The unique nature of this recruiting cycle that ended on Wednesday was especially rare for Sam Pittman as the Arkansas coach recapped the unusual day of the Razorbacks not signing a single player on Wednesday.

But the coach entering his second season with Arkansas shared on “The Paul Finebaum Show” what it was like to see some recruits in person for the first time. The Razorbacks pulled in 13 signees on campus in January. Pittman said the Arkansas staff has worked on the 2022 class since December.

Seeing some of the signees in person was quite a sight that only Pittman can describe.

“The first thing was actually seeing them,” Pittman said. “A lot of kids we signed, we’d never seen. Just going, ‘Well, man he’s bigger than I thought he was, or he’s not quite as big as I thought he was.’ It was kind of like Christmas whenever they came in early in January.”

Pittman said the transition part of players getting used to college is the biggest key.

“You’re not so much, ‘You have to learn the offense, you have to do this,'” Pittman said. “Right now it’s listen, you need to be a college student, get in the weight room, we’ll transition you a little bit slower. This year because of COVID all the coaches were in town and … I thought it went perfect this year.”

Arkansas is coming off a season where the Razorbacks won three conference games for the first time since 2016, and every player who caught a touchdown pass will return in 2021. At least nine seniors are returning for an extra season.