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The length of Sam Pittman's tenure as head coach at the University of Arkansas is a story that will unspool in the coming years. The quality of Pittman's tenure? Now that's another matter worth some evaluation as he nears his seventh month on the job. Pittman has not conducted one practice as the Razorbacks' 34th head coach, but he's already made the kind of connections with players that can pay short- and long-term dividends. "He's definitely a player's coach," receiver Trey Knox said this spring. "I love Coach Pittman and the way he approaches running this team. From the first day he was there he's like, 'This is not my team, this is your guys' team, and you need to take charge and self-police yourselves because I'm not going to do it for you."

Pittman's suggestion of everyone's ownership in the program has come across as reassuring for players who struggled to become fully vested in the short-lived Chad Morris era. The Razorbacks have three consecutive losing seasons, a 19-game SEC losing streak and an 8-28 record since the start of 2017. Tailback Rakeem Boyd credited Pittman as a major factor in his decision to return for his senior season, and he gave the longtime offensive line guru a significant stamp of approval last week. "He was at Georgia, so he knows what winning is like," Boyd said. "That's why I came back. I trusted in him, and I trusted in the guys on the team already. "Obviously, a guy like that, I know what we have on the team. Some outsiders don't know what we have, but people are going to see that Pittman is the guy." - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#19 RB) Sr/2021 RB Rakeem Boyd, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/30/20 - Myron Cunningham, rSr/2022, Arkansas, 6-6, 322 (DS#26 OT) + More +

Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman came to one conclusion upon his offensive linemen returning to campus for voluntary workouts. All of their mothers must be able to cook and cook well, he joked Tuesday on a Zoom conference call with reporters. Asked who among the returning offensive linemen had added positive weight, Pittman mentioned redshirt senior Myron Cunningham first. A transfer from Iowa Central Community College, Cunningham, who stands at 6-7, started in 10 of 11 games played in 2019, his first season at Arkansas. He is now approximately 319 pounds, according to Pittman, up from 293 pounds following winter conditioning. "He needed it," Pittman said. "It's hard to set the bull when you don't have enough butt to set it with. So, he needed it. I had a nice conversation with him, and I'm thinking he's going to have a nice season. "He worked hard at gaining that weight and staying in shape." - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#26 OT) rSr/2022

OT Myron Cunningham, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/26/20 - Jaquayln Crawford, rSr/2023, Arkansas, 5-10, 181 (DS#999 WR) + More +

Former Oklahoma Sooner Jaquayln Crawford has announced plans to transfer to Arkansas. He saw action in one game in 2018 and 2019. He played receiver before being moved to cornerback. Crawford will be a slot receiver at Arkansas and will have two years of eligibility after sitting out the 2020 season. Crawford, 5-10, 175 pounds, signed with Oklahoma in 2018 over offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Texas A&M, Tennessee and numerous other programs out of Rockdale, Texas. He was recruited by receivers coach Justin Stepp in high school and made an official visit to Fayetteville in Dec. 2017. Crawford entered the transfer portal in November. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#999 WR) rSr/2023

WR Jaquayln Crawford, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/26/20 - Feleipe Franks, rSr/2021, Arkansas, 6-7, 234 (DS#12 QB) + More +

Generally, in sports, bigger is better. Big trumps little. Conventional wisdom doesn't apply where it comes to quarterback, most notably where height comes into play for the NFL. Some NFL teams ahead of the draft downgraded former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett because he measured 6-7. So it probably shouldn't surprise when Feleipe Franks objected when new teammate Trey Knox, measured at 6-5, said the new Arkansas quarterback was a couple of inches taller, a good 6-7. "I'm 6-6," Franks said. "I'm not trying to grow. I'll take 6-5, or 6-6. That's a good height for a quarterback."

