Arkansas football pulled off a massive coup Tuesday night by landing a shocking commitment from blue-chip linebacker Tavion Wallace.
Wallace is a high four-star recruit ranked as a top-50 overall prospect in the Class of 2025 by ESPN, 247Sports and On3. The Jesup, Ga., native was choosing between Florida State, Florida, Georgia and the Razorbacks – but the Seminoles were the clear favorite in the race. In fact, On3 gave Arkansas just a 1% chance of landing Wallace.
The commitment shocked both local and national recruiting analysts and gave Arkansas a much-needed recruiting win in what had been an underwhelming 2025 class under head coach Sam Pittman.
Recruiting is a game of momentum, and the Hogs will look to use Wallace’s pledge to snowball into more commitments in the class. With that in mind, here’s a look at some high-priority Arkansas targets making their decisions in the next few weeks as well as their potential impact on the Hogs’ class ranking.
Zion Williams – Thursday
First up on the docket is defensive lineman Zion Williams, rated as a four-star prospect by ESPN and Rivals. Listed at 6-foot-3, 330 pounds by On3, Williams will announce his decision today on Independence Day. The Hogs have been in hot pursuit of the Lufkin, Texas, native, but it appears they’re going to miss out on the fireworks here.
In his commitment date announcement tweet, he posted photos from his visits at LSU, TCU, Texas and Texas A&M – which suggests Arkansas is out of the race. The Razorbacks weren’t projected to land Wallace, either, but Williams looks very unlikely to land in Fayetteville.
UPDATE: Williams has committed to LSU.
Omarion Robinson and Monterrio Elston – Saturday
This weekend, two of the state’s biggest prospects will make their decisions, with Arkansas involved in both commitments. Teammates at Little Rock Parkview, the duo will make their announcements at a joint ceremony.
Robinson, a defensive back, is rated as the No. 121 overall prospect in the class and the top player in the state of Arkansas by Rivals. He will decide between the Razorbacks, LSU, Oklahoma and Oregon – and recent tea leaves suggest the Sooners are the favorite there.
Losing Robinson to OU would leave Arkansas without any of the top three in-state prospects in the class, which would be a fairly damning indictment on Pittman’s efforts to put a fence around the state. On the contrary, landing the Little Rock product would make for a dominant one-two defensive punch in the class alongside Wallace.
Elston, listed as a running back, is a consensus three-star prospect deciding between Arkansas, Kansas State and Missouri. Listed at 5-foot-8, 170 pounds, Elston is slight of frame but shifty out of the backfield. On3’s prediction gives Kansas State a 98.2% chance to land him, so it looks like the Hogs are on the outside looking in for Elston, as well.
If Arkansas was to go 0-2 on in-state commitments on Saturday, it would certainly put a sad, wet bag on the good vibes coming out of Tuesday.
Kelshaun Johnson – July 8
Johnson is a consensus four-star wide receiver out of Houston, Tex., deciding between Arkansas, Texas A&M, USC, Texas and Texas Tech. Standing at 5-foot-11, 160 pounds, Johnson boasts track-level speed with a 10.49-second 100-meter dash time that translates to impressive wheels on the field.
Rivals’ FutureCast pretty much has Johnson as an Aggie lock, so it’ll take another Wallace-caliber miracle for Arkansas to land him.
Lionel Prudhomme Jr. – July 26
Prudhomme is a three-star offensive lineman out of Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport, La. He’ll decide between six schools: Arkansas, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Texas Tech, Tulane and Houston. Listed at 6-foot-2, 291 pounds and viewed as a guard, the Razorbacks have received multiple Rivals FutureCasts to land Prudhomme.
Arkansas certainly needs a win along the offensive line after losing blue-chip in-state prospect Carius Curne, and landing Prudhomme would certainly help to fill that gap.
Nelson McGuire III – July 31
McGuire is a consensus three-star prospect on the interior offensive line who will announce his commitment on the final day of the month. The Midlothian, Tex., native decommitted from Minnesota on June 23 and immediately went on a visit to Texas Tech, with the Red Raiders considered the favorite to land him the second time around.
He previously visited Fayetteville on June 8. Listed at 6-foot-4, 320 pounds by On3, McGuire would make for a big addition in multiple ways. But barring an unforeseen change in circumstances, it’s likely McGuire will end up in Lubbock.
Cameron Settles – August 3
Settles is yet another Parkview Magnet product from the backfield. He’s waiting to settle on Arkansas, Missouri, BYU, Memphis, Arkansas State or Tulsa. A three-star prospect listed at 5-foot-10, 175 pounds, Settles rushed for 206 yards across 4 games as a junior, averaging 8.2 yards per carry.
On3 lists Arkansas as the favorite to land Settles, and the odds of that will surely go up if the Razorbacks are able to land either of his teammates, Robinson and Elston, when they announce on Friday.
Potential Impact on Arkansas Football’s 2025 Class Ranking
To put some numbers behind the importance of the Razorbacks landing some of these prospects, it’s worth engaging in a hypothetical by using 247Sports’ class calculator tool.
If the Hogs were to land the two previously-mentioned prospects for which they’re favorites – Prudhomme and Settles – it would take Arkansas’ total class score from 199.81 to 203.89. That wouldn’t necessarily move the needle much for Pittman and Co., but it would be good enough to move the Hogs up one spot in the national rankings, surpassing South Carolina. That would slot Arkansas at 23rd nationally and 10th in the SEC.
Now let’s say the Hogs were to pull off a commitment from Robinson, which would be a minor surprise given his suggested lean towards Oklahoma. Still, such a turn wouldn’t be the craziest thing we’ve seen after the Wallace situation, especially with Robinson being an in-state prospect.
That would take Arkansas up a notch to a total of 210.34… now we’re talking. That would push the Hogs past Kentucky, as well, up to 9th in the SEC behind Texas. Nationally, that would give Arkansas a nudge into the top 20 classes, right behind the reigning Pac-12 champs in Washington.
It’s important for the Hogs to keep the momentum going and ride the wave of Wallace’s commitment into more additions. Players of his caliber don’t grow on trees, and they certainly don’t end up at Arkansas very often. Capitalizing on that big splash to continue building up the 2025 class is essential for Pittman and the Razorbacks.
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John Nabors breaks down Tavion Wallace’s shocking decision:
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