The Razorbacks capped off signing day with 23 new additions and after the ink dried, Sam Pittman reflected on the job he and his first-year staff accomplished. Though the Hogs signed recruits at every position, the head hog was particularly pleased with the success of his younger recruiters, Justin Stepp and Sam Carter.
Adding Rivals No. 191, wide receiver KeTron Jackson, and Rivals No. 250, Raheim Sanders, as well as Bryce Stephens and Jaedon Wilson, Stepp once again showed how prowess for building relationships.
"I thought Coach Stepp did a great job with those guys," Pittman said. "If you look, there’s a lot of talent there with Ketron and Rocket and Jaden and Bryce. You know, Bryce Stevens will have a decent chance, a good chance to win the 100 meters in 4A there in Oklahoma. Obviously Ketron Jackson is a highly recruited kid. Rocket Sanders can play several different spots. And of course Jaedon Wilson is a long ball threat. He can catch. Great size on him."
In Stepp's four recruiting classes on the Hill, he's brought in seven 4-stars–Jackson, Sanders, Jaqualyn Crawford, Treylon Burks, TQ Jackson, Trey Knox and Shamar Nash.
The South Carolina native has continually shown an ability to identify favorite targets early (despite offering quite a few), and following those relationships through to signing day. It hasn't always panned out, he has lost some battles, but he doesn't take those lightly, which Pittman believes is a key sign of an elite recruiter.
"You have to be a hard worker and you have to competitive," Pittman said. "Recruiting has to be personal to you. If you lose a kid at Arkansas or any kid in the country, that had to hurt you and it has to be personal. I think it is to Stepp."
Stepp and his wife, Brooke, celebrated signing day by welcoming in their second child at 2 in the morning. Pittman noted it takes a special recruiter to balance family and recruits, who often take precedence.
"It’s unfortunate but sometimes the recruit has to come first over…You are at a dinner date with your wife and a recruit calls, you better pick it up," Pittman said. 'Some of that is a little bit unfortunate, but that’s our job."
Stepp's ability to recruit is what saved his job when the former Georgia OL coach took over the program. If not for high praise from high school coaches and a track record for hauling in highly recruited players, Stepp may have gone the way of Chad Morris's other assistants.
Also completing a successful class was first-time cornerbacks coach Sam Carter. He and Barry Odom added five defensive backs, including a transfer who could come in to help immediately–Trent Gordon. Carter also locked in Jayden Johnson in the days leading up to signing, who he'd been recruiting on the down low despite his long-term commitment to South Carolina.
"With Barry, our system runs three safeties back there, two corners," Pittman said. "So we wanted to go heavy at that position. We got some really good safeties in that group. We got a nice transfer, Trent Gordon at corner, that we hope and feel like will come in here and give us immediate help. Keuan Parker has great speed and Chase Lowery is an athletic guy that can help us in punt returning as well as at corner or possibly safety. Jermaine Hamilton-Jordan is a guy that can play a nickel all the way back to a safety position for us.
"We’re very, very pleased with those guys. We needed help, and certainly Coach Carter and Coach Stepp did a great job of recruiting their position."
Pittman mentioned an element of honesty that great recruiters uses to build solid foundations with players and it's something we've heard from Carter's recruits often. "He tells it like it is," was a very consistent message from recruits this cycle, even ones Carter didn't land.
Though experience often reigns in college football, players respond well to Carter not because of the years of coaching under his belt, but because of his success on the field just a short while ago. Carter was a Jim Thorpe Award semifinalist in 2014, his senior season at TCU.
"He’s one of the best DB coaches you can have, because he’s so young, he’s a guy who can talk our language I like to say and put things in a perspective that we can understand and kind of understand what he went through," redshirt freshman Jalen Catalon said of his first-year coach this season. "I think it speaks volumes that he’s actually been in this position, actually done things that we’ve experienced or want to experience."
Carter hasn't reeled in as many stars as Stepp quite yet but it seems like it's only a matter of time.
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