Another regular season finale, another defeat at the hands of Arkansas’ cross-border ‘rival’ Missouri.
Missouri’s 28-21 win at a snow-covered Faurot Field in the annual Battle Line Rivalry showdown was the Tigers’ ninth victory over the Hogs in the past 11 meetings, while the all-time series now sits at 12-4 in Mizzou’s favor.
Certainly, there was no flag-planting controversy at the end of this one. No UA players ran to the center of Faurot to post a cardinal red flag at its center, sparking the same kind of brawl that places like Ohio State and Florida State saw over the weekend (although, yes, there was still a post-game scuffle).
The flag-planting, it turns out, has gone the other direction and played out over the last couple years. Missouri football coach Eli Drinkwitz, a native of Alma, has made his home state a priority on the recruiting trail and multiple natives of The Natural State played a role in the win.
On top of that, he has more Arkansans in the pipeline to use against the Hogs in future games. Indeed, at this point, Mizzou looks like the frontrunner to land the top recruit in Arkansas two out of three years.
In Saturday’s game, two Arkansas natives started for the Tigers. Arkansas paid little attention to both during their recruiting processes.
Defensive back Dreydon Norwood, a Fort Smith Northside alumnus and Arkansas’ top high school prospect in 2021 who began his college career at Texas A&M, logged eight tackles and broke up a pass.
Tight end Jordon Harris, a 2023 Pine Bluff graduate who was the No. 3 player in his class per ESPN and 247Sports, did not record any statistics, but logged 41 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He was also the lead blocker on Marcus Carroll’s go-ahead 1-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers up 17-14.
On hand for Saturday’s game in Columbia, Mo., were two of the top three in-state players in the 2026 class: running back TJ Hodges of Marked Tree and Cross County two-way lineman Danny Beale.
Woes On the Trail
Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman has had some notable misses in the five classes he’s signed as the Head Hog. The aforementioned Dreyden Norwood in 2021, and, most recently, Courtney Crutchfield a year ago are the two that come to mind.
The last one certainly cuts the deepest to the Arkansas fanbase. Not only did the Razorbacks whiff on the state’s top player, he signed with the – in some minds – manufactured rival up north for the coach they despise who also happens to have their beloved team’s number.
Crutchfield initially committed to Arkansas in April of 2023 before rescinding his pledge in early November, then announced his commitment to Missouri on Early Signing Day moments before signing the dotted line to officially become a Tiger. He has appeared in two games with Mizzou this season and recorded no stats, but is playing behind the likes of projected 2025 first-round NFL Draft pick Luther Burden III, as well as Theo Wease Jr., who leads the Tigers in receiving yards.
Kenny Guiton, who served as Arkansas’ wide receivers coach from 2021-23, kept “moderately consistent” contact with Pine Bluff head coach Micheal Williams during Crutchfield’s recruiting process.
Since Guiton left to take the same position at Wisconsin in January, Williams’ contact with Arkansas coaches has halted.
“There has not really been an open line, but I’m sure if I called [Pittman], it would not be a big deal,” Williams said.
Ronnie Fouch replaced Guiton after working for Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino at both Louisville and Missouri State, but has not made his way down to Pine Bluff or connected with Williams.
“I’ve never met him,” Williams mentioned.
To be fair, Pine Bluff does not currently have any players on its roster who have been offered by Arkansas, but reasonable questions arise with former Zebras who are now wearing Missouri black and gold.
Tight end Jordon Harris, a redshirt freshman, wasn’t heavily pursued by Power 4 programs as he owned only three such offers, but Missouri clearly saw something in his abilities with his 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame. While his 4 receptions for 34 yards in 11 games played aren’t eye-popping, it is what doesn’t show up on the stat sheet as a blocker that is the most glaring for a Tigers offense that has rushed for over 2,000 in 2024. He was never offered, nor showed any interest from Arkansas “at all.”
“I do not know if they even knew I had a kid named Jordon Harris,” said Williams.
Austyn Dendy signed with Missouri along with Crutchfield last December and has not played in a game during his true freshman season, but made a strong impression on the coaches during fall camp after moving to running back.
Dendy went on a visit to Fayetteville last fall that, frankly, did not go as planned.
“They had him come up, but never officially offered Austyn,” Williams said. “They got him up there but there was not really anyone talking to him almost like he was not there.”
