FAYETTEVILLE — Connor Noland is no longer a two-sport athlete at Arkansas.
The quarterback and right-handed pitcher for the Razorbacks announced Thursday, just three days after starting in the College World Series, that he has decided to focus solely on baseball.
“My dad always told me that I wouldn’t be the one picking which sport I would finally focus on, he said the sport would pick me,” Noland wrote on Twitter. “I can now say I fully understand what he meant. I will always have a passion for football and I can truly say I have zero regrets about playing both sports.”
A three-star quarterback coming out of Greenwood, Ark., Noland turned down offers from Ole Miss, North Carolina, Penn State, Texas A&M, UCLA and several other schools to play for the Razorbacks.
He appeared in four games last year, maintaining his redshirt, and completed 21 of 42 passes for 255 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. With starter Ty Storey out with an injury, Noland became just the eighth true freshman in UA history to start a game at quarterback when he led the Razorbacks to a 23-0 win over Tulsa.
Despite missing all of fall practice and having only a handful of intrasquad scrimmages under his belt, Noland earned a spot in Arkansas’ weekend rotation for the opening series of the baseball season.
He ended up making a team-high 19 starts and one relief appearance, finishing the season 3-5 with a 4.02 ERA, 55 strikeouts and only 14 walks in 78 1/3 innings. Only ace Isaiah Campbell threw more innings than Noland.
Those numbers aren’t spectacular, but he got a lot better down the stretch. It seemingly coincided with the end of spring football, as he attempted to pull double duty.
A week after the spring game, Noland failed to record an out and gave up five earned runs in a start at Vanderbilt. From that point on, he posted a 2.60 ERA with 33 strikeouts and just four walks in 45 innings.
Head coach Dave Van Horn mentioned several times throughout the year that he was impressed with Noland’s command and mound presence and his teammates praised him by saying he didn’t look like a freshman.
However, Van Horn also said he felt like Noland could increase his velocity, which topped out in the low 90s this year, if he focused on baseball.
With Campbell heading to professional baseball as a second-round pick, Arkansas is once again searching for a Friday night starter. By not playing baseball, Noland will be in the mix for that role along with left-hander Patrick Wicklander, who also ended his freshman year in the starting rotation.
As for the football team, Noland was the only returning quarterback who had thrown a pass for the Razorbacks, as Ty Storey and Cole Kelley transferred to Western Kentucky and Southeast Louisiana, respectively.
Playing time was going to be tough to come by, though, because Arkansas brought in two graduate transfers this offseason. Ben Hicks played for Chad Morris at SMU and went through spring practice as the starter, while Nick Starkel arrived this summer and has starting experience in the SEC at Texas A&M.
Noland would have also been competing with K.J. Jefferson and Chandler Morris over the next few years. Jefferson is an incoming freshman and a four-star dual-threat quarterback, while Morris is the son of Arkansas’ head coach and a talented quarterback at Highland Park in Texas.
“The Razorback QB room is full of very talented players I will definitely miss being there with everyone,” Noland wrote. “I will always appreciate the time spent and friendships developed with those guys.”
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