South Carolina officially announced the hiring of John Scott Jr. on Tuesday, meaning Arkansas is on the market for a new defensive tackles coach. Here is a look at a few coaches the Razorbacks could potentially hire as a replacement…

C.J. Ah You - Vanderbilt

This would be a bit of a wild card, but there seems to be at least some smoke with fan speculation on a Vanderbilt message board that he might be interested. He has followed a few Arkansas coaches on Twitter, but then deleted his twitter. He has experience in the SEC, as he just finished his third season as Vanderbilt’s defensive line coach. It was his first full-time job and came after a two-year stint as a quality control assistant at Oklahoma, where he was an All-Big 12 defensive end in 2006. Ah You also played at BYU and Snow College and grew up on the West Coast.

Alfred Davis - Hutchinson C.C.

It is probably still too early in his career for Davis to make the jump to being a full-time assistant in the SEC, but it wouldn’t be a complete surprise. A former starting defensive lineman for the Razorbacks, Davis was a graduate assistant at Arkansas from 2014-16. He has been at Hutchinson C.C. each of the last two seasons, coaching four-star defensive tackles Tayland Humphrey (FIU) and Devonte Wyatt (Georgia) in 2017 and seven defensive linemen in 2018 who have either committed or received offers from FBS schools.

Brian Early - Houston

Another coach with strong ties to Arkansas, Early was a defensive quality control coach for the Razorbacks in 2013 before joining Arkansas State’s staff as the defensive line coach. He has also coached at Fayetteville and Greenland high schools in Northwest Arkansas, as well as at UCA and UA-Monticello. After five seasons with the Red Wolves, though, Early accepted a job at Houston earlier this month. It’s also worth mentioning that Early is the adoptive father of former Arkansas linebacker Dre Greenlaw.

Paul Randolph - Texas Tech

In Morris’ one season as Tulsa’s offensive coordinator in 2010, Randolph was a co-defensive coordinator for the Golden Hurricane. He has since worked at Pitt, Arizona State and Memphis. He gained SEC experience at Alabama from 2003-05. One problem with hiring Randolph is that he just took a job at Texas Tech this month.

Brick Haley - Missouri

Haley has worked extensively with Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis. Not only was he the defensive line coach at LSU during Chavis’ entire tenure, 2009-14, but he also played for Chavis at Alabama A&M in the 1980s. In addition to his stint at LSU, Haley has coached at Mississippi State and currently Missouri in the SEC, as well as a three-year stint in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. Haley also worked with Arkansas running backs coach Jeff Traylor at Texas from 2015-16.

UPDATE (1/23): Sources tell Rivals that Haley will not leave Missouri.

Marion Hobby - Jacksonville Jaguars

If there is a home run hire out there, it would be Hobby. He worked alongside current Arkansas head coach Chad Morris at Clemson. They are two of the only assistants Dabo Swinney has lost during his ascent to the top of the college football world and Morris has brought up that fact during several interviews. While Morris left to become a head coach at SMU, Hobby made the jump to the NFL and became the defensive line coach for the Jaguars. He was fired earlier this month, so he’s currently looking for a job, but he may want to stay in the NFL. Hobby played at Tennessee and his position coach his senior year was none other than Chavis. He also worked with Chavis and Steve Caldwell as an assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Volunteers in 1998.

UPDATE (1/28): Hobby is due to join the Miami Dolphins staff next season, per Ian Rapoport.

David Turner - UTSA

Another coach with ties to Arkansas’ defensive coordinator, Turner was the defensive tackles coach and defensive run game coordinator at Texas A&M in 2016 and 2017 with Chavis. He also has extensive experience in the SEC, with stops at Alabama, Mississippi State, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

UPDATE (1/27): Turner has accepted a position at Florida.

Buddy Wyatt - Appalachian State

Wyatt is another coach who has worked with Morris, as he was SMU’s defensive line coach from 2015-17. He’s coached at the Power Five level at Kansas, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Colorado, Northwestern, Minnesota, Oklahoma State and TCU, but his only SEC stop was at Alabama from 2003-06. Last season, Wyatt was an analyst at Kansas and he was hired by Appalachian State earlier this month.

UPDATE: (2/9): Wyatt has accepted a new position as Kansas State's defensive line coach.

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SPECIAL TEAMS

UPDATE (2/9): Arkansas has hired Colorado's Daniel Da Prato as a new analyst/quality control coach for special teams so it is now unlikely that they hire a special teams on-field assistant coach.

Considering the struggles it had in the sometimes-forgotten third phase of the game, Arkansas could also choose to go the special teams coordinator route to replace Scott. With 10 assistant coaches now, it is becoming more and more common for teams to designate a single coach for that role instead of distributing it amongst all of the assistants, like the Razorbacks have done for several years.

If that were the case, Steve Caldwell would likely coach the entire defensive line. Here are a few special teams coordinator options if that is what Arkansas decides to do…

~Marty Biagi (North Texas): On the surface, this would appear to be a “if you can’t beat him, hire him” move by Arkansas, as he drew up the fake fair catch play that got the Razorbacks on SportsCenter for all the wrong reasons. However, he is also a solid special teams coordinator. A finalist for FootballScoop’s Special Teams Coordinator of the Year award in 2018, Biagi helped turn Cole Hedlund into a Lou Groza Award semifinalist. He also has ties to the state as a graduate assistant for the Razorbacks from 2008-10 and a co-defensive coordinator at UAPB in 2011.

~Tim Horton (Auburn): As soon as news broke earlier this month that Horton was being demoted to an off-the-field position at Auburn, Arkansas fans immediately called for him to return to his alma mater. He was an All-SWC wide receiver for the Razorbacks and an assistant in Fayetteville for six seasons. Horton was primarily a running backs coach, which Arkansas doesn’t need, but he does have experience as a special teams coordinator as well.

~Joe Lorig (Texas Tech): Unlike the coaches listed directly above and below him, Lorig’s secondary duties have always been on the defensive side of the ball. He has worked with linebackers and defensive backs at various stops, but he’s always had success on special teams. At Memphis in 2017, he was a finalist for FootballScoop’s Special Teams Coordinator of the Year award. Lorig recruited and signed future Lou Groza Award winner Zane Gonzalez at Arizona State and coached semifinalist Jake Elliott at Memphis. One problem is that he just accepted a job at Texas Tech earlier this month.

~James Shibest (Virginia Tech): Similar to Horton, Shibest is a former All-SWC wide receiver and assistant coach for the Razorbacks. He preceded Lorig at Memphis and has been at Virginia Tech the last three years, helping the Hokies beat Arkansas in the 2016 Belk Bowl. Shibest is one of the best special teams coordinators in the business, winning FootballScoop’s award in 2017, which also means he’s not cheap. His $445,000 salary is more than $100,000 more than what Scott was making, according to USA Today’s database.

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