After the Arkansas football program fired Sam Pittman, rumors swirled about who would take over as the next coach. South Florida's Alex Golesh was a popular option, but he ultimately decided to go to Auburn. On Sunday, Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield agreed to come to Arkansas and be the head coach in a busy day of coaching changes.
Jon Sumrall also left Tulane to go to Florida, and Lane Kiffin spurned Ole Miss and went to LSU in a flurry of moves. On Monday, the good news started for the Arkansas football program as they landed a couple of commits. The first was a flip of a Missouri commit, per Hayes Fawcett of On3/Rivals.
‘BREAKING: Four-Star RB TJ Hodges has Flipped his Commitment from Missouri to Arkansas, he tells me for @rivals. The 6’1 185 RB from Bryant, AR had been Committed to the Tigers since October.'
The second was a Class of 2026 linebacker who recently backed out of his commitment to Oklahoma, also per Hayes Fawcett.
‘BREAKING: Class of 2026 LB Jakore Smith has Committed to Arkansas, he tells me for @rivals. The 6’1 195 LB from Bryant, AR decommitted from Oklahoma November 24th.'
Both players are from Bryant, Arkansas, and it seems they were waiting to see what the Razorbacks did at the head coach position before making another decision.Just about 24 hours after being hired by Arkansas, Silverfield has already landed two promising pieces to build for the future.
The transfer portal opens in January, but Arkansas should be a program to keep an eye on with Silverfield taking over.
