Arkansas football is an exciting sports entity in 2015.

Bret Bielema, exponentially more likable as a person than the last successful Razorbacks coach (Bobby Petrino), has the Hogs on the verge of conference relevance after several years at the bottom of the SEC West. Will the team be able to carry its late ’14 success throughout the entire fall?

While we wait for that drama to unfurl, Bielema and his staff continue to bolster the 2016 recruiting class with an eye toward an even better future. After evaluating the current roster and projecting the Razorbacks’ on-field needs in ’16 and ’17, here are Arkansas’ top three positions of priority for the current recruiting cycle.

RECEIVER

Losing after 2015: Keon Hatcher

Even if Jojo Robinson roars back to prominence on the Arkansas depth chart before the season (he wasn’t listed after spring practice), the Razorbacks look close to destitute at the position by SEC standards.

That’s including senior Keon Hatcher, the unquestioned No. 1 option at wideout.

There’s a crop of sophomores and juniors at the position, and Arkansas hopes one or two of them develops in the next year. But it’s clear that the Hogs need more playmakers at receiver, guys who can stretch the field vertically or can be dynamic with the football in their hands.

RUNNING BACK

Losing after 2015: Jonathan Williams, Alex Collins (probably), Patrick Arinze

The Razorbacks gain a “recruit” here without needing to wait until February, if you want to look at it that way. Juan Day should be recovered from a torn ACL well before the ’16 season. Freshmen Denzell Evans and Connor McPherson return as well. Rawleigh Williams III should enroll this summer.

But the player who was supposed to be the next backfield star, Korliss Marshall, lost his place on the team in December. If Collins heads to the NFL after his junior season, the roster will slip from what could be a pair of 3,000-yard career rushers to a bunch of unknowns.

Adding one more very good back would help.

INTERIOR OL

Losing after 2015: Sebastian Tretola, Mitch Smothers, Marcus Danenhauer

Arkansas will return starting right guard Frank Ragnow in ’16. But the Hogs lose the other two starters inside as well as Ragnow’s backup.

The backup center is a three-star true freshman (Zach Rogers) and the backup left guard is a redshirt freshman. It helps that the team signed four-star guard Jalen Merrick in February. But the Razorbacks need to pull two, if not three, interior offensive linemen from the 2016 class.

Other positions Arkansas should target: QB, NG/DT, LB, S

CURRENT RECRUITING CLASS

Arkansas’ current class includes five players, which is more than just Missouri and Vanderbilt.

The class standout thus far is 6-foot-3, 307-pound defensive tackle Austin Capps from Star City, Ark., rated as the second-best in-state recruit for 2016 regardless of position. Capps is one of two four-star defensive tackles who have pledged to the Hogs.

Cole Kelley, a 6-foot-7 quarterback, gave Arkansas a verbal commitment in mid-April, and the team secured a pair of potential receivers as well (more on that shortly).

RAZORBACKS NOT YET ON TRACK TO FILL NEEDS

Bielema and the coaching staff have done a nice job of targeting needs with the thus-far truncated ’16 class.

Based on our evaluation, the team more or less can rest at quarterback and defensive tackle, assuming those players turn from commitments to signees.

The outlook at receiver? Muddy.

It’s always been a challenge for Bielema to recruit and develop top-end talent at receiver in such a run-heavy offense that features tight ends in a play-action passing game. Jared Abbrederis, a fifth-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft, came to Bielema’s Wisconsin as a walk-on scout team quarterback.

The team needs to get more dynamic at the position, though. Three-star athlete T.J. Hammonds is an interesting player. Highlights from his junior season are full of quick screens, end arounds and go routes when Hammonds used his speed and open-field elusiveness to make defenders look silly. He could play in the slot, act as a versatile third-down back or serve as a returner.

The other commitment, Jordan Jones, is 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, a run-of-the-mill three-star player. Both Jones and Hammonds may do great things in Fayetteville. They’re far from can’t-miss, immediate-impact players, but Arkansas must count on developing guys like that at receiver.

Considering Bielema’s obsession/love affair with offensive linemen, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to find some serviceable players there. Arkansas ought to be able to sell the program easily to running backs, but the 2016 class is surprisingly thin at the position across the country.

OUTLOOK

For all the ways that third-year coaches Butch Jones and Bielema have followed parallel trajectories — including a flourish of wins at the end of ’14 and impressive bowl victories — the two employ distinctly different tactics with respect to marketing, culture and recruiting.

It’s simplistic and cliche to describe it as old-school (Bielema) and new-school (Jones). There’s a more nuanced truth. Bielema’s recent attempt to popularize “Woo Pig” could come straight from a lecture in Jones’ Football Marketing 101 class, if it existed. But the coaches generally lean toward those poles.

Bielema knows the type of kid he wants for his program, both physically and mentally. He’s a no-nonsense, straightforward guy. As such, Arkansas’ on-field success doesn’t depend on saturating the roster with four- and five-star recruits from around the nation.

The Razorbacks are big, physical, tough and make you earn every yard near the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball.

It would be nice if the team added some big-time playmakers in the 2016 class, either in the backfield or at receiver. But overall, as long as Bielema secures his usual class, Arkansas will be fine in terms of roster needs.