Yurachek's search is on with the 2020 recruiting class in mind
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The 2020 early national signing period running from Dec. 18-Dec.20th will be the third of it's kind after the NCAA established the early window in 2017 for the 2018 signing class.
Arkansas ended up hiring former SMU head coach Chad Morris on Dec. 6, 2018, just two weeks ahead of the early national signing period. With roughly 80% of prospects deciding to put pen to paper early that first year, Morris couldn't coach SMU in their bowl game because getting on the recruiting trail to pick up the pieces and reassemble Bret Bielema's class was so important for Arkansas.
The time crunch resulted in a 17-man class, with just two 4-stars and four 2-stars, that ended up ranked 61st in the nation and last in the SEC. A major part of that rating was due to the class not reaching the 20-man mark that Rivals uses to generate the team recruiting point total, but regardless, it was subpar and not nearly where it could have been given more time.
Despite not being on pace to match the top-20 2019 class, the 2020 class had, and still has, some really nice pieces the Hogs can only hope to hold on to if this process isn't dragged out much past the final week of games this season. Arkansas AD Hunter Yurachek said Monday that the early signing period will definitely be a time limiting element in his search.
"The early signing period is key, because we’ve got some recruits that have committed to the University of Arkansas that we want to retain, and we want to give our new coaching staff an opportunity to recruit additionally prior to that signing day," Yurachek said. "Giving them a runway to do that is important."
Since Yurachek let Morris go with three weeks left in the season, reaching out to coaches to gauge interest, doing background checks, interviewing and more can all be done before the season ends.
The Athletic Director's main goal is to make Arkansas competitive in the SEC once again, and not just every so often against the top of the conference, but regularly against the big dogs.
To ensure competitiveness, Arkansas has to become a program that recruits well year after year–that has not always been the case. Arkansas is going to be one of the tougher programs to recruit to until the brand gets picked up and dusted off, but it can be done.
Holding on to in-state commits Blayne Toll, Jashaud Stewart and Catrell Wallace will also be especially important as Hog fans love their home-grown prospects. Luckily with Barry Lunney Jr., the lead recruiter for most in-state prospects, acting as interim head coach and even being a candidate for the position, the Arkansan commits are more likely to stay locked in.
Lunney noted that Morris's footprint of recruiting which includes Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and more is a footprint he thinks it would be smart to continue.
"I think one of the things that is key is recruiting footprint and I think Chad had a good plan for that," Lunney said. "I think somebody could piggyback on that and use that as a springboard to continue that emphasis."
With four decommitments since Morris's firing on Saturday, Arkansas is now left with 10 commits, one is Morris's son Chandler who occupies a rather important spot in the class at quarterback. The dual-threat has yet to decommit publicly and sources say he hasn't done it privately to the staff either.
Some decommitments have voiced that they'd consider rejoining the 2020 class depending on who is named head coach.
Arkansas will need to fill very important spots at offensive line, linebacker, wide receiver and more once a new head coach is announced.