Translation: Don't list the Crawfordsville, Fla., product at 6-7. "I do make sure when I'm measured it's without my shoes on," Franks said. There are a lot of things the Razorbacks are making sure about. The covid-19 safety measures are serious. Franks has led some summer 7-on-7 passing drills that are the heart of preparations for the start of walk-through practices July 24. The covid-19 global pandemic took on special meaning to Franks. He traveled to Texas for the funeral of an uncle on June 20. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#12 QB) rSr/2021

QB Feleipe Franks, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/20/20 - Levi Draper, rSr/2022, Arkansas, 6-0, 223 (DS#999 ILB) + More +

Levi Draper's familiarity with the Arkansas Razorbacks predates long before his announcement in early February that he'd be coming to Fayetteville to play football. Draper hails from Collinsville, Okla., which is a short trip north of Tulsa. The drive east from Collinsville to Fayetteville takes about as long as the one he so often took southwest to Norman, Okla., where Draper, a 6-1, 234-pound linebacker, used to play for the Oklahoma Sooners. Draper grew up with a fair amount of Razorback fans around him, and he knew of people who went to the University of Arkansas from his own area. One of those was Keon Hatcher, who, like Draper, is from the Tulsa area. Hatcher, who played at Owasso High School, was a wide receiver for the Razorbacks from 2012-16 before going on to play briefly in the NFL. Draper followed the success Hatcher had on the Hill.

After deciding to transfer from the Sooners in January, Arkansas made too much sense to pass up. "It just had a real family feel to it," said Draper, who took an unofficial visit to Fayetteville on Feb. 1 before orally committing three days later on Feb. 4. "As soon as I walked in the building, everyone's treated like family, everyone's treated with respect. It didn't seem like a visit, nothing like that - it seemed like people in that building genuinely care. "I felt like that left a great impression on me and even more so on my parents. I felt like it was a great fit." - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#999 ILB) rSr/2022

ILB Levi Draper, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/18/20 - Myron Cunningham, rSr/2022, Arkansas, 6-6, 322 (DS#26 OT) + More +

Arkansas football players will be allowed to return to the field for modified practices beginning July 24. The NCAA Division I Council on Wednesday voted to accept proposed guidelines for a six-week preseason period. The changes are intended to make up for practice time that was lost in the spring due to the covid-19 outbreak. Under the amended preseason model, players will be eligible to participate in up to six hours of walk-throughs that include the use of a football between July 24 and Aug. 6.

Beginning July 24, players can participate in up to 20 hours of football activities, including up to eight hours of weight training and conditioning, up to six hours of walk-throughs, and up to six hours of team meetings and film review. Players would be required to have two days off each week during that time. Earlier this month, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman compared the extra time to organized team activities - more commonly referred to as OTAs - in the NFL. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#26 OT) rSr/2022 OT Myron Cunningham, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/18/20 - Joe Adams, Sr/2012, Arkansas, 5-11, 179 (DS#16 WR) + More +

Former Arkansas receiver and punt return specialist Joe Adams is joining the high school football staff at his alma mater Central Arkansas Christian in North Little Rock. Mustangs coach Tommy Shoemaker made the announcement in a post to his Twitter account on Wednesday. Shoemaker told WholeHogSports that Adams, 30, will coach inside wide receivers and cornerbacks. "Joe is a tremendous person and has unlimited potential in the coaching profession," Shoemaker added. "We are blessed to have him on Mustang Mountain!" Adams was a prep standout at CAC, recording 80 tackles, 15 pass breakups and five interceptions defensively as a senior. On the offensive side of the ball, he finished with 25 total touchdowns. He averaged 21.8 yards per catch as a junior.

Adams ranks fifth on Arkansas' all-time receiving yards list with 2,410. From 2008-11, he brought in 164 passes and finished with 17 touchdown catches. He is also No. 10 in program history in career punt return yards (570) and holds the school record for punt return yards in a game with 174 against Missouri State in 2011. Adams returned five punts for touchdowns in his career, four as a senior in 2011. A consensus All-American and All-SEC first-team selection in 2011, Adams was selected by the Carolina Panthers with the 104th overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#16 WR) Sr/2012

WR Joe Adams, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/16/20 - Brandon Burlsworth, Sr/1999, Arkansas, 6-3, 308 (DS#7 OG) + More +

