Antonio Jordan's stock an investment the Razorbacks can't afford to sideline

There was a time not so long when the in-state talent which managed to get on the national recruiting radar were bankable commodities for the Arkansas Razorback football program. That was before Bobby Petrino's fateful crash out in 2012, and the program has struggled to regain its once-promising market capital on the field — or in households across the Natural State — ever since.

Sam Pittman (30-31 overall, 14-28 SEC) begins his sixth season on one of the hottest coaching seats in college football and the natives are getting restless. The program remains mired in a recession and teeters on the brink of falling back into the depression era Pittman inherited from his predecessor.

In the intervening decade since 2012, a more bearish mindset has taken hold, and it's easy to understand why. Gone are the days when in-state blue chippers like James Rouse, Cedric Cobbs, Madre Hill, Shawn Andrews, Darren McFadden and Matt Jones (Don't act like you don't know their names!) arrived in Fayetteville. They each made immediate impacts at Arkansas and saw their stocks rise across the college football landscape.

As we all know, today's college football talent market lacks such stability, and talent typically follows the currency like the Arkansas River flows into the Mighty Mississippi.

Petrino's successful tenure as head coach of the Razorbacks from 2008-2011 got a major infusion of liquidity when three freshman from what has become know as "wide receiver high" in Warren arrived on The Hill with him. A year later, Batesville's Ryan Mallette returned home from a detour at the University of Michigan and started as a redshirt sophomore. They all came together and ushered in the last bullish run for the university's flagship athletic program, which has yet to fully recover those gains.

Yes. Current Illinois coach Bret Bielema and Pittman (whose offense racked up the second most yardage in the SEC in 2024 under Petrino) has managed to maintain what could be argued as an upward trajectory in their tenures. Those spikes were led by home grown talents like Dre Greenlaw of Conway, Little Rock's Hunter Henry and Brandon Allen from right here in Fayetteville. Each of them went on to lucrative careers in the NFL, with Henry and Allen having younger brothers who cashed in as well.

Arkansas Diamonds in the Rough

That rich legacy of instate diamond mining seems forgotten among some segments of Razorback Nation today. They feel obliged to temper expectations now that the latest diamond-in-the-rough has fallen into the lap of Pittman and Petrino in the form of 6-6 230 pound freshman Antonio Jordan out of Warren.

After recent swings and misses with four-star Arkansans, shrewd investors might be wise to sit this one out in the current climate of pessimism pervading forecasts for the 2025 Razorbacks. After all, Pittman and Petrino couldn't seem to find a use for the last promising 6-6 tweener in Ashdown's Shamar Easter.

Easter entered the transfer portal in April and landed with current North Carolina coach Bill Bilichick, who won seven super bowls in the NFL by finding creative ways to utilize the sometimes modest talent at his disposal.

It will be interesting to see if Easter finds his way onto the field as a redshirt sophomore for Bilichick's Tar Heels. That also goes for North Carolina's former 100 meter dash champion, Dazmine James, who hardly touched the field until his breakout performance in last year's victory in the Liberty Bowl.

James is now a Golden Bear at Cal. Meanwhile, Mississippi product Jordan Anthony who has forgone his final year of football eligibility to turn pro in track and field after another record-breaking spring for the Razorback track program.

Despite seemingly having just what Arkansas' desperately needed last season: speed to burn, James and Anthony spent nearly all of last season cooling on the sidelines. With many observers decrying the current unproven but promising corps of receivers' lack of size, some are already making the case that — like Easter before him — Antonio Jordan's size and play making ability should be sidelined as well.

The thinking is freshmen can't cut it in today's Southeastern Conference, but that ignores what Alabama did with Ryan Williams a just a year ago. Sure. Williams was a consensus five-star recruit, but he same people in Arkansas will turn around and wonder why many of today's top in-state four stars are choosing to take their talents elsewhere and let fear govern their investment strategies.

Antonio Jordan is Built Different

If one has an eye for investing however, it's obvious Antonio Jordan is built different. The unheralded three-star recruit not only is taller, thicker and faster than Easter (to say nothing of everybody else he's likely to encounter on a football field). He also has the advantage of being cut from the same cloth woven by long-time Warren coach Bo Hembree.

Like Brett Smith, RoShaun Fellows, Childs, Wright, Gragg, Burks and current Razorback H-Back Maddox Lassiter, Jordan has the benefit of tutelage under Hembree and those who came before him. Each of them have walked the path from the pine forests of Southeastern Arkansas to The Hill. No doubt they have tutored the young prodigy on what to expect at Arkansas and beyond.

As has been previously reported by Tom Murphy at Whole Hog Sports, Jordan had little interest in proving anything to outsiders, but it just so happens he still has something to prove inside Arkansas. Like Burks, who was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, Jordan prefers the comforts of home. He had little interest uprooting his family by attending private schools, transferring to bigger markets or seeking publicity by attending camps plugged into the major recruiting services.

