Each Friday, HawgBeat's Alex Trader will write a recruiting notebook filled with tidbits on Arkansas commits and top targets, including the best games, performances and where each are playing that particular week.
HawgBeat's Friday Night Spotlight
Ashdown @ Shiloh Christian- 7 p.m. CT
There are few better times to see top talent squaring off than the state playoffs. This week gave me one of the easiest choices for spotlight games that I’ve had all season, and that pits Ashdown’s Shamar Easter against defending champion Shiloh Christian’s Kaden Henley.
I was able to see Henley in action earlier this season, and his willingness to impact all three phases of the game could provide some interesting one-on-one matchups with Easter.
Easter is a big tight end who often finds ways to get open for his offense, so if you’ve got a couple of hours to spare on this chilly Friday night, I’d definitely recommend throwing on a coat and beanie and finding yourself a ticket at Shiloh Christian in Springdale.
Spotlights: Kaden Henley, 3* ATH (Shiloh Christian), Shamar Easter, 4* TE (Ashdown)
The Roundup
Louisiana Takeover
As you’ll see in the new offers section of this roundup, Arkansas attempted to take full advantage of their first win in Death Valley since 2015. Though there were a number of new offers from Louisiana, one that the staff appears to have keyed in on was Tackett Curtis.
Curtis is a top-50 player in the 2023 class, and Hutch got to talk to him about his visits to Fayetteville and the impact they’ve had on his recruitment.
Going Bowling
One of the more emphasized aspects to becoming bowl eligible is the ability to host more practices to close out the season. With that, Sam Pittman understands the added boost that could be seen by early-enrollees finding their way to the facilities.
“Yes, I’m considering that,” Pittman said. “Obviously they have to pay their own way here. It’ll be more of the local guys that we would do that with. It just depends, to be honest with you. It depends on what bowl we get, for the date.”
“Is it worth bringing a guy in two or three practices? I’m going to say yes because we can get some of the medical things done when they first get in here and then there’ll still be a little acclimation where they meet different people and understand a little bit to be more comfortable when they get back. That would probably have a lot of value to it too.”
Locking Down the Portal
The Razorbacks have seen a boost from some of their transfer players this season in guys like Warren Thompson, Tre Williams and Markell Utsey. With the changing landscape of college football, adaptation has become a requirement for teams to stay relevant.
Though Pittman has shown a willingness to bring guys in from the portal, he doubled down on his belief that recruiting out of high school is where a team will find success.
“I mean, I’ve said it many times, I believe that 80-85 percent of your team, 90, somewhere in that range, should be high school kids,” Pittman said. “If you’re going to build a foundation, you need to do it off of high school kids.
“We have our portal board. I’m not really going to share… I don’t want to share that because it would seem negative to the kids we have, but we have a portal board where we think if we had three, if we had five scholarships, whatever it may be, we would go to that area first.”
One of those spots where we could potentially see some action is at the tight end spot. Despite moving Trey Knox to TE, there have still been questions about the group’s ability to impact the game.
2022 TE commit out of Lee County (Ga.) Tyrus Washington hopes to be that guy for the Razorbacks. The 5.7 three-star has put up an impressive senior season to this point, so the only logical choice was to continue my series of 2022 film breakdowns.
All American Hogs
Arkansas' 2022 class has certainly been one to remember, but for four of the 20 commitments, there's one more step in their high school careers.
Isaiah Sategna, Myles Rowser, Andrew Chamblee and Eli Stein have all been selected to play in the All-American Bowl Jan. 8 in San Antonio (Texas).
As well as the commits, North Cobb (Ga.) 2022 high three-star WR Sam M'Bake, who has an official visit planned for Dec. 3, will be suiting up for the game. I took a look at M'Bake's film earlier this season after his visit for homecoming weekend, and a second visit is certainly a good sign for the Razorbacks as they look to close out the '22 class.
New Offers
Calling the Hogs
2022
Playoffs: Sterling Heights Stevenson (Mich.) vs. Belleville (Mich.) - 1 p.m. CT (Sat. 11/20)
Commit: Myles Rowser, 4* S (Belleville)
-- Belleville - Christian Rapley, 3* ATH (‘22) - holds offers from Kentucky, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Penn State, Tennessee, others
-- Belleville - Jeremiah Caldwell, 4* ATH (‘22) - previously committed to Kentucky, holds offers from Arkansas State, Iowa State, Michigan, Tennessee
-- Belleville - Deshaun Lee, 3* CB (‘22) - holds offers from Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Syracuse
