It's April 1 (happy April Fool's Day), and the Arkansas football staff is about nine months away from the early signing period for the 2020 class.
Recruiting activity is about to pick up majorly in the next few weeks with official visits and the evaluation period beginning April 15, so it's a good time to take a look at how the Hogs are doing on the recruiting trail compared to the rest of the nation, the rest of the SEC and compared to last year, Chad Morris's first full recruiting class.
Arkansas has three Rivals 3-stars committed in the class, cornerback Jamie Vance from Louisiana, wide receiver Ze'Vian Capers from Georgia (who just received a 4-star bump on 247sports) and in-state linebacker/defensive end Jashaud Stewart.
All three commits look very solid, though Justin Stepp will have his work cut out for him trying to keep Capers out of the clutches of schools like South Carolina and Georgia Tech who've continued to recruit him hard.
Three commits by this time of the year is more than the Hogs had in the 2019 class, they had a long stretch of no commitments from this time until 4-star dual-threat QB KJ Jefferson committed in May. Arkansas crushed recruiting during the summer but still, more than 50% of Arkansas's 2019 class committed after the summer and four of them committed all the way in December.
Only 36 programs in the nation have more than three commits at this time and several of those programs have already seen one or more decommitments. Arkansas's class is ranked 34th in the nation, they finished at no. 20 in 2019.
Unfortunately (but also fortunately, and I'll explain why), the SEC leads the nation with commitments so far this cycle with 76. Arkansas is currently below the average of 5.4 recruits per class through March. They're in the cellar right now with the schools you'd assume, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Missouri. Tennessee and Ole Miss each have four commits, the Vols have two 4-stars while Ole Miss's class has a 3-star, a 2-star and two currently unrated commits.
Other SEC classes filling up early ends up having a positive effect on Arkansas's recruiting in the long run. There are plenty of recruits who don't want to make an early decision and they end up missing out on their spot elsewhere, leaving them to give 2-10 Arkansas a lot more thought.
The Hogs staff also like to bring recruits to campus several times, really getting to know them and their families before pushing for a commitment. It's beneficial for them because they get to make sure the player is a good fit for the program and it gives the recruit more time to make sure their decision is the right one, making it less likely that they'll decommit down the road. They show the players that they're important by maintaining consistent contact over so many months while other coaching staffs might not be so patient.
Overall, Arkansas is just about right where I would expect them to be coming off the year they had. As for quality and quantity of recruits they're offering and bringing to campus, it's as good as it was in 2019. I'd say they're in the mix for more of their top targets early than they were last year.
A major concern was offensive line recruiting in 2019, and they have already missed on three offensive line targets in this cycle, but Dustin Fry isn't planning to sign as many and I think their viable offer count is better than it was last year, meaning they're aiming for more of the right guys.
Wide receiver recruiting is as good as ever with a mix of highly ranked targets and lower-ranked targets with very high ceilings.
We're seeing a similar trend as 2019 with defensive back recruiting this cycle. Mark Smith and Ron Cooper are aiming high, getting kids to campus and staying in the mix with a lot of prospects, which will likely result in them landing at least a couple.
Barry Lunney Jr. is in a fantastic spot with all of his top tight end targets so zero worries there, hopefully they're able to pick and choose the two who fit the system best.
Jeff Traylor is also staying true to form with his recruiting approach, offering a lot of very talented, perhaps underrated recruits and many from his East Texas recruiting ground.
John Chavis is probably feeling pretty confident in the group of linebackers he's offered, there haven't been a ton of new linebacker offers lately like there has been at other positions. So far however, no official visits have been set up for his guys.
Defensive line isn't a major need in the 2020 class so if they can lock down Blayne Toll and Catrell Wallace to go along with Stewart I'd say that puts them in very good shape there.
The quarterback position is still a big question mark. On one hand, there is no rush if they're just going to end up signing Chad Morris's son Chandler, but on the other hand, there's probably no position fans care about more than quarterback and the sooner Joe Craddock gets it settled, the better it is for everyone.
Official visits may begin this weekend and the Hogs are due to host two defensive backs, Vance and Dallas-area 4-star Darius Snow, the no. 9-ranked safety prospect in the nation. They have another five top prospects coming in either this weekend or next weekend and two more defensive backs, Ryan Watts and Jahari Rogers from Texas, scheduled to OV at the beginning of May. I would be very surprised if we didn't see another commitment or two in the next two-three weeks.
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