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FAYETTEVILLE — Celebrating our country’s independence on the Fourth of July with fireworks is a time-honored tradition.

It takes place in the middle of summer, a couple weeks before SEC Media Days and a little less than two months before the start of football season. It’s never too early to look ahead to kickoff on Aug. 31, though.

Before you make explosions of your own tonight, let’s take a look at five Razorbacks who are poised to explode onto the college football scene this fall…

(Listed in alphabetical order.)

DT McTelvin Agim

One of the highest rated prospects to sign with Arkansas during the Rivals era, Agim was a 6.0 four-star prospect and the No. 50 overall player in the Class of 2016. Some services even had him as a five-star recruit. He could have gone anywhere, but the Hope High School product chose to stay home.

With that decision came a lot of hype. Unfortunately, Agim’s statistics don’t quite live up to what fans expected. Bouncing back and forth between defensive end and defensive tackle, he’s made only 9.5 sacks in his first three years with the Razorbacks.

However, Agim has shown flashes of talent and has seemingly gotten better every year. He nearly doubled his career sack total last season and has seen his tackles for loss improve from 5.5 as a freshman to 7.5 as a sophomore and 10 as a junior. His presence was also felt with a team-high 11 quarterback hurries in 2018.

Returning to school as a senior and focusing solely on his defensive tackle position, there is hope that Agim can make the kind of jump Armon Watts made last year. Watts went from virtually unheard of to an NFL Draft pick with seven sacks, which was among the most by a defensive tackle. If he makes a similar jump in his final season, Agim could be an All-SEC performer.

RB Rakeem Boyd

Those who follow recruiting probably already knew of him because he was a 5.8 four-star prospect out of Houston who the Razorbacks recruited in the Class of 2016, but Boyd emerged on the national scene thanks to the Netflix series “Last Chance U.”

The former Texas A&M signee put up huge numbers at Independence C.C., especially late in the year, and chose Arkansas as his new home after Chad Morris was hired. He didn’t get to campus until the start of fall camp, meaning he missed all of the summer workouts.

That led to a slow start to the season, as Boyd managed only 79 yards on 13 carries and two receptions for eight yards over the first three games. Then he flipped a switch and was dominant over the middle six games, averaging 113.7 all-purpose yards. During that stretch, Boyd became the first Arkansas player with 100 rushing yards against Alabama since Darren McFadden in 2007.

Stamina was an issue, though, and injuries started piling up. Boyd had 106 yards on six carries in the first quarter of the Ole Miss game, but was hampered by back injury. After the season, he required shoulder surgery. If he can stay healthy and build up his stamina this summer, there’s no doubt Boyd could be a 1,000-yard rusher and be among the best running backs in the SEC.

WR Trey Knox

Perhaps the biggest signee in this year’s class, Knox was a 5.9 four-star recruit and the No. 128 overall player in the Class of 2019. He turned down the likes of Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and several other Power Five programs to play for the Razorbacks.

One of the primary factors was likely the idea of getting early playing time. The Razorbacks didn’t have an overly impressive group of wide receivers last year and lost their No. 1 target, La’Michael Pettway, to transfer.

Knox also had the advantage of being an early enrollee and sure enough, by the end of the spring ball he was working with the first-team offense. Not only that, but he routine drew praises from coaches and teammates. Fans got a taste of his talent in the Red-White spring game when he caught a short route, made a defender miss and took it 45 yards for a touchdown.

Considering that experience, his competition at receiver and his size - at 6-foot-5, 218 pounds, he definitely looks the part - Knox might be in position to have a Freshman All-SEC caliber of season.

TE Cheyenne O’Grady

Even through its struggles over the last seven or eight years, Arkansas has still managed to produce top-notch tight ends. Four - Chris Gragg, A.J. Derby, Hunter Henry and Jeremy Sprinkle - have been drafted since 2012 and O’Grady could be next.

Playing high school ball just down the road at Fayetteville, O’Grady was the No. 2 overall tight end in the country and one of three total to sign with the Razorbacks in the Class of 2015. Will Gragg has transferred and Austin Cantrell stepped away from the game with a year of eligibility remaining, leaving O’Grady as the only one left as a fifth-year senior.

Despite not playing in the first two games because of undisclosed disciplinary reasons and not catching a pass in the next two games, he still finished the season tied for the team lead with 30 receptions and second on the team with 400 yards to go along with a team-high six receiving touchdowns.

Talent has never been the issue for O’Grady. He has admittedly struggled with the maturity side of things, as evidenced by last year’s two-game suspension. The addition of four-star tight end Hudson Henry should push him on the field and if he can keep things together off the field, there’s no reason he couldn’t join his predecessors in the NFL.

LB Bumper Pool

The Razorbacks have a bonafide All-SEC linebacker in De’Jon Harris, so he wouldn’t really count for this category, but his fellow starter would. Pool was thrust into more playing time than expected as a true freshman last year when Dre Greenlaw went down with an injury.

The former 5.8 four-star recruit from Texas finished the season with 29 tackles, four pass breakups and a 60-yard fumble return while starting four games. That early experience should help him going into his second year with the Razorbacks.

Depth is still a major concern in the linebacker corps, so he and Harris will likely be asked to play a lot this year. An increase in playing time should lead to more opportunities for Pool to make big plays and show why he was highly regarded coming out of high school.