The regular season is over and a bowl destination has not yet been announced, but this could prove to be the most consequential week of Arkansas football in 2024.
Fresh off another disappointing loss to Missouri to finish the year 6-6, the Razorbacks now must shift their focus to the offseason — specifically the transfer portal, the coaching carousel and traditional recruiting.
This is a critical time for the future of the Arkansas football program not only for what the team itself looks like in 2025, but also the outlook of the fan base.
As longtime radio personality Bo Mattingly pointed out on the Chuck & Bo show Monday morning, the “hope meter” for Arkansas football was near zero last offseason until shooting up with the hire of Bobby Petrino.
This offseason’s “hope meter” could vary quite a bit depending on what unfolds in those aforementioned areas over the next week or so.
Naturally, rumors are already swirling on social media, message boards and sports talk radio shows. It can be hard to separate fact from fiction this time of year, so Best of Arkansas Sports decided we’d do our best to round everything up in one place and address it all at once…
Sam Pittman’s Job Status
Since the end of the 4-8 disaster of 2023, the belief around the program has been Sam Pittman needed to make a bowl game this year to remain the head coach. Whether you like it or not, that seems to be the case with Arkansas going 6-6.
While many have accepted the fact that it doesn’t look like Pittman will be fired, rumors around him potentially retiring have only grown since Saturday’s loss in Columbia, Mo.
He coached that game from the booth because of a broken hip, which he’s set to have surgery on Tuesday. It’s an injury he’s been dealing with since this summer and that has been discussed throughout the season, but his absence from the sideline pushed it further to the forefront of fans’ minds.
Even former Arkansas tight end DJ Williams brought up the possibility on his 4th & 5 podcast:
However, Best of Arkansas Sports was told three weeks ago that Pittman had no intention of retiring. Since then, the 63-year-old coach has consistently expressed optimism that his upcoming surgery will relieve his pain and has dismissed questions about his job status for next year.
“I’m going to fight like Hell for the University of Arkansas the entire time that I’m the head coach,” Pittman said following the Louisiana Tech win on Nov. 23.
That doesn’t sound like a guy who’s about to hang it up. Don’t just take our word for it, either. National media has begun reporting he’ll return in 2025, too:
Potential Arkansas Football Staff Changes
The real smoke coming from the Arkansas coaching staff is among the assistants. This shouldn’t be too surprising. In fact, Sam Pittman hinted at it following the Missouri game.
“I’ve got a good staff, so I think there’ll be guys who have opportunities to do something,” Pittman said. “I think they enjoy it here at Arkansas. Yeah, I’d like to have them come back, but we’ll wait and see.”
Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino appears to be the one most at risk of leaving the Razorbacks, as he’s emerged as a leading candidate to be the next head coach at Charlotte, according to multiple reports.
The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday that interim coach Tim Brewster was “considered a long shot” to land the position and that the 49ers other two options were Petrino and North Carolina State defensive coordinator Tony Gibson.
FootballScoop mentioned those three names, as well as Ohio head coach Tim Albin and Western Carolina head coach Kerwin Bell, were among the finalists, while 247Sports went so far as to report that Petrino has “expressed optimism behind the scenes about his chances” at the job.
A photo shared to Instagram on Sunday reportedly showed Petrino boarding a plane at the Charlotte airport, which only added to the speculation, but there have also been reports that he was seen in his office in Fayetteville on Monday.
All signs are pointing to Charlotte making a decision in the coming days, so it won’t be long before there’s more clarity on the Petrino front.
On the other side of the ball, defensive coordinator Travis Williams was viewed as a potential candidate for the same position at Florida State — especially after his former boss, Gus Malzahn, was hired as the offensive coordinator in Tallahassee — but it now appears the Seminoles are going in a different direction. They’re expected to hire Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White, according to multiple reports.
Another possibility is that Williams emerges as a head coaching candidate. On3 actually recently listed him on a UCF head coach hot board, which makes sense given his stint as the Knights’ defensive coordinator prior to coming to Fayetteville.
It remains to be seen if he’ll actually be pursued by another school. After all, Arkansas fans remember a couple of seasons ago when Kendal Briles initially turned down a hard push by Mississippi State, only to leave for TCU a couple of weeks later.
Flip Watch with Early Signing Period Looming
In the past, most offseason drama centered around the first Wednesday of February, as that’s when big-time recruits would announce their commitments or even flip to other schools.
There is a lot more going on these days, but this is still something to watch – even if it’s moved up a couple of months. Wednesday marks the beginning of a three-day early signing period, with the traditional period scheduled for Feb. 5-April 1.
As things currently stand, the Razorbacks have 24 players committed in the Class of 2025. The group checks in at No. 31 nationally, according to the 247Sports Composite. It is also 15th out of 16 SEC teams, ahead of only Vanderbilt.
The class is highlighted by a quartet of 247Sports Composite four-star prospects. Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, half of them are on flip watch.
At No. 125 overall, linebacker Tavion Wallace is the crown jewel of the class. He shocked the country by picking Arkansas over Florida, Florida State and Georgia this summer and has said he’s solid, but he’s visited Tallahassee in back-to-back weeks. That is not a great sign for the Razorbacks, no matter how you slice it.
Although he’s on the lower end, offensive lineman Connor Howes is still a four-star recruit and Arkansas’ third-highest ranked recruit in the 247Sports Composite. He was in Oxford, Miss., this weekend for the Egg Bowl and is now weighing a potential flip to Ole Miss.
If the Razorbacks lost both of those players, they’d drop six spots to No. 37 in the recruiting rankings – and that’s without any other movement around them.
(UPDATE: Three-star defensive tackle JaQuentin Madison announced on Monday that he had flipped his commitment to Memphis. However, all signs point to this being a “mutual decision” and not a case of the Razorbacks actually losing a pledge to a Group of Five school.)
Arkansas Players on Transfer Portal Watch
Perhaps even more important than traditional recruiting these days is the transfer portal. While it’s easy to focus on who Arkansas is targeting to fill holes on next year’s team, it’s equally important that it hangs on to key players already on the roster.
On Monday, backup quarterback Malachi Singleton announced that he’s entering the transfer portal. Despite limited playing time in 2024, he showed enough promise to project as an important piece of the 2025 squad as someone who could push Taylen Green in practice and ably spell him in the season when needed.
No other projected significant pieces have left yet.
Wide receiver Davion Dozier was a four-star recruit and could have been in the mix for playing time next season, but was buried on the depth chart the last two years. News surfaced last week that he planned to transfer.
Offensive lineman Amaury Wiggins competed for playing time at center and guard during fall camp this year, but he was relegated to the second unit and didn’t appear to even be No. 6 or No. 7 in the offensive line pecking order. He announced his intent to enter the transfer portal on Sunday.
The others left the team or were dismissed during the season, so nothing too surprising — but there’s always a worry a surprise could be just around the corner.
On the bright side, linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. has already announced his plans to return for another season with the Razorbacks. Not long afterward, defensive lineman Cam Ball did the same.
Yurachek Rumors
It’s also worth addressing the rumors surrounding Hunter Yurachek. The Arkansas AD was reportedly in the mix for the same job at South Carolina, but he shot that down over the weekend.
“I have no intention of going to South Carolina,” Yurachek told David Bazzel, a former Arkansas linebacker who now works for The Buzz and KATV. “That’s all social media speculation, I believe due to my ties to that area from my time at Coastal Carolina and growing up in Charlotte (N.C.).”
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See our latest here:
More on Amaury Wiggins entering the transfer portal:
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