texas had been the priority.

Yet, here was Enos, reportedly recruiting White, a much more traditional quarterback.

It was a clear message. The in-state guy was now the priority.

Indications were that Hawkins was considering following Jackson Arnold, the nation's top quarterback in the 2023 class from nearby Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, to Oklahoma, but that Arkansas still had a chance.

With Briles gone and Enos spending his first seconds to publicly proclaim his love for White, the projection of Hawkins to Oklahoma began to look a little more solid, so landing White became dramatically more important.

White had intended to stop by and talk with Briles previously while his sister was playing in Northwest Arkansas, but she got sick and family couldn't make the trip.

The original plan was to close out his recruiting in January with visits to Auburn, Baylor and Clemson, but after the Enos visit, he added Arkansas on Jan. 21.

Apparently that visit didn't go too well as the Razorbacks failed receive even a courtesy listing as a possibility when White listed his three finalists in his announcement that he would be committing on Friday.

The projections are that White will choose Clemson. A visit for the Tigers' Junior Day last weekend was his last.

Now, with their top two prospects seemingly off the board, where does Arkansas turn for a quarterback recruit?

The only signal caller with an offer from Arkansas to have shown legitimate interest is high 4-star Air Noland out of Langston Hughes High School in Fairburn, Georgia.

The good news is that he showed interest in Arkansas when Briles was the coordinator, but appears to be a better fit within a Dan Enos scheme. He is extremely athletic, but functions naturally as a gifted pocket passer, which has been the perfect combination for high levels of success under Enos in the past.

The bad news is he was most recently thought to be leaning toward Auburn and received an offer from Alabama at their Junior Day this past Saturday.

Friday afternoon might be the one and only time it might be in the best interest of Arkansas fans to swallow hard and hope Hugh Freeze can somehow sneak the state's best player out the theoretical Hog pen that supposedly lines the state.

That appears to be the best bet for the Razorbacks to have a chance at landing Noland.

If that doesn't happen, then it will definitely be back to the drawing board for this Arkansas coaching staff as they will need to sift through the nation's list of quarterbacks and see if they can steal someone late in the process.