Hogs Still In the Hunt for Two Preferred Walk-Ons
With just 85 scholarships to give out every year on a team of 110 athletes, bringing in competitive preferred walk-ons is essential to elevating your entire team. They may start out on scout team but Arkansas has a history of successfully developing walk-ons and turning them into first and second string players.
In 2018, the Razorbacks had five former walk-ons in the two deep (Johnny Gibson, Grant Morgan, D'Vone McClure, Kevin Richardson and Conner Limpert), Reid Bauer surpassed scholarship punter Blake Johnson on the depth chart, Ryder Lucas was a significant contributor his entire career at Arkansas and Tyson Morris, though never cracking the 2-deep, got good playing time as the season progressed.
The Hogs have locked in eight PWO commits so far while two top targets remain undecided:
Drew Vest out of Searcy is (so far) Arkansas's only PWO commit in the 2019 class. With great size, a high motor and a deep love for the Razorbacks, Vest will be a great depth addition for Arkansas at a position of need.
UPDATE: Vest committed to Arkansas on Nov. 18 and he's already on campus as an early enrollee.
Logan Orr
Logan Orr is a 6'2, 220-pound senior linebacker out of Jonesboro high school. He'll be weighing his Arkansas PWO offer with a PWO from Arkansas State and an academic scholarship offer from Hendrix.
Perhaps one of the most skilled 2019 PWO offers, John David White has a long, long legacy of Razorbacks in his family. Though Pulaski Academy fell for the first time in five year in the state championships, White had a fantastic season with 10 games of 100 or more receiving yards. White is weighing a scholarship offer from Air Force with PWOs from Arkansas, Missouri and more. White will take an official visit to Arkansas on Jan. 19.
Shiloh Christian's Logan Kallesen was one of the toughest offensive linemen at Arkansas's elite OL/DL camp this summer and earned a PWO offer from Dustin Fry. So far, he's got an offer to play at Southwest Minnesota State.
UPDATE: Kallesen committed to Arkansas on Jan. 31.
Morgan Hanna
The Razorbacks would love to have well-coached 2019 Greenwood High School defensive end Morgan Hanna on the roster next year. He got his PWO offer after the Crimson Tide got a look at him and offered first. Hanna visited Arkansas on Jan 21.
This staff loves bringing in well-coached winners from Highland Park even if they're not on scholarship. The Hogs offered Hudson Clark a PWO spot to play at his parents' alma mater. He's a 6-foot-1, 175-pound defensive back who racked up 30+ tackles and a few tackles for loss in his final state championship season. He took an official visit to Arkansas and plans to decide by signing day between Arkansas and SMU.
Braydon Stone
Grace Community High School standout Braydon Stone plays both quarterback and wide receiver. His HUDL says he runs a 4.49 40-yard dash. Stone had three offers, from Hendrix College, Beloit College and Southwestern University but decided to walk-on at Arkansas. Stone committed on February 4.
Arkansas got a surprise commitment from Del Valle High School standout Karch Gardiner, a two-way athlete playing corner and wide receiver, on the eve of National Signing Day. Gardiner turned down offers from Incarnate Word and Morehead State to be a preferred walk-on for the Hogs.
Richard Hunt
Hailing from what will surely be a pipeline for Arkansas, Briarcrest Christian High School in Memphis, Tennessee, Richard Hunt is a 6-foot-7 tight end who has only played football for a season. He holds PWO offers from Arkansas, Alabama and Tennessee and will visit each before deciding where he'll go this spring.
One of the most recent PWO offers for the Hogs was 2019 wide receiver Finn Corwin. He's one of Chandler Morris's favorite targets at Highland Park High School and was also a big target for John Stephen Jones last season. He's 5-foot-11, 170 pounds and he's also picked up PWO offers from SMU and Oklahoma since. He's taken official visits to Arkansas and Oklahoma and plans to decide by signing day.
Noah Rauschenberg
One of the best kickers in the nation out of Union High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Noah Rauschenberg hit the Hill several times for Razorback games this season and is still waiting to see if he can nab a scholarship offer. His career-long is a 54-yarder.
UPDATE (Jan. 29): Rauschenberg has committed to Baylor on a full scholarship.
Luke Rizzo
Arkansas also extended a PWO offer to 2019 long snapper Luke Rizzo from the Woodlands. He's got options at the moment with offers from Houston, Arizona and more.
UPDATE (Feb. 4): Rizzo has committed to Texas Tech.
One of the most impressive and productive secondary players in the state in the 2019 class, Harper stood out at Rivals camp in Dallas but has yet to receive Division-I scholarship offers. Harper would be a nice PWO pick up for Arkansas, he totaled 101 tackles his senior year.
UPDATE (Jan. 24): Committed to Arkansas Tech.
JoVoni Johnson
Conway High School 6-foot-5 quarterback JoVoni Johnson stood out immediately when he came to camp at Arkansas this summer and picked up a PWO offer. He's got offers from some smaller in-state schools like Arkansas Tech and Ouachita Baptist but he might be better off taking his Arkansas PWO and seeing if he can contribute as an athlete on the Hill.
UPDATE (Feb. 2): Johnson committed to Rice University.
Located a hop, skip and a jump away from the Arkansas campus, Fayetteville HS QB Darius Bowers picked up his PWO offers from the Hogs right after his senior season came to a close. He's got offers from UAPB, Yale, Dartmouth, UT-Martin, Southern Miss. and more.
UPDATE (Jan. 23): Darius Bowers committed to Central Arkansas.
Another PWO offer at a position of need is Kansas offensive tackle Jake Steward. Steward picked up his PWO and then visited for a game but is waiting to see if he can grab a scholarship offer still.
UPDATE (Jan. 23): Steward committed to Southeast Missouri State.