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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ depth at linebacker has taken another hit.
Redshirt junior Giovanni LaFrance has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, HawgBeat confirmed Thursday night.
During his career with the Razorbacks, LaFrance appeared in 11 games and made only four tackles. Most of his playing time came on special teams, as he was on three of those units, but he did play eight defensive snaps last season.
Although he wasn’t a key piece in terms of on-field production, LaFrance’s name has been brought up quite a bit so far in fall camp because he was one of only nine scholarship linebackers on the roster.
Head coach Chad Morris even mentioned him in Tuesday’s post-practice press conference, saying he was pleased with the progression of him and fellow lightly used linebacker Deon Edwards.
“Both of these two guys are coming into their own,” Morris said. “Why? Because I believe they see guys around them that have elevated their game and they’re like, “If I don’t pick my game up, I’m fixing to fall behind.’”
LaFrance had been rotating with redshirt freshman Andrew Parker as the third-team middle linebacker behind senior De’Jon Harris and redshirt junior Grant Morgan. He was expected to get extended reps in Saturday’s scrimmage because Harris will likely be limited as a key veteran.
A three-star linebacker with a 5.5 rating coming out of St. Augustine High in New Orleans, LaFrance committed to the Razorbacks about a week before National Signing Day 2016. He turned down offers from Arizona State, California, Louisville, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Utah and several others.
His departure means Arkansas now has only 77 players on scholarship, which is eight below the NCAA limit for FBS schools. The Razorbacks still have two slots available for transfers, while the rest would have to be awarded to walk-ons who have been in the program for at least two seasons. They could also choose not to fill them and instead save them for the 2020 class.