A pair of former Arkansas All-America football players are on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame in 2021. Dan Hampton, who played defensive line for the Razorbacks from from 1975-78, and Brandon Burlsworth, an offensive lineman from 1994-98, are among the 78 players from the Football Bowl Subdivision on this year's ballot. The ballot also includes seven former FBS coaches, and 99 players and 33 coaches from divisions other than FBS. The 2021 class will be announced early next year. Burlsworth, who began his career as a walk-on, was an All-America offensive guard as a fifth-year senior in 1998. He died in April 1999, 11 days after he was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the third round of the NFL Draft. The Burlsworth Trophy is presented each year to the nation's best player who began his career as a walk-on. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#7 OG) Sr/1999

OG Brandon Burlsworth, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/09/20 - Brey Cook, Sr/2015, Arkansas, 6-5, 303 (DS#40 OT) + More +

Former Arkansas offensive lineman Brey Cook is returning to Northwest Arkansas to coach high school football. Cook, who played guard and tackle for the Razorbacks from 2011-14, has been hired as offensive line coach at Pea Ridge High School, Pea Ridge athletics director Tony Travis tweeted. "Honored and excited to be coming home!!" Cook tweeted. "Time to get to work!" A Springdale native and former Har-Ber standout, Cook was rated the No. 1 prospect in Arkansas and No. 12 offensive tackle in the country out of high school, according to Rivals. He won a state championship with the Wildcats as a junior in 2009. Cook signed with Arkansas over scholarship offers from Oklahoma, Auburn, Alabama and Southern Cal. At Arkansas, Cook started 30 of 48 career games played, including 25 straight to end his career, and was named a captain as a senior in 2014. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#40 OT) Sr/2015

OT Brey Cook, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/07/20 - Rakeem Boyd, Sr/2021, Arkansas, 5-11, 213 (DS#19 RB) + More +

Rakeem Boyd said his mind was on making the move to the NFL early in December. But the University of Arkansas' 1,133-yard rusher was going to hear from the NFL Draft Advisory Board, talk to his parents and hear out new UA football Coach Sam Pittman before making a decision. "I really wasn't planning to come back until I started talking to Coach Pittman," Boyd said in a recent interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "He said, 'Why don't you come in and we'll talk a little bit.' It wasn't until like the fourth time I talked to him … and I went back and talked to my mom and dad and then I decided to come back." Boyd announced his decision to return to Arkansas on Dec. 23, one of the best pieces of news the program has received since hiring Pittman two weeks before that. Boyd pointed out that Pittman was at Georgia with star running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, and another year in a system that puts a premium on running the ball will help him.

Pittman talked last week about his discussions with Boyd on the subject of turning pro or returning. "When you have those discussions with kids that are debating whether to leave or not, the number one thing you have to find out is their NFL eval[uation]," Pittman said. "You have to find out what their worth is in the National Football League. We had a conversation about that, and at that point you have to let them know how much you would like to have them back. "Just like at Georgia, you had the conversation with Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson. Their eval came back first round. What do you say? 'Bye.' I mean there's not a whole lot you can sit there and say when a guy is gonna sign 28 million guaranteed and $6.5-7 million guaranteed. Boyd excelled on an offense that struggled much of last season, ranking 13th in the SEC with 340.1 total yards per game and 11th in the SEC with 147.2 rushing yards per game. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#19 RB) Sr/2021

RB Rakeem Boyd, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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06/04/20 - T.J. Hammonds, rSr/2022, Arkansas, 5-09, 185 (DS#192 WR) + More +

Arkansas running back T.J. Hammonds has been placed on scholarship, Razorbacks football coach Sam Pittman said Wednesday. On a Zoom call with reporters, Pittman said Hammonds signed scholarship paperwork Tuesday. Hammonds will be a senior in 2020. "We're happy to be able to do that," Pittman said. "The bottom line is he did what we asked him to do in school and he did what we asked him to do in the offseason in the eight-week program when we were here. "He's athletic, and he did what we asked him to do, so, in my opinion, he earned the right to get his scholarship back."

