Five positions Arkansas needs to address in spring transfer portal

The Arkansas football team has officially wrapped up spring practice, but head coach Sam Pittman and the Razorbacks still have a lot of offseason work to do in the transfer portal.

With seven scholarship spots currently open on the roster following the departures of running back Isaiah Augustave on Saturday night and quarterback Jacolby Criswell on Monday, Arkansas will have to fight to keep its own players in Fayetteville as well.

"I want to say this first, No. 1 with the portal, we don’t want to lose any of our players," Pittman said on Saturday. "I had a talk with our team, and I said, ‘Hey, if we just don’t lose anybody that we have and don’t add anybody, we’re going to have us a fine football team.’ So the No. 1 thing is, I don’t want to lose anybody we have. … Inevitably, we’re going to [lose some players]. I hope not, but we could."

Tuesday, April 16 marks the first official day that the transfer portal opens. That window will last until April 30 for underclassmen. The time to enter the portal is extended until May 1 for graduate transfers.

"Once that happens, if we don’t lose anybody, we have five scholarships available," Pittman said. "We need to get some more help on the D-line, we need to get some more help on the offensive line, and we need to get maybe another wide receiver. If we just have five [scholarships], instead of going to wideout, we would go to linebacker. We need an older linebacker."

From defensive tackle to running back, HawgBeat takes a look at five positions that the Razorbacks need to address during the spring transfer portal window:

NOT A SUBSCRIBER? SIGN UP TODAY FOR ACCESS TO ALL OF HAWGBEAT'S PREMIUM CONTENT AND FEATURES

To be a successful SEC team, you need depth along your defensive line. Right now, Arkansas is nowhere near competitive on that front with a barely legitimate SEC two-deep.

Cam Ball, Eric Gregory and Keivie Rose are a solid top three options that could end up being very good, but the Razorbacks need to add at least one more option here to shore up a lack of experience. You have issues when your third team starters are undersized, and Kaleb James (260 lbs) and JJ Hollingsworth (270 lbs) certainly fit that criteria.

In an ideal world, Arkansas will use two of its scholarships at this position. Unfortunately, finding quality defensive tackles during the spring is anything but a certainty.

Projected scholarship defensive tackles:

~ Cameron Ball - Redshirt Junior

~ Eric Gregory - Redshirt Senior

~ Keivie Rose - Redshirt Senior

~ Ian Geffrard - Redshirt Freshman

~ Kaleb James - Redshirt Freshman

~ JJ Hollingsworth - Redshirt Sophomore

The Razorbacks were ravished at the linebacker position during the last transfer portal window, so adding one or two names here is at the top of the priority list for defensive coordinator Travis Williams.

Pittman specifically pointed out a need for experience here, and that makes sense as only one of the scholarship linebackers on the roster is an upperclassmen. Sanford, Spence and Dean all have major upside potential, but relying on them in a gruesome SEC is bound to lead to more bad than good.

HawgBeat can confirm that Williams has been in contact with 6-foot-3, 225-pound Texas State linebacker transfer Dan Foster Jr., who recorded 52 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss for the Bobcats last season.

Projected scholarship linebackers:

~ Xavian Sorey Jr. - Redshirt Junior

~ Alex Sanford - Sophomore

~ JuJu Pope - Freshman

~ Brad Spence - Sophomore

~ Carson Dean - Redshirt Freshman

~ Justin Logan - Freshman

~ Kaden Henley - Redshirt Sophomore

~ Bradley Shaw - Freshman

~ Wyatt Simmons - Freshman

Through 14 spring practices and the spring game, the offensive line has looked improved since it's poor season a year ago. Portal additions like Fernando Carmona Jr., Addison Nichols and Keyshawn Blackstock have brought a fresh mindset to the unit, but there's still some work to be done.

Arkansas was once on the verge of adding two big-time portal offensive linemen last go around in Micah Mazzccua and Percy Lewis, but those recruitments ultimately fell through. The Hogs are currently in on another top transfer prospect in SMU center Branson Hickman, but TCU will be a tough one to battle for his pledge.

Best case scenario, the Hogs add at least one interior player and a tackle that can push for a starting job, and maybe another tackle for depth purposes.

Projected scholarship offensive linemen:

~ Kobe Branham - Freshman

~ Ty'Kieast Crawford - Senior

~ Keyshawn Blackstock - Redshirt Junior

~ Fernando Carmona Jr. - Redshirt Junior

~ Amaury Wiggins - Redshirt Junior

~ Zuri Madison (ACL tear, out for 2024) - Freshman

~ Addison Nichols - Redshirt Sophomore

~ Josh Street - Redshirt Junior

~ Paris Patterson - Redshirt Freshman

~ Joshua Braun - Redshirt Senior

~ Luke Brown - Redshirt Freshman

~ Patrick Kutas - Junior

~ E'Marion Harris - Redshirt Sophomore

Even without injuries, this is still a position of need for the Razorbacks. The talent is there for offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino to exploit with guys like Andrew Armstrong, Tyrone Broden and Isaiah Sategna, but depth seems to be the biggest issue right now.

Redshirt freshman Davion Dozier suffered a broken wrist in a recent spring practice and will miss time as a result, and Armstrong dealt with a hamstring issue leading up to Saturday's spring game. He'll be fine long term, but it highlights just how close to trouble the Razorbacks are at the position.

If the Hogs can add one transfer here with a solid amount of production, they'd be in a pretty good spot for the fall with the emergence of freshman CJ Brown.

Projected scholarship wide receivers:

~ Jaedon Wilson - Redshirt Junior

~ Andrew Armstrong - Redshirt Senior

~ Isaac TeSlaa - Senior

~ Tyrone Broden - Redshirt Senior

~ Jordan Anthony - Redshirt Sophomore

~ Bryce Stephens - Redshirt Junior

~ Isaiah Sategna - Redshirt Sophomore

~ CJ Brown - Freshman

~ Dazmin James - Redshirt Freshman

~ Davion Dozier - Redshirt Freshman

~ Krosse Johnson - Freshman

As mentioned above, Arkansas has already lost one player off the roster at the running back position in Augustave. HawgBeat can confirm the coaching staff is at least somewhat interested in adding a player here based off recent X (formerly Twitter) follows like New Mexico State's Star Thomas and because the Razorbacks hosted Hutchinson Community College freshman running back Tyrell Reed for their Red-White game on Saturday.

Reed rushed for 833 yards and 13 touchdowns in 11 games last season and would be a nice depth addition with plenty of eligibility remaining. If the Hogs can't add him, then expect them to do some shopping around for a transfer portal tailback.

Projected scholarship running backs:

~ Braylen Russell - Freshman

~ Rashod Dubiniion - Junior

~ Dominique Johnson - Redshirt Senior

~ Ja'Quinden Jackson - Redshirt Senior

**JOIN THE CONVERSATION WITH ARKANSAS FANS ON THE TROUGH, HAWGBEAT'S PREMIUM MESSAGE BOARD**