A pair of in-state players were noticeably absent from the 2024 Arkansas football spring roster released earlier this week, as Andrew Chamblee and Jashaud Stewart are no longer on the team.
Head coach Sam Pittman confirmed their departures during his spring ball preview press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Chamblee, an offensive lineman from Maumelle, is perhaps the bigger surprise of the two considering he started eight games at left tackle as a redshirt freshman last year and earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team.
“Andrew Chamblee just lost the love for the game and decided to start…college as a regular student,” Pittman said.
Stewart, a defensive end from Jonesboro, was a potential super senior this season, but had been indefinitely suspended since being arrested in mid-December.
Pittman didn’t reveal any further details of his departure, other than he’s “no longer on the football team,” so it’s unclear if it was Stewart’s choice, a dismissal or a mutual decision.
However, the reasoning Pittman gave for Chamblee’s departure was almost immediately called into question. Just a few hours after his press conference, the 6-foot-6, 303-pound lineman posted a photo of his All-SEC Freshman Team award with a “We not done yet…” caption on Twitter.
Chamblee has since deleted the post, but it seems to indicate he disagreed with Pittman’s comment that he “lost the love for the game” and would just become a regular college student.
The transfer portal is currently only open to graduate transfers and players on teams that have lost their head coach within 30 days. Considering there has been no head coaching change at Arkansas and he’s in just his second year of college, Chamblee likely wouldn’t be able to enter the transfer portal until the spring window, which is April 15-30.
This is the second time a player has seemingly disputed his fate with the Arkansas football team in the past couple of months.
In January, multiple reports surfaced — including from Best of Arkansas Sports — that cornerback Quincey McAdoo would receive a medical hardship because of injuries sustained in a car accident last May, ending his career with the Razorbacks.
Not long after those stories came out, though, McAdoo took to Twitter to say, “Counting me out before the doctors say is crazy.”
If the Clarendon product does play again, it won’t be in an Arkansas football uniform. Further confirmation was provided by McAdoo’s exclusion from the 2024 spring roster. He could theoretically transfer to another school, a la Dax Courtney going to UCA, if doctors eventually clear him.
Chamblee, Stewart as Razorbacks
Generally considered a high three-star recruit coming out of Jonesboro, Jashaud Stewart chose the home state Razorbacks over an offer list that included Houston, Kansas, Oklahoma State and SMU.
Despite not being super highly recruited, he immediately established himself as a contributor at Arkansas. Stewart got a handful of defensive snaps as a true freshman in 2020 while burning his redshirt on special teams.
His role steadily increased, culminating with a junior campaign in which he opened the season as a starter. However, he was back to coming off the bench after Week 1 before regaining his starting job late in the year. He ended up playing 309 snaps and starting six games in 2022.
Instead of building on that, Stewart battled injuries throughout his senior season and played sparingly. He appeared on defense in only six games and totaled just 89 snaps. There was speculation that he might return as a super senior to provide some depth at defensive end, but his arrest in December likely played a part in that not happening.
Stewart finished his Arkansas football career with 28 total tackles, including 4.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks.
A couple of years younger than Stewart, Andrew Chamblee came through Maumelle High in the 2022 class and was a four-star recruit, according to the 247Sports Composite.
Chamblee’s offer list included the likes of Auburn, Florida, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma State and several other Power Five programs, but he stuck with his commitment to the Razorbacks.
As a lot of offensive linemen do, he redshirted without seeing the field as a true freshman in 2022. However, the coaches were impressed with him enough that he battled Devon Manuel for the starting job at left tackle as a redshirt freshman.
Injuries to Manuel played a part in Chamblee winning that job and starting two-thirds of the season. He played 405 total snaps and, despite earning a subpar 52.2 PFF grade, was tabbed to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
What it Means for Arkansas Football
From a depth chart perspective, the loss of Andrew Chamblee is far more significant than that of Jashaud Stewart.
With Landon Jackson returning and Anton Juncaj coming in via the transfer portal, the Razorbacks are seemingly set when it comes to starters at defensive end. They also have Nico Davillier and Quincy Rhodes Jr. as younger, inexperienced options who were heralded as recruits.
If anything, Stewart no longer being in the mix makes it easier for touted true freshmen Charlie Collins and Kavion Henderson to crack the rotation this year.
While that position can somewhat comfortably go six deep, offensive tackle is a different case. The Razorbacks have moved last year’s starting right tackle, Patrick Kutas, to the interior of the offensive line and both of the players who battled at left tackle — Chamblee and Devon Manuel (transferred to Florida) — are now gone.
At least to start spring ball, Ty’Kieast Crawford and E’Marion Harris will be Arkansas’ starting tackles, with transfers Keyshawn Blackstock (Michigan State) and Fernando Carmona (San Jose State) pushing to replace them.
The Razorbacks are optimistic that Crawford and/or Harris will live up to their four-star potential, or that Blackstock and/or Carmona will live up to the hype that followed them into the transfer portal.
However, if that doesn’t happen, it would have been nice to have a player like Chamblee as another option. If nothing else, Chamblee would provide depth as someone with multiple starts in the SEC who could evolve into a much better player than he showed this past season.
Instead, Arkansas is down to 13 scholarship offensive linemen for 2024, and that number includes former walk-on Josh Street. The Razorbacks are already hosting former SMU center Brandon Hickman on an official visit this weekend, but now they may also need to target another tackle during the spring period.
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