There’s a little bit of assuming that goes along with the transfer portal. Your team may get the shocking news that one of its best players enters the portal for a larger opportunity. On the flip side there’s certain guys who leave that aren’t shocking, in order to create more spots for the next season.

During the offseason, the NCAA announced an executive order ending the 25-man limit that college football teams can bring in. Now, teams can completely flip their roster at the coaches discretion. As long as you meet the 85-man scholarship limit recruiting is fair game.

Here’s the positions Arkansas must improve upon the most.

Quarterback

Ah, shocker right? Sadly it’s not. Outside of KJ Jefferson the Hogs don’t have a signal caller that can keep the Razorbacks competitive if he goes down with injury again.

Malik Hornsby and Cade Fortin aren’t the future at this position and coach Sam Pittman probably knows that. There’s two scenarios worth examining when it comes to recruiting a quarterback or two for next season.

Assuming Jefferson leaves, Pittman will have to find a quarterback with starting experience at the Power Five level. When he took the job he shared he wanted an offense with a dual-threat quarterback to run a Run Pass Option offense.

What if Jefferson stays? Look for a quality, highly rated quarterback that has the ability to step up and play if Jefferson can’t stay healthy. Stabilized depth under center is something Arkansas hasn’t been able to boast about since the 2020 season.

Safety

The Hogs definitely need to bolster depth there even if Jalen Catalon returns next season. The All-American caliber safety has not stayed healthy since his breakout 2020 season. Arkansas was able to rotate their secondary, cross training them in case of a worst-case injury scenario. On Monday, Tulsa’s Kendarin Ray tweeted that he has received a transfer portal offer from Arkansas.

Receiver

The Hogs have recruited well in the transfer portal the past couple of seasons. They struck gold with Jadon Haselwood and Matt Landers as the two leading pass catchers in 2022.

Arkansas already has an offer out to Andrew Armstrong, a FCS transfer looking to move up after an impressive sophomore season at Texas A&M-Commerce. He’ll be visiting Arkansas on Friday.

Linebacker

One position Arkansas can boast about is linebacker with position coach Mike Scherer. With Bumper Pool graduating and Drew Sanders likely headed to the NFL Draft in April, it may be in Arkansas’ best interest to bring in two or three new linebackers.

Defensive line

Finally, the Hogs front 7 had very good regular season when it came to sacking the quarterback and recording negative yardage plays.

Legitimate SEC type defensive linemen are few and far between. Certainly, they’re hard to find outside of Alabama or Georgia, each of whom have an abundance.

Arkansas defensive line coach Deke Adams had his line outperform expectations with transfers Jordan Domineck, Landon Jackson and Terry Hampton. Can he capitalize on the momentum on the room?

College football fans, it’s going to get wild in the next couple of weeks. Breaking news can strike at any moment.