Much of the focus during Arkansas football’s brutal road trip has been on the four-game stretch’s impact on the win-loss record. Lost in the on-field struggles, though, was its impact on recruiting.
The Razorbacks will have gone more than a month without having prospects on campus when they finally welcome them again Saturday for the Arkansas vs Mississippi State matchup.
That posed a unique challenge for head coach Sam Pittman and his staff.
“Let’s face the facts: In order to keep your girlfriend, and you don’t see her for weeks and she’s had the chance to see this guy, this guy and this guy, she’s going to leave you, unless you’re Elvis Presley or whoever,” Pittman said. “So we’ve got to get them here.”
Luckily for the Razorbacks, they haven’t had any defections since Noreel White backed off his pledge on Aug. 1 and eventually flipped to Ole Miss — despite a 2-5 start to the season.
The 19-man class is ranked 20th nationally by both 247Sports and On3, with Rivals tabbing 12 of them as four-star prospects, so vultures have likely been circling, but Pittman commended his staff for keeping it together.
“We’ve played some really good football teams as well, but we haven’t won,” Pittman said. “Usually with that, if you don’t have a keen relationship, a great relationship with the kids and the family, a lot of times you’ll lose a guy or two. We have not. I think that says something about that relationship building type guys and the belief in the coaches — that we’ve been able to keep these guys.”
Several of those commits are expected to be in town for the 11 a.m. CT kickoff against the Bulldogs. Two of the Razorbacks’ three pledges in the 2025 class — Central Arkansas Christian quarterback Grayson Wilson and Bauxite safety Marcus Wimberly — have also announced they’ll be at the game.
4-star Visiting Arkansas Football
One uncommitted recruit who will make his way to Fayetteville this weekend is Jay’len Mosley.
A four-star 2025 safety at Jackson Christian in Tennessee, Mosley has been offered by the likes of Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee and others. Noticeably absent from that list is Arkansas, but there’s a good chance that changes on his unofficial visit.
ESPN, On3 and Rivals each include Mosley among their top 250 prospects in the 2025 class, with ESPN ranking him the highest at No. 137.
Although he’s listed as an “athlete” on Rivals, most recruiting services consider him a safety. However, he’s put up huge numbers as a wide receiver in high school and already hold’s Jackson Christian’s school record for career receiving yards — a record he broke as a junior.
So far this season, Mosley has caught 62 passes for 1,256 yards and 19 touchdowns in eight games. He has at least one touchdown reception in every game except one — and he had a rushing touchdown in that game.
Check out some highlights of Arkansas football target Jay’len Mosley on both sides of the ball:
The Next KJ
The season hasn’t gone as well as he probably hoped, but KJ Jefferson will still likely end his career with every major passing record at Arkansas.
When he moves on, the Razorbacks will have another KJ waiting in the wings at quarterback. Four-star 2024 prospect KJ Jackson committed to Arkansas back in April and is now putting together a strong senior season at St. James High School in Montgomery, Ala.
Last week, the lefty helped the Trojans clinch the Class 3A, Region 3 title in dominant fashion. After falling behind 8-0 to previously undefeated Trinity, Jackson racked up seven total touchdowns and St. James scored 47 straight points.
Four of those scores were through the air, including the one in the video below, and the other three were rushing.
In eight games this season, Jackson has completed 75 of 132 passes (56.8%) for 1,580 yards, 24 touchdowns and only two interceptions, while adding another 332 yards and seven scores on the ground.
The Razorbacks’ quarterback commit in the 2025 class, Grayson Wilson, has put up even better numbers through eight games for Central Arkansas Christian. He’s completed 145 of 213 passes (68.1%) for 2,170 yards, 26 touchdowns and only two interceptions, plus rushed for 554 yards and 11 scores.
Arkansas Repped Well at Wootten 150
The Natural State has quietly become one of the top basketball states in the U.S. on a per capita basis and that was on display at the annual Wootten 150 Camp last week in Las Vegas.
A pair of Arkansas natives were recognized by separate outlets as being among the top standouts at the prestigious event, which featured some of the best high school basketball players in the country.
JJ Andrews, a shooting guard at Little Rock Christian, was one of eight players singled out by Rivals’ Rob Cassidy. He is the son of Arkansas football legend Shawn Andrews.
“Andrews was as active as any prospect at the camp, giving maximum effort on nearly every possession and showing off some range shooting the rock from deep,” Cassidy wrote.
The other Arkansan who impressed was Jacob Lanier, who was one of three “Super Sophomores” identified by Tobias Bass in his recap of the event for The Athletic. He is a small forward from Maumelle.
“He’s very poised to be so young,” Bass wrote. “He doesn’t get sped up, picks his spots well and makes the right reads consistently.”
Both players are ranked among the top 30 prospects nationally in the Class of 2026 by various outlets and have been offered by the Razorbacks.
Pair of Top-25 Recruits Pick Arkansas
It doesn’t get as much attention as football, men’s basketball or even baseball, but Courtney Deifel deserves a lot of credit for turning Arkansas softball into a recruiting juggernaut.
The Razorbacks have enjoyed a ton of success on the field, even though it hasn’t resulted in a trip to the Women’s College World Series yet, and that has helped them reel in some of the top players in the country.
In the past week alone, Arkansas received commitments from two top-25 recruits: Saylor Timmerman and Khamari Hall.
Timmerman was the first commitment, announcing her pledge last Friday. A right-handed pitcher from Lakeland Union High School in Minocqua, Wisc., she is ranked as the No. 8 overall player in the 2025 class by Extra Inning Softball.
While she typically sits at 68 mph, Timmerman’s fastball has touched 70 mph, and she has a “nasty” riseball and drop, according to Extra Inning Softball. On the travel ball circuit this summer, she racked up 141 strikeouts and posted a 0.90 ERA in 85 2/3 innings.
The more recent commitment came from Hall, who announced her decision Wednesday after visiting Fayetteville the weekend of the Kent State game. She attends Clear Creek High School in League City, Texas, near Houston and is ranked No. 22 nationally by Softball America and No. 24 by ExtraInning Softball.
Described as a prototypical leadoff hitter and base stealer, Hall is an outfielder who hit six home runs and had 20 stolen bases in travel ball this summer. She also visited LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and several other schools.
The Arkansas softball program is only a couple years removed from signing the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for the Class of 2022 — a feat recently replicated by the baseball team.
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