The Razorbacks Midseason Recruiting Report
As the season has been played out to its halfway mark, and Arkansas has its bye week this weekend, let’s take some time to look at the incoming talent for the 2016 Razorbacks recruiting class. This recruiting class is shaping up to be something very special. As it stands now, Arkansas has 14 hard commits putting the class at the 29th nationally and 10th in the SEC. I’ll be taking a look at each recruit in order of recruit ranking, and giving a brief update to each.
1.
Hope, Arkansas native McTelvin Agim is listed with ESPN at a 5 star recruit, making him the first 5 star to ever commit to Arkansas since ESPN started covering recruiting. He is also the first top-10 overall recruit to choose the Hogs in the 11 years ESPN has been ranking recruits. Agim is ranked number 9 on the ESPN 300 2016 recruiting class. Needless to say, McTelvin’s commit to the Hogs is a great sign of just where Arkansas is headed as a program. Agim comes in at not only the number 1 recruit committed to the Razorbacks, he is the number 1 recruit in the state for the 2016 class. McTelvin is the number 4 ranking Strong Side Defensive End in the country, and the 53rd overall recruit of any position. McTelvin has chosen Arkansas over a very impressive list of offers including Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Stanford, TCU, Texas and Texas A&M.
2.
Coming in at number 2 on the list is Star City, Arkansas native Austin Capps. This is another massive get for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Austin is the number 2 recruit state wide and the 26th nationally at the defensive tackle position for the 2016 class. Capps was offered by Louisville, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn and LSU.
3.
Bret Bielema has said multiple times he wants to get into the recruiting gold mine of the south Louisiana area. The Hogs did just that with the commit of defensive tackle Briston Guidry. Guidry is the 16th ranked recruit coming out of Louisiana, and 27th nationally at the defensive tackle position. Briston is also ranked 145 on the ESPN 300 for 2016. Guidry has an impressive list of offers from Missouri, Alabama, Louisville, LSU, Miami, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Tennessee and A&M.
4.
If you have been wondering if Bielema still has his Big 10 recruiting connections, Jake Heinrich should answer that question. Heinrich is the 2nd place recruit in Iowa with offers from Cal, Duke, Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas State, Louisville, Oregon, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
5.
Though listed as athletic in his recruiting bio, T.J. Hammonds is a big time play maker for Joe T., with skill at the wide receiver position and the running back position. ESPN actually has Hammonds at 4 star with a 4.63 40 yard dash, and ranks him 223rd on the 2016 ESPN 300. Arizona, Arizona State, Duke, Georgia, Oklahoma State, TCU and Vanderbilt all made offers to Hammonds before he chose to commit to the Razorbacks.
6.
Jordan Jones, who is an ESPN 4 star, is the 4th ranked recruit in Arkansas according to the 247Sports composite. By the general 247Sports ranking, Jones is switched with Hammonds for the number 3 spot. Either way, this is huge for Arkansas to get another receiver coming in to replace some of the talent lost with the go to Hatcher. Jordan caught the attention of Ole Miss and Alabama, who both made offers before his commitment to stay in state at the University of Arkansas.
7.
Kofi Boateng is the recruiting class of 2016’s first “Tex-Hog” on the list. When I was doing my research on him to see who had given him offers, my jaw dropped. Other than Arkansas, Boateng received 27 other offers from schools including AZ ST, Boston College, Cal, Cincinnati, Colorado, CO State, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa ST, Kansas, Kansas ST, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Vandy, Washington and Wisconsin. He also had interest from Baylor, Mizzou, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas and UCLA. WOW.
8.
Just like south Louisiana, south Florida is a recruiting jackpot that Beilema has set his eyes on. Alexy Jean-Baptiste is the first on the list to come from this football Mecca. Alexy is ranked 46th in the nation at the outside linebacker position. His offers include Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, N.C. State, North Carolina, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
9.
After Arkansas picked up the USC transfer quarterback Ricky Town right before the 205 season, some analysts were wondering if ESPN 4 star pro-style quarterback Cole Kelley would maintain his commitment to Arkansas. However he feels just fine with his choice, and is still looking forward to getting on campus. The 6’7″, 246 pound quarterback can not only throw bullets, but is actually a great mobile quarterback as well. He has been offered by Colorado State, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Lafayette, Oklahoma State, Southern Miss and Tulane, as well as drawn interest from LSU.
10.
Another recruit coming out of the southern Louisiana area is De’jon Harris. Harris is the 45th overall recruit in Louisiana, and the 33rd in the nation at the inside linebacker position. Harris chose Arkansas over Oregon and Arizona State.
11.
Deon Edwards is the 57th ranked safety in the country, and the 119th ranked recruit in Florida. Edwards is another bit of proof Bielema is digging in to the rich Florida recruiting area. Deon has offers from Indiana, Louisville, Mizzou, N.C. State and South Carolina.
12.
Kiel Pollard is the first commitment of the 2016 class out of Georgia. Pollard makes for the 3rd wide receiver to commit to the Hogs. He is ranked 86th in Georgia, and 137th nationally at receiver. Kiel’s offers include Boston College, Cal, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Iowa and Kansas. He also got some attention from Kentucky and Wisconsin.
13.
Arkansas may have had the number 1 tight end recruiting class this year, but that’s not stopping them from adding 6’5″ Grayson Gunter. Gunter is the 51st overall tight end in the country, and the 36th ranked recruit in Mississippi. Grayson chose Arkansas over 10 other offers including Mississippi State and interest from Ole Miss, Miami, Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
14.
Hayden Johnson is the 16th ranked recruit in the state of Missouri, and the 71st ranked strong side defensive end in the country. Hayden was recruited by Bret Bielema as a fullback, and will look to contribute immediately when he arrives in Fayetteville. His offers include Florida State and Nebraska with looks from Missouri.
As of yet, this is the complete list of the 2016 commits for the Razorbacks. While I was putting this together, I keep thinking about the people on social media and sports radio callers, continuously calling for Bielema’s job. Here’s a fun fact; this is the best defensive recruiting class to ever come to Arkansas. Bielema has lost 4 games this year and still has managed to keep 3 ESPN top 300 recruits in this class as well as the top 4 recruits from Arkansas. I seem to remember that, when a certain wide receiver who was the number 1 recruit in Arkansas for 2015 committed to Ohio State, a lot of people were in outrage that BERT was letting him slip through his hands. Come to find out later there were some iffy checks and rent allegations around that player. I mean, it’s almost like Bret knew what he was doing and didn’t, as he says, “recruit his own problems.”
With this BYE week maybe we, as fans, should sit back and chill. I was listening to Hogs Illustrated‘s Dudley Dawson talk about recruiting the other day. Wess Moore asked him how recruits respond to all the things surrounding Bielema in the media. Dudley responded with, ” They never have anything negative to say about Coach Bielema. If they do bring up anything having to do with Bielema in the media, it’s always that they like how he is handling himself. They think that he has swag.”
So to all those who are consistently saying that Bielema is making an ass out of himself and no one will want to come here, scroll up, re-read this list and shut up. In case you haven’t seen Bielema’s wife, check her out, then tell me Bert can’t recruit.
Woo Pig.