Commitment Analysis: Luke Ford

Arkansas landed one of its most wanted targets in the 2018 class on Tuesday when Carterville (Ill.) tight end Luke Ford announced his pledge to the Razorbacks. Here's the complete breakdown of how the Hogs got their guy:

If you've paid close attention on HawgSports.com, Ford committing to the Hogs probably didn't surprise you. The night Ford received his offer from Arkansas -- January 23 -- we had a feeling the Hogs would end up being the team to beat.

The reason was simple: Ford's reaction to landing an offer from the Razorbacks was pretty intense, something we don't often see from recruits these days. The Hogs were his first "big" offer (with no disrespect to Southern Illinois, his first offer), and Ford had a genuine excitement in his voice that was hard to miss.

Of course, he also knew of Arkansas' success at the tight end position, where the Razorbacks have produced two of the last seven Mackey Award winners and Bret Bielema has sent eight players to the NFL via the draft. In fact, after Jeremy Sprinkle is drafted next month, it'll make five straight Razorback tight ends that were selected in the NFL Draft.

Without diving into a ton of research, it's probably safe to assume no other head coach or program has had as much success with tight ends in the same time frame.

Mix all of that with the fact that Dan Enos and Barry Lunney Jr. share a lot of Ford's same beliefs and values, and that Ford has cousins who live just a mile from Razorback Stadium, and it was really a match made in heaven.

Ford finally made his long awaited trip to Fayetteville on Sunday, and by Monday evening he said the Hogs were his new No. 1. He woke up Tuesday morning 100 percent sure of where he wanted to be, so he called Bielema and sealed the deal.

As it stands today, Arkansas only has room to sign anywhere between 13-16 in this year's class. That number could always rise if players decide to leave the program, but the point remains that the Hogs have to be very selective with their spots.

So far, they're off to a great start.

Connor Noland is a four-star in most people's view, but he's still a high three-star on Rivals. We'll see if that changes after he attends the Rivals Camp in St. Louis in late May.

Bumper Pool is a four-star linebacker who has an outstanding offer list. And while Ford hasn't yet reached four-star status on Rivals, there's a good chance that could change with the way he's blown up over the last month or so.

From a quality standpoint, Arkansas couldn't ask for a much better start to the class.

Going forward, keep an eye on guys like Byron Hanspard, who is currently on campus for a visit, as well as Ken Montgomery Jr., Owen Condon, Bryson Jackson, Ladarrius Bishop, and possibly even new running back target Jeremy Gibson.

Some sources believe 2017 signee Jeremy Patton is good enough to only hang around for one season, but for the sake of this chart we'll assume he's still a Razorback in 2018. There will be a large gap between Ford and the rest of the position group, which probably helped the Hogs sell him on being 'the guy' once his time comes.

Here's what the tight end position group would look like once Ford hits Fayetteville: