The Arkansas vs Ole Miss game on Saturday will mark the return of Chris Paul Jr. – better known as “Pooh – to Razorback Stadium.
He is enjoying a tremendous season with the Rebels as arguably the best linebacker in the country. That got us at Best of Arkansas Sports thinking about what an Arkansas All-Portal Departures team would look like, based solely on what the players did at their new schools.
By our count, roughly 110 scholarship players have left the Razorbacks since the transfer portal was created in 2018. We’ve already done the defense, which was highlighted by Paul, but now it’s time for our picks for the best of the best at each position on offense…
Arkansas Football All-Transfer Portal Departures Team
Offense
QB: Ty Storey – Western Kentucky (2018)
Honorable mention: Cole Kelley (Southeastern Louisiana – 2018), Nick Starkel (San Jose State – 2019)
With all due respect to what Jacolby Criswell has done since taking over as the starter at North Carolina this year, this position came down to a trio of Chad Morris rejects.
Ultimately, we gave the nod to Ty Storey because not only did he lead Western Kentucky to an 8-2 record as a starter and earn Conference USA Newcomer of the Year honors, but he hammered the final nail into the coffin for Morris by leading the Hilltoppers to a blowout win in Fayetteville.
The Charleston native completed 69.9% of his passes for 2,567 yards, 14 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, plus added 276 yards and seven more scores on the ground – despite not starting until Week 4.
It was a close call, though, because Cole Kelley won the FCS version of the Heisman Trophy at Southeastern Louisiana and got an undrafted free agent opportunity in the NFL, while Nick Starkel led San Jose State to a top-25 ranking and earned All-MWC honors in the process.
One guy who certainly wasn’t considered is KJ Jefferson, who has been benched amid a disaster of a season at UCF.
RB: Rocket Sanders – South Carolina (2023)
Honorable mention: Isaiah Augustave (Colorado – 2023)
He hasn’t been quite as productive as he was for the Razorbacks in 2022, but a healthy and slimmed down Rocket Sanders has still been quite the weapon for South Carolina.
In seven games with the Gamecocks, the senior has 426 yards and six touchdowns on 96 carries. Sanders’ 4.4 yards per carry doesn’t exactly jump off the page, but his rushing total is ninth in the SEC and he’s tied for eighth in rushing touchdowns.
One guy to keep an eye on at this spot is Isaiah Augustave. The sophomore only recently took over as the starter for a surprising Colorado team and has 271 yards on 63 carries this season. He’s scored a touchdown in each of the Buffaloes’ last three games and, according to CFBFilmRoom on Twitter, he ranks second in the Big 12 with 7.0 broken tackles per 20 carries against FBS opponents this season.
If he continues to improve down the stretch and in coming years, Augustave may be worthy of overtaking Sanders.
WR: Mike Woods – Oklahoma (2020)
WR: La’Michael Pettway – Iowa State (2018)
WR: Jonathan Nance – Missouri (2018)
Arkansas has seen quite a few wide receivers hit the transfer portal, but these three pretty clearly separated themselves as the most successful at their new schools – all of which happened to be in the Power Five.
Of this group, La’Michael Pettway is probably remembered the most fondly by Arkansas football fans. An in-state product out of Nashville, he finished his career at Iowa State and caught 55 passes for 676 yards and six touchdowns. That earned him honorable mention All-Big 12 honors and led to a stint of pro ball, including time on the Patriots’ practice squad as a tight end.
Memories of the other two are much less pleasant.
Not only did Jonathan Nance transfer to an SEC rival, but he also helped convince Clemson transfer quarterback Kelly Bryant to join him at Missouri – leaving Arkansas with Ben Hicks and Nick Starkel. With the Tigers, Nance caught 31 passes for 458 yards and four touchdowns, including one against the Razorbacks.
Mike Woods was set to give Arkansas one of the top 1-2 punches at receiver in the SEC in 2021, yet bailed immediately following a big performance in the Red-White Spring Game. There were plenty of rumors about how it went down, but Woods ended up at Oklahoma, where he made 35 receptions for 400 yards and two touchdowns. Even though those aren’t huge numbers, it was enough for him to become a sixth-round NFL Draft pick.
TE: Trey Knox – South Carolina (2022)
After four seasons at Arkansas in which he converted from wide receiver to tight end, Trey Knox followed his position coach, Dowel Loggains, to South Carolina for his final collegiate season.
Last year, he caught 37 passes for 312 yards and two touchdowns. That earned the Tennessee native an undrafted free agent deal with the Vikings, but he was cut before the season.
C: Silas Robinson – Texas State/Incarnate Word (2019)
OL: Jalen St. John – UNLV (2022)
OL: Chibueze Nwanna – Charlotte (2020)
OL: Devon Manuel – Florida (2023)
OL: Andrew Chamblee – SMU (2023)
No position was tougher to fill out than the offensive line. Simply put, the Razorbacks haven’t seen too many players at that position transfer out, especially before this past offseason. In fact, we had to somewhat cheat by picking a center and four generic linemen because there weren’t enough viable guards to choose from, so we ended up with four tackles.
The obvious choice at center is Silas Robinson. He started 10 games and played 854 total snaps from 2021-22 at Texas State before dropping down to the FCS ranks to finish his career. At Incarnate Word, he played 565 snaps across nine starts and posted a career-best 60.6 PFF grade.
Perhaps the most deserving player on this list is Jalen St. John. The former four-star recruit was dismissed from Arkansas following an arrest, but got a second chance from Barry Odom at UNLV and has made the most of it. He’s started 17 games at left tackle over the last two seasons and has a solid 65.4 PFF grade for the Rebels this year.
Chibueze Nwanna came to Arkansas in a JUCO haul that also included Myron Cunningham, but never played for the Razorbacks. In what essentially amounted to a trade for Ty’Kieast Crawford, he ended up at Charlotte and eventually started the final seven games of 2021 at left tackle. Nwanna played 580 snaps, but posted a subpar 50.0 PFF grade.
We gave the other two spots to Andrew Chamblee and Devon Manuel, the two players who split time at left tackle for the Razorbacks last season, but are now backups at SMU and Florida, respectively. Chamblee has started one game and has a 61.3 PFF grade on 137 total snaps in six appearances, while Manuel has made just three appearances with no starts and has a 70.2 grade on 58 snaps.
K: Jared Sackett – South Florida/UTSA (2019)
Honorable mention: Tyler Larco (McNeese State – 2023)
You can be forgiven if you don’t remember Jared Sackett. It was a big deal when he transferred to Arkansas from UTSA in 2019, but that was back when the NCAA still required players to sit out a year. With a change in staff, though, Sackett re-entered the portal and never played for the Razorbacks.
He initially followed special teams quality control coach Daniel Da Prato to South Florida, where he made 5 of 7 field goals and was 10 of 10 on PATs in 2020. After not playing for the Bulls the next season, Sackett returned to UTSA to finish his career where it started. It was a storybook ending, as he went 22 of 27 on field goals and was perfect on 59 PAT attempts to earn second-team All-CUSA honors.
Our honorable mention pick, Tyler Larco, is 8 of 11 on field goals and 24 of 25 on PATs at McNeese State this season.
***
Turns out former Razorback Chris Paul Jr. is the best linebacker in the FBS, according to Pro Football Focus, with a 90.9 overall grade on 407 snaps. The Ole Miss Rebel is also has the top run defense grade (90.1) and coverage grade (90.3) among SEC linebackers.
The last SEC linebacker to post 90-plus grades in both of those categories: Georgia’s Roquan Smith in 2017, when he won the Butkus Award. He went on to be a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft and has been a first- or second-team All-Pro each of the last four seasons.
So, naturally, Paul gets a spot on our all-time transfers team on the defensive end.
See the entire team on that side of the ball here:
***
More coverage of Arkansas football and Arkansas vs Ole Miss from BoAS…
