Projected hires for Razorback football (33 positions)
Tuesday Razorback Recruiting Notebook
Steve Caldwell – Defensive Line
Recently the assistant head coach/defensive line coach for four seasons at Boise State, Caldwell returns to Arkansas for the second time in his career and reunites with defensive coordinator John Chavis, who he spent 15 seasons with at Tennessee.
Ron Cooper – Secondary
A former head coach and a longtime defensive assistant coach, Cooper spent the 2017 season at Texas A&M as the secondary coach under Chavis.
John Scott Jr. – Defensive Line
Served as defensive line coach at Arkansas in 2017 and has 15 years of experience at the college and NFL levels.
Mark Smith – Secondary
The Director of Recruiting for three years for coach Morris at SMU, Smith also served as the program’s defensive analyst in 2017, and was a Texas high school head coach for four seasons from 2011-14.
Jeff Traylor – Associate Head Coach/Running Backs
A high school coaching legend in Texas who comes to Fayetteville after recent stints at SMU (2017) as associate head coach/running backs and Texas (2015-16) as an assistant coach.
Dustin Fry – Offensive Line/Run-Game Coordinator
A former NFL center who played at Clemson and coached the offensive line at SMU the past three seasons.
Barry Lunney Jr. – Tight Ends
Played quarterback for the Razorbacks from 1992-95 and has served as tight ends coach at Arkansas since 2013.
Justin Stepp – Wide Receivers
Mentored projected first-round 2018 NFL Draft pick Courtland Sutton as wide receivers coach at SMU from 2015-17 and was selected last December to participate in the 2018 AFCA 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute.
Trumain Carrol is the new head strength and conditioning coach. He joins Arkansas from SMU after previously working two years at Oklahoma State as an assistant. OSU is his alma mater.
“I’m extremely honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the head strength and conditioning coach at the University of Arkansas,” said Carroll. “The standard for Razorback football is to be the best and that is exactly what we are going to give every single day.”
John Chavis is the new defensive coordinator. Chavis comes to Arkansas after spending the last three seasons at Texas A&M. In his 28 years coaching in the SEC, he has put together one of the elite resumes in college football during stints at Tennessee, LSU.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to help Coach Morris build the Arkansas program and join the great staff that he is putting together,” Chavis said. “It’s a great time to be at the University of Arkansas and I can’t wait to get started on building a defense that our fans can be excited about.”
Joe Craddock has been with the staff for a while now and has been recruiting. He comes to Arkansas after serving as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at SMU. Before that, he was an offensive graduate assistant at Clemson.
“I am extremely excited to be a Razorback,” Craddock said. “This is a great opportunity for me and my family. I’m honored to continue to serve alongside Coach Morris and work with an incredible offensive staff. I can’t wait to develop relationships with our players and get to work on the field this spring. I look forward to recruiting elite talent to Fayetteville, developing our players, putting together an explosive offense, and competing in a league as competitive and strong as the SEC.”