-- Belleville - Aaron Alexander, 2* ILB (‘22) - Michigan commit
-- Sterling Heights Stevenson - Jordan Kwiatkowski, 3* ILB (‘22) - Central Michigan commit
Playoffs: Southeast Bulloch (Ga.) vs. Cedar Grove (Ga.) - 6:30 p.m. CT
Commit: Rashod Dubinion, 4* RB (Cedar Grove)
-- Cedar Grove - Christen Miller, 4* DT (‘22) - No. 9 DT in 2022, FutureCast to USC
-- Cedar Grove - Joshua White, 4* DE (‘22) - Memphis commit
-- Cedar Grove - Janiran Bonner, 4* WR (‘22) - Georgia Tech commit
-- Cedar Grove - Kayin Lee, 4* CB (‘23) - Georgia commit
-- Cedar Grove - Everett Roussaw, 3* ILB (‘23) - holds offer from Arkansas. Also holds offers from Mississippi State, Missouri, UCF and Virginia Tech
-- Southeast Bulloch - Tyler Griffin, 3* WR (‘22) - UCF commit
Playoffs: Mesquite (Texas) vs. Duncanville (Texas) - 7:30 p.m. CT
Commit: Jordan Crook, 3* LB (Duncanville)
-- Duncanville - Ka’Davion Dotson, (‘24) - Arkansas offer, also holds offers from Kansas State, Oklahoma State, SMU and USC
Playoffs: Lafayette County vs. Clarendon - 7 p.m. CT
Commits: Quincey McAdoo, 4* WR & Dax Courtney, 3* TE (Clarendon)
Playoffs: Pocahontas vs. Joe T. Robinson - 7 p.m. CT
Commits: E’Marion Harris, 4* WR (Robinson) - (‘23) Shamar Easter, 4* TE (Ashdown)
-- Robinson - Daryl Searcy Jr., RB (‘22) - holds offers from Arkansas State, Memphis, North Texas, visited Fayetteville in February 2020
Playoffs: South Gibson (Tenn.) @ Haywood (Tenn.) - 6 p.m. CT
Commit: Jaylen Lewis, 3* S (Haywood)
-- Haywood - Camron Douglas, 3* DT (‘22) - holds offers from Akron, Illinois, Memphis, Vanderbilt
Playoffs: Cambridge (Ga.) vs. Lee County (Ga.) - 6:30 p.m. CT
Commit: Tyrus Washington, 3* TE (Lee County)
-- Lee County - Jaron Willis, 4* OLB (‘22) - Georgia Tech commit
-- Lee County - Qaeshon Sapp, 4* OG (‘22) - Florida State commit
-- Lee County - Quavian Carter, 3* S (‘22) - Michigan State commit
Playoffs: Christian Brothers (Tenn.) @ Montgomery Bell Academy (Tenn.) - 6 p.m. CT
Commit: Patrick Kutas, 3* OL (Christian Brothers)
-- Christian Brothers - Dallan Hayden, 4* RB (‘22) - Ohio State commit, his older brother, Chase, played in 23 games for Arkansas from 2017-19
-- Montgomery Bell Academy - Grayson Morgan, 3* OT (‘22) - Vanderbilt commit
-- Montgomery Bell Academy - Marcel Reed, 3* QB (‘23) - holds offers from Alabama, Baylor, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M
Playoffs: Parkview @ Jonesboro - 7 p.m. CT
Commit: James Jointer Jr., 3* RB (Parkview)
-- Parkview - Jaylon White, S (‘22) - Ole Miss commit
-- Parkview - Darien Bennett, RB (‘23) - holds offer from Arkansas, committing January 26, 2022
Playoffs: Cabot vs. Fayetteville - 7 p.m. CT
Commits: Mani Powell 3* LB & Isaiah Sategna 4* WR (Fayetteville)
-- Fayetteville - Kaiden Turner, 3* ILB (‘22) - Indiana commit
2023
North Little Rock vs. Bentonville - 7 p.m. CT
Commit: Joey Su'a, 4* OL (Bentonville)
-- Bentonville - Charles Nimrod, 3* WR ('22) - Tennessee commit
Other Names to Watch
2022
Playoffs: Roswell (Ga.) vs. North Cobb (Ga.) - 6:30 p.m. CT
-- North Cobb - Sam M’Bake, 3* WR (‘22) - has been FutureCast to Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss and Arkansas, will visit Fayetteville for a second time in December
-- Roswell - Ethan Nation, 4* CB (‘23) - holds 44 offers, including Alabama, Arkansas, Clemson, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas A&M and USC
2023
Playoffs: Kapaun Mt. Carmel (Kan.) vs. Maize (Kan.) - TBD
-- Maize - Avery Johnson, 4* QB (‘23) - holds 16 P5 offers, including Arkansas, Auburn, Iowa State, Kansas State, Ole Miss, Tennessee
Playoffs: Midland Christian (Texas) vs. Nolan Catholic (Texas) - 6 p.m. CT (Sat. 11/20)
-- Nolan Catholic - Kaleb James, 3* DE (‘23) - Arkansas offer, also holds offers from Baylor, Cincinnati, Michigan State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State
-- Nolan Catholic - Curlee Thomas IV, 3* DE (‘22) - Cal commit
Playoffs: Rockwall-Heath (Texas) @ Temple (Texas) - 7:30 p.m. CT
-- Temple - Mikal Harrison-Pilot, 4* WR/S (‘23) - Arkansas offer, Rivals250 player in the class of 2023, visited Fayetteville in early June
-- Temple - Naeten Jeremy-Mitchell, S (‘23) - Arkansas offer, a frequent visitor to Arkansas’ campus this summer
-- Rockwall-Heath - Zach Evans, 3* RB (‘22) - Minnesota commit
-- Rockwall-Heath - Josh Hoover, 3* QB (‘22) - Indiana commit
-- Rockwall-Heath - Jay Fair, 3* WR (‘22) - Auburn commit
Playoffs: Pebblebrook (Ga.) @ Collins Hill (Ga.) - 7 p.m. CT
-- Collins Hill - Jayden Davis, 3* S (‘23) - Arkansas offer, also holds offers from Kentucky, Ole Miss and Missouri, as well as seven other non-SEC teams
-- Collins Hill - Travis Hunter, 5* ATH (‘22) - No. 1 player in the 2022 class, Florida State commit
-- Collins Hill - Sam Horn, 4* QB (‘22) - Missouri commit
-- Collins Hill - Ethan Davis, 4* WR (‘23) - holds 15 P5 offers, including Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas and Texas A&M
2024
Playoffs: Malvern vs. Rivercrest - 7 p.m. CT
-- Malvern - Vinny Winters, OL ('24) - offers from Arkansas, Memphis; visited Fayetteville this summer and for the Texas game
