FAYETTEVILLE — With the transfer portal officially opening Monday for college football players, keeping up with roster movement is nearly impossible.
Free agency is the best way to describe what is now going on across the country. Arkansas will be right in the middle of it all, and the Razorbacks had multiple players announce their intentions to transfer by 1 p.m. Monday with many more expected to follow.
Many head coaches across the country have said that most players who enter the transfer portal already have an idea of where they want to go, and that includes Head Hog Sam Pittman.
"We have guys that come in, go into the portal and you’re not going to talk them out of it simply because they’ve already been poached by somebody else," Pittman said Thursday. "Told the finances and everything else. We do not do that here, we don’t. But it happens all the time. NCAA at some point has to put some type of penalties on teams that are poaching players, because it’s going around the country everywhere. We’re not."
The reality is, nothing is going to be done for this cycle of the transfer portal. It's been hard to keep up with the constant news cycle, so HawgBeat continues its day-by-day tracker to provide a refresher on all that's happened with the Arkansas football program.
This story will be updated as news comes through each day. You can also stay up up-to-date with the roster outlook, transfer hot boards, transfer offers, insider info and more with HawgBeat.
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WEDNESDAY
8:58 a.m. - DB Malik Chavis enters transfer portal
A former three-star prospect in the class of 2019 according to Rivals, Chavis could never see consistent playing time during his five years on campus. This season, he totaled five tackles and one sack in eight games for the Hogs.
Throughout his career, Chavis has totaled 38 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack and one interception in 34 games.
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TUESDAY
12:12 p.m. - CB Dwight McGlothern accepts East-West Shrine Bowl invite
Arkansas standout senior cornerback Dwight McGlothern accepted an invite to play in the 99th East-West Shrine Bowl, which will take place on Feb. 1 at the Force Center in Frisco, Texas. McGlothern recorded 20 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, one forced fumble and three interceptions in 2023. His 90.8 defense grade from Pro Football Focus was the third highest of any cornerback in the country and it was the best in the SEC this season.
1:15 p.m. - Two Razorbacks named AP Second Team All-SEC
The Associated Press actually announced its All-SEC honors and yearly awards Monday, but HawgBeat got around to publishing a story Tuesday. Two Razorbacks — Landon Jackson and Josh Braun — picked up second team All-SEC honors.
2:25 p.m. - Three Razorbacks named All-SEC by coaches
The league announced its All-SEC teams as voted on by the coaches and the Hogs had three players honor. Defensive end Landon Jackson and kicker Cam Little were named first team, while punter Max Fletcher was named second team.
4:58 p.m. - Guiton, Kief to resume previous roles on Arkansas coaching staff
Arkansas football’s Kenny Guiton has returned to his role as wide receivers coach and Derek Kief is back to his senior quality control position on the Razorback coaching staff, a team spokesperson confirmed to HawgBeat.
7:07 p.m. - Arkansas RB Rocket Sanders expected to enter transfer portal
A former four-star prospect in the class of 2021 according to Rivals, Sanders has been a super-star in the backfield for the Hogs. This season, Sanders dealt with injuries that left him only gaining 209 yards and two touchdowns on 62 carries.
Throughout his career, Sanders has ran the ball 398 times for 2,230 yards and 17 touchdowns.
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MONDAY
9:08 a.m. - Arkansas DT Taurean Carter to enter transfer portal
Redshirt senior defensive tackle Taurean Carter was the first Hog to announce he's transferring on the first day of the portal being open.
A former three-star prospect in the class of 2019 according to Rivals, Carter has been a mainstay in the trenches for the Hogs since stepping on campus. This season, he racked up 25 total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
10:46 a.m. - Arkansas offers Kansas State transfer DB
Arkansas extended its first offer of the day to a standout defensive back out of Kansas State in Will Lee, who went to Kansas State out of Iowa Western Community College in 2022, where he was a freshman All-American.
The St. Louis-area native started nine of 11 games for the Wildcats this last season. He racked up 42 total tackles, two interceptions, one forced fumble and six pass deflections.
12:16 p.m. - Razorback OT Devon Manuel to transfer
Manuel become the second Arkansas player to publicly announce Monday that he will transfer. According to Pro Football Focus, Manuel finished the 2023-24 season with an overall grade of 68.4, a pass grade of 89.4, a pass block grade of 63.5 and a run block grade of 65.6.
1:09 p.m. - Tennessee State transfer DB offered by Razorbacks
Former Memphis corner Jashon Watkins picked up an offer from Arkansas on Monday. He played 283 snaps in 2022 for Tennessee State and he totaled 21 tackles, one interceptions, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and three pass breakups. Watkins was a 5.5 three-star recruit coming out of East Nashville Magnet in Nashville.
2:37 p.m. - DT Cam Ball remaining loyal to Arkansas
Defensive tackle Cam Ball got out in front of any rumors and made it clear he's coming back for his redshirt junior season in 2024. Ball had a career-high 32 tackles with 1.5 tackles for loss, half a sack and one forced fumbled this fall.
3:23 p.m. - Hogs lose RB AJ Green to portal
A former three-star prospect in the class of 2021 according to Rivals, Green has been a mainstay in the Hogs’ rushing attack since stepping on campus. This season, he ran the ball 67 times for 312 yards and two touchdowns. Throughout his career, Green has totaled 201 attempts for 953 yards and six touchdowns to go along with 19 receptions for 184 yards and two touchdowns.
4:28 p.m. - Welcome back, Ty Washington
Tight ends coach Morgan Turner already convinced freshman phenom Luke Hasz to stay, and Turner added another big-time retention in redshirt freshman Ty Washington. When Hasz went down with a broken clavicle, Washington stepped up with 11 catches for 170 yards and two touchdowns in four games before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury on Nov. 4 against Florida.
4:55 p.m. - Eric Mateos officially announced as OL coach
The UA made things official with Mateos' hiring just before the clock hit 5.
5:07 p.m. - Arkansas offers North Dakota transfer OL
The third transfer portal offer of the day for the Hogs was North Dakota OL Easton Kilty. He finished the 2023 season with a Pro Football Focus grade of 83.0, including a pass block of 84.9.
5:56 - Texas A&M transfer OL picks up Arkansas offer
Arkansas' second OL transfer portal offer of the day was to Remington Strickland, who only saw 43 snaps for Texas A&M this season, but graded well according to Pro Football Focus.
7:07 p.m. - Bucknell transfer corner offered by Hogs
Ethan Robinson — a junior CB from Bucknell — earned an Arkansas offer after totaling 50 tackles, 10 passes defended and three interceptions in 2023.
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SUNDAY
3:42 p.m. - Arkansas reportedly is expected to hire Eric Mateos as OL coach
Mateos has been Baylor’s offensive line coach and he is expected to fill the role left by former Arkansas offensive line coach Cody Kennedy, who was hired by SEC West foe Mississippi State on Dec. 1.
Arkansas fans might recognize Mateos, as he served under Pittman as a graduate assistant at Arkansas from 2013-15.
Mateos spent two seasons from 2017-18 as the offensive line coach at Texas State where he had an All-Sun Belt performer each of his two years. Prior to his stint with the Bobcats, Mateos served as the tight ends coach at LSU in 2016 after starting the season as an offensive line graduate assistant under Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes.
