Justice Hill enters transfer portal

FAYETTEVILLE — The lone high school newcomer in Arkansas’ 2019 class won’t play for the Razorbacks after all.

Despite enrolling early and redshirting during the spring semester, Justice Hill has decided to enter the transfer portal and will play somewhere else next year. He has left the door open to potentially play football at Arkansas, though.

“I entered my name in the transfer portal to assess other basketball opportunities that may be available to me,” Hill wrote on Twitter. “However, I hope to visit with the Razorback football staff here in the near future to evaluate potential football opportunities with my Hog family.”

A three-star point guard out of Little Rock Christian, Hill committed to Arkansas during his freshman season. He is the son of former Arkansas wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Fitz Hill and was really close to former head coach Mike Anderson.

However, Anderson was fired following the season and new head coach Eric Musselman has aggressively flipped the roster by bringing in several transfers.

The latest of those additions was Jimmy Whitt, who actually began his career at Arkansas before leaving for SMU. He is now a graduate transfer for the Razorbacks, putting them at 14 projected scholarships for the 2019-20 season.

Hill’s departure - coupled with the decommitment of Iowa transfer Isaiah Moss - gets the Razorbacks down to the limit of 13 allowed by the NCAA. If Khalil Garland is given a medical hardship, that would open up another scholarship to be filled by a potential transfer, which Musselman appears to still be pursuing.

There had been some speculation that Hill might try to play football and basketball for the Razorbacks, which would also open up the basketball scholarship. Head coach Chad Morris even announced that Hill would join the team for spring practice after basketball season. That has yet to come to fruition, though.

It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for Hill to play football in college, as he received multiple offers to play the sport, including from Auburn. He led Little Rock Christian to a state championship as a senior and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Arkansas.

SUBSCRIBE to HawgBeat and get access to exclusive prospect interviews, the best recruiting network in the industry, inside scoops on recruiting and team news, videos, podcasts and much more.

Join the discussion on THE TROUGH, the Arkansas Rivals premium message board for thousands of Hog fans.