From an unheralded Division II prospect to one of the best receivers in the nation, Andrew Armstrong has been a revelation for Arkansas football this season.
Through 10 games in 2024, he has already posted 61 catches for 931 yards. Surprisingly, he’s found the end zone just one time this season – but his chain-moving presence has been arguably the Hogs’ best offensive weapon this year.
Armstrong currently ranks 11th in the nation in receiving yards and 2nd in the SEC behind Ole Miss’ Tre Harris. He already has the most single-season receiving yards of any Razorback since Treylon Burks put up 1,170 back in 2021. With a strong final few games of the season, Armstrong is in line to finish with a truly historic year.
He currently sits in seventh on both the program’s single-season reception and receiving yards leaderboard. While Armstrong won’t reach the heights of Cobi Hamilton’s historic 90 catches and 1,335 yards in 2012, he’s in a good position to finish near the top in those categories.
Armstrong currently averages about six catches for 93 yards per game this season and is the only receiver in college football to have hit a certain PFF metric vs two kinds of defenses. If he replicates those numbers in the final two games of the regular season, he would finish with 73 catches for 1,117 yards. That would put him second all-time behind Hamilton in both categories.
The fact that he only spent two years in a Razorback uniform will keep him away from the school records for career receiving, but his success this season cements him as one of the best Razorback receivers in recent memory.
More impressive is the fact that rather than entering the UA as a highly-touted recruit like many of the preceding Arkansas greats, he came in from humble beginnings as a zero-star prospect out of high school. He attended Texas A&M-Commerce – now known as East Texas A&M – and spent four years there. Three of those were at the Division II level, and the final one was TAMUC’s inaugural year at the FCS level of Division I.
From a middle-of-the-pack school in the lowly Southland Conference to the top of the SEC’s receiving ladder, it’s been a remarkable career arc for Armstrong. But with Armstrong, Tyrone Broden and Isaac TeSlaa all graduating after this year, the cupboard is bare in the wide receiver room for Arkansas next year. Isaiah Sategna is a nice piece, but pretty much everyone else in the room is relatively unproven.
All signs point to head coach Sam Pittman returning next year, barring something drastic, and Arkansas’ NIL situation has forced the Hogs to look for many transfers in the K-Mart variety rather than their Louis Vuitton counterparts in the SEC.
With that in mind, here’s a look through the Group of Five, FCS and D-II ranks for potential transfers who could follow in Armstrong’s footsteps as the Razorbacks’ next hidden gem.
These are guys that have sort of “maxed out” in their current competition level and may be looking to up the difficulty by jumping to the Power Four. It goes without saying that we’re shooting from the hip here, as we have no way of knowing if any of these guys are actually considering a transfer this offseason.
Group of Five Standouts Present Promising Options for Arkansas
Arkansas has had plenty of success poaching players from the lower FBS ranks in recent years, as seen by wide receivers Matt Landers (Toledo) and Tyrone Broden (Bowling Green).
One such player that could fit the bill this offseason is Middle Tennessee’s Omari Kelly, a 6-foot-0 junior with 48 catches for 811 yards and three touchdowns so far this season. A Trussville, Ala., native currently playing in the Volunteer State, Arkansas wouldn’t be too far of a trip for him. Similar to Landers, he spent the first two years of his career in the SEC — at Auburn — before transferring over to MTSU.
Akron’s Adrian Norton is another intriguing prospect, as the 6-foot-0 sophomore posted 43 catches for 831 yards and seven touchdowns. That suggests some potentially SEC-caliber talent, especially since he put up 56 yards and a touchdown against South Carolina earlier this year.
FIU’s Eric Rivers has impressed this season, already up to 930 yards and nine touchdowns in his junior season. Arkansas fans got an up-close look at what the Panthers receivers were capable of last year when Kris Mitchell went for 157 yards and a score against the Razorback secondary. Mitchell transferred to Notre Dame last offseason, and Rivers could be the next FIU receiver on the Power Four pipeline.
He’s a little undersized at 5-foot-11, but his talent was on full display when he put up 11 catches for 295 yards and three scores against New Mexico State a few weeks ago.
When you’re changing jobs or going to a new school, you’re usually going to need a couple references on your application. If Pittman needs someone to vouch for UNLV receiver Ricky White, he can call up his good friend Barry Odom who’s currently coaching the Rebels.
After putting up nearly 1,500 yards last season, White hasn’t skipped a beat in 2024, posting 63 catches for 867 yards and 10 touchdowns so far. Though his UNLV bio lists him as a senior, multiple seasons with limited action and injuries at the start of his career suggest he could get a waiver for an additional year of eligibility. If that’s granted, the 6-foot-1 stud would be one of the most sought-after players on the market — if the NFL Draft doesn’t come calling.
FCS and D-II Studs for the Hogs to Take a Look At
One name on this list that the Arkansas staff will certainly be familiar with is that of UAPB’s JaVonnie Gibson. After starting his career at UA-Monticello at the Division II level, he eventually transferred to UA-Pine Bluff and has exploded this season. The 6-foot-3 sophomore has 66 catches for 1,160 yards and eight touchdowns so far, the second-most yards in the FCS ranks.
The Hogs got a firsthand look at him in the season opener that ended in a 70-0 drubbing. Gibson caught the attention of multiple Arkansas defenders with his gameweek interviews, where he trash-talked the Razorbacks’ secondary.
“In the back end, I don’t think they can cover that much,” he said. “They’re big but they’re slow.”
Despite Gibson’s admirable pregame confidence, Arkansas predictably put the hurt on the Golden Lions. He finished with just two catches for 32 yards in that contest, but he’s gone on to thrive the rest of the way. A native of Opelousas, La., he could continue his path up the Arkansas food chain by ending his career at the state’s flagship university.
Another FCS option is that of Incarnate Word’s Jalen Walthall, who has posted 63 catches for 1,024 yards and an eye-catching 13 touchdowns this season. A junior with the size of a No. 1 wideout at 6-foot-2, Walthall boasts the profile of a receiver that could succeed in the SEC.
Oh, and he also started a hilarious celebration trend with wide receivers across the sport. Bonus points!
One player that’s actually already announced his intention to transfer is Bryson Canty from Columbia. The 6-foot-2 senior is still playing for the Lions and has put up 720 yards and nine touchdowns in eight games. He will have one year of eligibility remaining, and enters the portal with the most unique asset of them all – an Ivy League degree. (The Ivy League prohibits athletes across all sports from playing more than four seasons, hence why players like Canty must enter the portal for a fifth season.)
Stooping down to the D-II ranks isn’t very common in the SEC, but it’s also far from unheard of. After all, that’s where Pittman found TeSlaa at Hillsdale College a couple years ago. The 6-foot-4 senior hasn’t been a world-beater for Arkansas, but the players at the top of the D-II ranks are more than capable of making an impact at the next level.
Not to be confused with the NFL great of a similar name, Terrill Davis of Central Oklahoma could be one to watch for Arkansas, as the 6-foot-0 junior has been tearing it up this season one state over from the Hogs. He’s put up an eye-popping 89 catches for 1,397 yards and 15 scores in 11 games this year. That’s good for second in the nation in the D-II ranks.
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Hear Andrew Armstrong’s parents’ reaction to Arkansas’ upset win over Tennessee earlier this season:
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