He knows how good he is because he's seen NFL talent all his life; he didn't have to look outide of Bradley County to see it.

Plus he's loyal. So much so, he famously declined to report early to Fayetteville last spring because he wanted to finish out playing basketball with the teammates he grew up with. Loyalty seems to come first with the young man. He's made it clear that he has his eyes fixed on success at Arkansas. Hopefully, Pittman and Petrino won't doubt what all eyes can see and convince themselves that anyone is better served by keeping such talent sidelined — like they did with Easter, Anthony and promising defensive stud, Quincy Rhodes.

Unlike previous years with prospects like Easter, Pittman's vision doesn't seem clouded by the reticence to put his faith in the hands of a freshman talent. At the SEC Media Days last month, the Head Hog did not equivocate.

"We have a supreme talent in Antonio Jordan," Pittman said. "We have who I think is a supreme talent in Antonio Jordan. Now, I know he's a freshman but we've seen enough out of him this summer — in his off season workouts, in the weight room and in his running ability. We think he can help us too. You can add Cortney Crutchfield into that group too, but I believe we have a really good wide receiver corp. Again, we are big. We've got length."

Even the jaded eyes of long-time sideline observers like Mike Irwin seem to be having a hard time keeping the scales from falling off his spectacles. During a recent radio interview with Hit That Line, the veteran reporter said senior transfer O'Mega Blake may be the most likely candidate to succeed last year's SEC leading receiver Andrew Armstrong. However, there's no hiding Jordan's talent.

"At 6-6 230 he stands out," Irwin said. "On the first day, they were doing eleven on eleven. You could tell the corner backs had been told to intentionally rough him up. They were pushing him. They were shoving him and knocking him around, but they just couldn't stop him.

"He was catching everything...He's got that six-foot-six frame with those arms up and he made that one catch. A lot of people have been talking about him and some crabby fans have been saying, 'It's just one catch.' Well it's not just one catch. He's looked good every day."

Dropping Gems

It's probably wise at this juncture to drop a disclaimer. The opinions expressed in this piece are solely that of your friendly neighborhood sportsguy. They are not intended to reflect those of Razorbackers as a whole or in part. Having said that...

For those Razorbackers who have long held the line in advocating for Arkansas' home grown prodigies, the hope is Pittman and Petrino won't hesitate to realize the gifts that Arkansas keeps on giving. Jordan's measurables alone made it impossible for the likes of Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida State to miss.

The trend among many in-state recruiting analysts is to rely on other schools to identify in-state talent. If they notice surrounding power five or SEC rivals taking an interest, they may get off their lofty perches in Northwest Arkansas and brave the nether regions of the state to take a look.

For example, some current narratives heard on Arkansas sports air waves concerning Jordan go something like this. "No one had any idea how talented Jordan was because he didn't attend any camps and there was no film on him for recruiters to see." Too bad they never bothered to check the Warren Lumberjacks YouTube page. They would have found nearly every game Jordan has played in high school available in the comforts of their own hospitality rooms.

Fortunately there's Arkansas' Recruiting Guy, Richard Davenport, who does as excellent a job of covering in-state talent as anyone in the business. He dropped this gem a year ago. Also, up and coming podcaster SEC Moe aka Moe Rogan found plenty of highlights to display on The Hog Wild Podcast.

Razorback Reminder

Maybe Pittman and Petrino — given the historic talent running away from Fayetteville like a seasonal flash flood — appreciated Jordan's low key approach to his recruitment. One can only hope that carries over into this football season and beyond. That's because if Arkansas Edge were the betting kind, all chips are going in on Antonio Jordan.

For those who have eyes, let them see. For those who have ears, let them hear. For those with a voice, let them speak, and for those who are blessed with such rare opportunities, let them on the field. The last thing the Razorback football team can afford is to see more home grown Arkansas talent wasted.

"Name me what in-state talent the Razorbacks have missed," you say? Well, check this out. Fourteen of the top 20 greatest football players from Arkansas like Bobby Mitchell, Don Hutson, Joe Perry, Willie Roaf, Cortez Kennedy, Cliff Harris, Kevin Williams, Keith Jackson, Leslie O'Neal, Rod Smith, Preist Holmes, Roy Green and De Angelo Williams did not play for the Razorbacks. That excludes notable NFL players like Willie Davis of Altheimer, Ray Brown of Marion, Elijah Pitts of Mayflower and Monte Coleman of Pine Bluff — plus Brett Helms, Oren O'Neal and Daivd Walker of Stuttgart.

For all of those who don't know any better or seem to have forgotten, this is just a neighborly reminder — courtesy of your friendly neighborhood sportsguy. Go Hogs!