Next Crop of Talent in Arkansas
With the early signing period just days away, the Arkansas coaching staff will soon shift full focus to the 2026 class. The Hogs currently have commitments from 2025 in-state prospects Grayson Wilson of Conway, Little Rock Parkview’s Cameron Settles and Quentin Murphy, and Warren’s Antonio Jordan, while Fayetteville’s Kyndrick Williams and Hot Springs Lakeside’s Tucker Young are on board for 2026.
The highest priorities within state borders include four-star prospects Danny Beale and TJ Hodges, who hail from typically underrecruited northeast Arkansas. During their recent trip to Columbia, the star duo posed with Missouri interior defensive line coach and former Razorback player Al Davis, who has been a major factor in the Tigers landing Arkansas prospects.
Davis also made a trip to Cross County a few weeks ago to check in on Beale.
“Coach Davis was definitely high on Danny and Missouri likes him a lot,” Cross County head coach Van Paschal said. Beale released his top eight schools on Nov. 18 that included Missouri, as well as Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon and USC. He has remained in “consistent” contact with Arkansas defensive line coach Deke Adams.
On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine gives Missouri a 93.9% chance to land Beale, while Ole Miss is currently listed with a 67.2% chance to secure a commitment from Hodges. However, both of their head coaches have praised the Arkansas coaching staff for their efforts.
Both Pittman and Kolby Smith have been to Marked Tree to see Hodges and have kept in contact.
“I know they have had, as rules will allow them, have had regular conversations with TJ,” Marked Tree head coach Waylon Dunn said. “[If Hodges does not pick Arkansas] I would not say it was because of a lack of effort on their part.”
Paschal, who has been a head coach for over three decades and is one of the winningest high school coaches in state history, has dealt with numerous coaches throughout his career and holds Pittman in the highest regards.
“Coach Pittman has been nothing but good to me,” Paschal said. “If I text him I might not get a response today, I might not get a response for three or four days, but I am going to get one.
“That just does not happen at that level, it just does not.”
One of the knocks throughout the Pittman era has been not having a coach with Arkansas ties on staff. In addition to Davis and Drinkwitz, Missouri also has legendary Arkansas high school football coach Rick Jones on staff and hired highly-respected defensive line coach Brian Early – a Monticello native – last winter.
Both Dunn and Paschal mentioned their respect for Tim Horton, a Conway graduate who starred for the Hogs in the late-80s and received a lot of credit for keeping the famed, Arkansas-littered 2008 class while the program made the transition from Houston Nutt to Bobby Petrino. He is now the running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Air Force.
Horton is part of a long history of former Razorbacks returning to Fayetteville to coach their former team, either as a head coach (like Nutt and Ken Hatfield) or assistant. Best of Arkansas Sports was able to determine every team as far back as 1934 through 2019 had at least one such coach on staff.
That ended when Barry Lunney Jr. wasn’t retained on Pittman’s first staff in 2020. Arkansas did have Dowell Loggains on staff from 2021-22, but have been back down to zero former Razorbacks the last two seasons since Loggains left to become the offensive coordinator at South Carolina.
“No. 1, a guy has to be able to coach [no matter where they are from] and I understand when a coach comes in they have guys that they want to be loyal to,” Paschal said. “But I do think it helps [to have someone on staff with an Arkansas background].”
Pine Bluff football coach Micheal Williams also agreed that having someone on staff who is familiar with the state is crucial.
“Somebody that can be a liaison and connect to the Arkansas kids is what they need right now,” Williams said.
The high school coaches aren’t alone in that belief. Former Arkansas linebacker and Fayetteville High product Brooks Ellis recently took to Twitter to express the importance of “homegrown talent developed holistically who play for one another and the Hog on their helmet.”
Arkansas will seemingly miss out on 2025 prospects signing elsewhere that include Marion’s Carius Curne (LSU) and Bauxite’s Marcus Wimberly (Oklahoma) – both of whom were previously committed to Arkansas – plus Little Rock Parkview’s Omarion Robinson (Oklahoma).
With Pittman already under plenty of fire for average production on the field, it goes without saying that getting back on track on the recruiting trail in Arkansas will, and should, have a heavy focus on the northeast corner.
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Make sure to read this story about one time where having a Razorback/native on staff clearly made a difference:
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The phenomenon of in-state players going elsewhere isn’t unique to football:
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More coverage of Arkansas football and Arkansas recruiting from BoAS…
