FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas signed its quarterback of the future Wednesday afternoon, but it is still searching for a short-term fix for 2019.
Head coach Chad Morris acknowledged that the Razorbacks are still looking to bring in a graduate transfer at the position despite signing four-star dual-threat quarterback KJ Jefferson out of Sardis (Miss.) North Panola.
“Absolutely we’re still exploring options to bring an older quarterback in,” Morris said. “We’ll see how that goes.”
The Razorbacks missed out on Clemson transfer Kelly Bryant, who signed with Missouri, so they have moved on to other options.
Ben Hicks would be the most logical next choice on the transfer market because he played for Morris and most of Arkansas’ current offensive staff at SMU. However, he completed only 56.7 percent of his passes in his career playing in the American Athletic Conference, peaking at 58.5 percent in 2017 under Morris and with a pair of NFL receivers to throw to.
Arkansas currently has four scholarship quarterbacks on its roster, not including Jefferson. Ty Storey is the most experienced, as he started nine games in 2018 and will be a fifth-year senior, but he struggled with 10 interceptions and only 11 touchdowns.
Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones both took advantage of the NCAA’s new rule that allowed them to play some, with Noland even making a spot start, and still redshirt. Cole Kelley has already announced his departure and Daulton Hyatt is widely expected to follow suit.
That would mean, if Hyatt does transfer, three of Arkansas’ four scholarship quarterbacks in 2019 would either be redshirt or true freshmen.
“We are going to look, again, to get older at that position to create some depth,” Morris said. “We love the guys that we have, but at the same sense, I don’t want to get into a position where we don’t have enough, where you get injury-prone and all of a sudden you’re in a bind.”
Obviously Arkansas would prefer to bring in a transfer who is able to go through spring practice, but Morris didn’t rule out the possibility of bringing in a quarterback over the summer.
All of the details are still up in the air, but Morris strongly indicated Wednesday that the Razorbacks will add a graduate transfer to bolster the offense in his second season.
“I anticipate bringing someone in, whether that be January, whether that be early summer or whenever that may be,” Morris said. “We want the right fit.”
