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Arkansas is at a historic low point. Coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons, the Razorbacks have a new head coach after firing Chad Morris just 22 games into his disastrous tenure in Fayetteville.
They replaced him with a familiar name, but one who hasn’t been a head coach since leading a junior college team in the early 1990s and hasn’t even been a coordinator at the FBS level. Sam Pittman does have a reputation as an excellent recruiter and developer of offensive linemen, giving the Arkansas fan base at least some hope that he’ll be able to stabilize the program.
As if that wasn’t already a big enough challenge, Pittman is dealing with unprecedented circumstances during his first offseason. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, he and his almost entirely new staff lost all of spring practice, as well as a chunk of offseason conditioning.
The team reconvened in Fayetteville in June to begin working out and has been doing walk-through practices with the coaching staff on the field for a couple of weeks. Despite uncertainty swirling about the season, which is scheduled to start Sept. 26, Arkansas is still scheduled to begin fall camp next Monday.
Between now and then, HawgBeat will preview each of the Razorbacks’ position groups, breaking down the returning players and additions, providing the top storylines, and projecting a depth chart ahead of this critical stretch.
Next up are the linebackers…
The Roster
Returning players: Deon Edwards (r-sr.), Grant Morgan (r-sr.), Hayden Henry (sr.), Bumper Pool (jr.), Andrew Parker (r-so.), Zach Zimos (r-fr.), Cedric Johnson (r-so. - walk-on), McKinley Williams (r-so. - walk-on), Jake Yurachek (r-so. - walk-on), Asa Shearin (r-fr. - walk-on), *David Porter (r-jr.), *Mataio Soli (so.), *Zach Williams (so.)
Additions: Levi Draper (r-jr. - grad. transfer), Kelin Burrle (fr. - 2020 signee), Eric Thomas Jr. (fr. - 2020 signee), J.T. Towers (fr. - 2020 signee), *Jashaud Stewart (fr. - 2020 signee), Brooks Both (fr. - walk-on), Jackson Woodard (fr. - walk-on)
*listed as defensive lineman on the roster, also included in our defensive ends breakdown
The Starters
With the graduation of De’Jon Harris, who was a second-team All-SEC selection and led the team in tackles each of the last three seasons, the only certainty in Arkansas’ linebacker corps is Bumper Pool.
A former four-star recruit who grew up cheering for the Razorbacks despite being in the Dallas area, Pool has started 16 games in two seasons, including every game last year. He’s been a weak-side linebacker and racked up 123 tackles.
Other than that, though, how the rest of the linebackers will shake out remains a mystery.
