The Arkansas Razorbacks have a good recent hit rate with junior college recruits and they're now on the prowl for more experienced talent in the 2021 class.
In 2018, Arkansas signed two junior college players that turned out pretty well, Rakeem Boyd and Dorian Gerald, and of the Hogs' two additions in 2019, one was a starter last season, Myron Cunningham.
Pittman noted after signing one junior college prospect, 6-foot-7 defensive lineman Julius Coates, in his first class at Arkansas that JUCO athletes are great–if you can evaluate them well enough.
"Junior college wise, I never want to go heavy junior college because I think we can build our team young," Pittman said. "I just want the best players we can get, so if we can go into the junior colleges and get one, two or three outstanding players that we think can change our program immediately, you have to be right on that now, you have to be correct on your evaluation. I don’t think we’d ever sign a whole huge number of junior college players just because I believe you have to base your whole program out of freshman and start in the state of Arkansas."
Pittman's staff has offered 10 2021 JUCO prospects and only one of them is committed already–linebacker Gereme Spragins of Hutchinson C.C., to Maryland.
The head hog hired long-time Hutchinson head coach Rion Rhoades to coach his linebackers and his connections should help ensure Arkansas has the latest and best intel on the top prospects.
More:
Closer look at Hutchinson C.C. DT DeMeco Roland
Closer look at Garden City C.C. DE Arvell Ferguson
Second on the docket in the closer look series is Independence C.C. tight end Quentin Moore. Moore is easily one of the top five JUCO tight ends in the nation and he has the offer list to prove it.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end from Seattle cut down his list of 25 to 15 at the beginning of April and included the Hogs. Also included: Washington, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Colorado, UConn, TCU, Miami, Michigan State, Texas Tech, Florida State, West Virginia, Arizona State, Nebraska and Oklahoma State.
According to Rivals' JUCO Gridiron, this is shaping up to be a thin class for DI-caliber JUCO tight ends so, Moore is an even hotter commodity than he would be in a typical class.