A Little Rock native and former standout at Joe T. Robinson, Hammonds played in nine games over the past two seasons. That followed heightened expectations because of a good close to his sophomore campaign in 2017 when he rushed for 84 yards at Ole Miss and had 179 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns the following week against Coastal Carolina. In 2018, he participated in four games and did not play after the fifth game. He later underwent in-season knee surgery. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#192 WR) rSr/2022

WR T.J. Hammonds, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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05/31/20 - Feleipe Franks, rSr/2021, Arkansas, 6-7, 234 (DS#12 QB) + More +

The long layoff in competitive football must feel like ages for Feleipe Franks. The graduate transfer quarterback for the University of Arkansas has not taken a competitive snap since suffering a broken ankle Sept. 14 as the starting quarterback at Florida. Franks, 22, entered the transfer portal in December, signed with the Razorbacks for new coach Sam Pittman and his staff and settled into Fayetteville over the winter. The 6-6, 235-pounder is essentially healed and overly eager to start firing footballs in the Kendal Briles offense. Franks, who started 24 games over three seasons at Florida, including all 13 as a redshirt sophomore in 2018, said style of offense was one of the biggest attractions to signing with Arkansas.

"I like the freedom about it," Franks said earlier this spring. "It's kind of what I'm used to. It's kind of like what it was at Florida. "It just gives freedom to the receivers and some of the other people to do some things. I think it's a really productive offense. It's going to be really productive here. I believe in it, our players believe in it and our team believes in it." Franks will try to solidify a quarterback slot that was anything but stable during the two-year run of Coach Chad Morris and coordinator Joe Craddock. The Razorbacks used eight different quarterback starters the last two seasons, including a different starter in each of the last five games of 2019, the Hogs' second 2-10 season in a row. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#12 QB) rSr/2021

QB Feleipe Franks, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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05/20/20 - Kevin Richardson II, rSr/2019, Arkansas, 5-11, 182 (DS#106 CB) + More +

Former Arkansas defensive back Kevin Richardson is joining the football coaching staff at Northeastern (Okla.) State. Richardson, who played in 47 games over six years with the Razorbacks, will coach nickel backs for the RiverHawks, according to a post on his Twitter account on Wednesday. Northeastern State competes at the NCAA Division II level and is a member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. At Arkansas, Richardson recorded 125 tackles in his career and, in 2017, tied for the team lead with three interceptions. He returned a fumble 22 yards for a touchdown at Ole Miss in the Razorbacks' most recent SEC win in October 2017. - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#106 CB) rSr/2019

CB Kevin Richardson II, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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05/15/20 - Xavier Kelly, rSr/2021, Arkansas, 6-5, 306 (DS#36 DT) + More +

Kelly, a former all-state basketball player in high school, possesses the needed physical tools and athleticism. But for much of his Clemson career, he had to sit behind one of the nation's best defensive lines in Clelin Ferrell, Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins and Austin Bryant - three of whom were first-round picks in last year's NFL Draft and the other, Bryant, was a fourth-round selection. With those players out of the mix in 2019, and with a scheme change, Kelly was still passed over on the depth chart by younger players this past season. "He's going to be a dominant player at Arkansas," said former Clemson teammate K'Von Wallace, a safety who was a fourth-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in last month's draft. "His athleticism, the way he can jump, his speed, his tenacity to just go out there and compete - he was just an athlete, freakish athlete. If he can get his brains where his athletic, God-given ability is, the sky's the limit." - Northwest Arkansas Times

(DS#36 DT) rSr/2021

DT Xavier Kelly, Arkansas
News Source: Northwest Arkansas Times
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05/01/20 - Jadon Haselwood, rJr/2023, Arkansas, 6-2, 215 (DS#52 WR) + More +

Jadon Haselwood was looking forward to big things in 2020 for OU. "As a unit, period, the offense is going to be special," Haselwood said after the Sooners' Peach Bowl loss to LSU. "We have the potential to break all types of records. Not just me and Spencer (Rattler). We got Trejan (Bridges) and Theo (Wease) and Stog (Austin Stogner). We'll spread it around for sure." Now, it appears the group of receivers will be one less. Haselwood reportedly suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during a workout last week. SoonerScoop.com first reported Haselwood's injury. Not having Haselwood would significantly shake up the Sooners' receiving corps next year. As a freshman, Haselwood backed up Charleston Rambo at Z receiver, one of the outside spots in Lincoln Riley's offense. - Daily Oklahoman

(DS#52 WR) rJr/2023

WR Jadon Haselwood, Arkansas
News Source: Daily Oklahoman
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