The Arkansas football team grabbed a commitment from the junior college ranks on Saturday, as East Mississippi Community College defensive back Shannon Blair announced his decision to join the Razorbacks.
Blair — who will be enrolling at Arkansas in December and is a member of the 2025 class — made his decision public with a post on X (formerly Twitter).
A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Blair played in 13 games for EMCC last season and recorded 23 tackles and four interceptions.
Prior to his time in Mississippi, Blair had originally committed to Michigan State in the class of 2022 but ended up at Tennessee as a preferred walk-on. How he got there, according to an article from Knox News, is an interesting story.
Blair tore his ACL in the first game of his senior season for West High School, which caused FBS programs to back off of their original offers. After Michigan State defensive backs coach Travares Tillman left for Georgia Tech, Blair opted to reopen his recruitment, but none of his FBS offers remained.
So, he opted to stay home and enrolled at Tennessee.
After spending the 2022 season in Knoxville and not appearing in any games, Blair headed to EMCC and helped the Lions to a 10-3 record that ended with a loss to Iowa Western Community College in, ironically, War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
Blair is Arkansas’ 20th commit and the third defensive back in the class of 2025, which is currently ranked No. 28 nationally according to Rivals.
Arkansas will open its football season at War Memorial on Aug. 29 with a tilt against UAPB. Be sure to stay tuned to HawgBeat for the latest Arkansas football news.
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