College head start: Several Hogs among trend of early enrollees

FAYETTEVILLE -- National signing day will be a little less chaotic today in college football offices across the country, particularly at Arkansas.

There still will be drama for the Razorbacks, mainly with Dallas cornerback Chevin Calloway's televised announcement at 10 a.m. on ESPNU, but not like in recent years.

The Razorbacks have more than one third of their scholarship newcomers signed and enrolled in classes for the spring semester.

"One of the biggest things [in this recruiting cycle] is we had nine kids join us at the semester," Coach Bret Bielema said in his last news conference Jan. 21. "We had seven high school kids and two junior college players that are here in classes going to work, and they'll be with us for spring ball."

The nine-player group is the largest of early enrollees at Arkansas and the most for Bielema in his five seasons at Arkansas and his 12th as a head coach.

[NATIONAL SIGNING DAY: Live updates + details on Razorback signees]

The spate of early signees at Arkansas is reflective of a national trend, as more high schoolers arrange their schedules to graduate early and get adapted sooner to college coursework and higher-level football workouts. While the early enrollees miss out on spring sports and sometimes senior prom or graduation ceremonies, they go though college spring drills and get a jump on learning the playbooks that are becoming more intricate by the year.

Arkansas' nine early enrollees are higher than the SEC average. In an unofficial count across the conference, there are 94 early enrollees at SEC campuses this spring, an average of 6.7 per school.

Mississippi State is the leader with 13 early enrollees, with Alabama just behind with 12.

On the low end, Missouri has enrolled one football player this semester and Vanderbilt has added two.

Arkansas' early group includes junior college receivers Brandon Martin and Jonathan Nance, who could have an early impact with the departure of four senior wideouts and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle.

The seven high school players are three offensive linemen -- Kirby Adcock, Shane Clenin and Dalton Wagner -- running back Maleek Williams, quarterback Daulton Hyatt, linebacker Kyrei Fisher and cornerback Korey Hernandez.

Hyatt's arrival is the fourth for a quarterback at Arkansas in the past eight years, starting with Jacoby Walker in 2010 and followed by Rafe Peavey (2014) and Ty Storey (2015).

Arkansas' investment in early enrollees started with a bang, as running back Knile Davis came in early and went through spring drills in 2009.

But the Razorbacks' fortunes with the early arrivals have been hit and miss since then.

Their first big class of early signees in 2011 featured a couple of big contributors in offensive tackle Brey Cook and defensive tackle Robert Thomas, but it was also beset with attrition. Receivers Quinta Funderburk and Marquel Wade washed out for various reasons; linebacker Tyler Gilbert hardly contributed before being dismissed by coach John L. Smith; and tight end Demetrius Dean and defensive end Austin Flynn never developed into key players before leaving.

Other early enrollees have become stars or stars in the making for the Razorbacks, such as receiver Jared Cornelius and defensive linemen Jeremiah Ledbetter and McTelvin Agim. Others have turned into dependable starters, such as cornerback Carroll Washington and offensive lineman Hjalte Froholdt.

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There's also a group that either contributed little or never panned out, such as TQ Coleman and Myke Tavarres from the 2013 signees; defensive back Chris Murphy, who enrolled in January 2014 but transferred that summer; and lineman Josh Allen, who came aboard in 2015, switched positions during the season and left prior to spring drills in 2016. In all, nine of the 25 players who have enrolled early at Arkansas since 2011 have either transferred or been dismissed before their eligibility expired.

Sports on 02/01/2017