Updating Arkansas' scholarship situation entering 2020

Two members of Arkansas’ 2020 signing class will not be enrolling and suiting up for the Razorbacks.

Bryant linebacker Catrell Wallace is dealing with legal issues stemming from a Feb. 24 arrest, while Jaqualin McGhee - a defensive end from Georgia - has not been listed on Arkansas’ roster all summer.

Head coach Sam Pittman has confirmed neither player will be on the football team. Back in June, he said Wallace was likely heading to a junior college. He didn’t give any details on McGhee other than mentioning he “decided that he didn’t want to play football anymore” in a press conference last week.

They were part of a full 25-man signing class that included 20 high school signees and five graduate transfers. That is the annual limit for “initial counters” - new scholarship players - in the NCAA.

Because Wallace and McGhee both signed a National Letter of Intent, Arkansas has lost those initial counters for good. That means the Razorbacks can’t use those scholarships on any other newcomers this year.

They also can’t count them back and use them in the 2021 class. Had Arkansas simply not used those scholarships and brought in only 23 players, it would have been able to tack them on to next year’s class, meaning it could sign as many as 27 players instead of 25. (That is how Arkansas signed such a large 2019 class.)