HogLaw

I'm guessing you didn't pay any attention to the tweet from Arkansas's AD that is included in the article? And Musselman has all but said exactly what you described. Hell, he even did an Arkansas sports podcast right after the NCAAT run ended during which he talked about staying at Arkansas long term and continuing to build on something he believes can become pretty special.

While much of your Arkansas analysis is correct, the tone of some of your comments is simply ridiculous (although not surprising). Example A - "and Jefferson, well, bless him." This makes it sound like you almost feel bad for KJ right now. Yet, if you asked most actual intelligible people who follow CFB two years ago, they would say that, "Yes," KJ was absolutely expected to be the starting QB at this point in time. Example B - You stated, "I should also probably note that the other surprising development was that the best Arkansas quarterback of the last half-decade ended up being … Feleipe Franks?" When viewed in isolation, this statement is entirely fair, and true. However, when viewed in the entire context in which it was written, it's clear that you're suggesting Arkansas hasn't had a legitimate starting QB in the last half-decade, which is simply not true . . . remember, there was a guy named Austin Allen that played for Arkansas who just so happened to lead the SEC in passing in 2016 (i.e. within the last half-decade).

Arkansas did not "miss out" on 3 of the top 5 in-state recruits. Tyas Martin and Jayden Williams were never even offered by Arkansas. The only top 5 in-state recruit Arkansas offered that we "missed" on was Dreydon Norwood, who also just so happened to be the only in-state recruit Pittman offered that didn't sign with Arkansas.

JMarsh definitely ain’t one of them.

I’m assuming Mr. Britton did not actually read the USA Today story - and if he did, he obviously didn’t read it that closely - because this quote from the above article is factually incorrect: “including informing two unnamed football coaches“. Contrary to Mr. Bratton’s statement (and just about every other sports “journalist” who has reported on this USA Today story), the story does NOT state that 2 FOOTBALL coaches were notified...only that 2 [unidentified sport] coaches were allegedly notified. And although the writer intentionally (IMO) never specifically clarifies that neither of the 2 coaches were part of the football staff, the information contained in the story makes that clear - the 2 coaches were the women’s diving team coach and the women’s tennis coach. It’s obvious that the USA Today writer had an additional hidden agenda to smear a football coach and program by intentionally making a vague reference at the outset about 2 “coaches” in a story about a former LSU football player with the intent that readers would incorrectly assume those coaches were on the football staff. And sports “journalists” have only helped further that agenda by also helping create that false assumption...and in Mr. Bratton’s case, outright stating such. If a Razorback fan, such as myself, is capable of coming to the defense of Coach O based on an actual objective reading of the article, then surely those who do this for a living (sports journalists - looking at you Bratton) should be capable of the same basic reading comprehension.

Assuming everything goes as expected, there shouldn't be much of a competition for the backup RB position as pretty much everyone expects it to be Trelon Smith (sat out last season after transferring from Arizona State). I can 100% guarantee you that it will not be Chase Hayden, as he is now at ECU.

He wanted to withdraw from the portal and stay, but Pitt wouldn't let him. When Pittman first started meeting with the players, he asked them to come talk to him if they were thinking about transferring before entering their name in the portal. Apparently, TQ went behind his back and entered his name without ever talking to Pittman, and because of that Pittman wouldn't let him rejoin the team. There were also rumors that TQ was talking to coaches at other schools about the possibility of transferring before he ever talked with any of Arkansas's staff or entered his name in the portal.

Kjerstad is not a switch-hitter.

There will hardly be a competition for back-up QB. If there is, it will likely be between KJ and Malik Hornsby, if he ends up at Arkansas. Luke Jones will likely be the starting Center, and Ty Clary will move to LG or RG (with Stromberg moving from RG to LG). Marshall and Nichols are both DTs, not DEs. The Hogs return 2 starters at DE from last season - Dorian Gerald (R-Sr), who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1, and Mataio Soli (So), who started nearly every game at DE after Gerald went down.

There is a 0.0000000% chance Arkansas is considering Butch Jones. That "report" was beyond ridiculous...even a blind toddler could see that.

Exactly. While the love for RWIII is well deserved, Austin Allen is by far and away the most important player for Arkansas. Although RWIII was stellar this past weekend against Ole Miss, he has been mediocre at best in SEC play. On the other hand, Allen put up a combined 771 yds, 5 tds, and 3 picks against Bama and A&M. Their are other players on the team who could fill in for RWIII without much of a decline in performance, if any. But nobody else on that team, or in the SEC for that matter (with the possible exception of Kelly), could step in for AA and maintain the same level of productivity, especially consider their current issues on the offensive line.