There are two things I am sure of about next season’s Arkansas football team: It will be faster and more talented when the team kicks the season off on Aug. 31 against visiting Portland State.
That’s at wide receiver, tight end, the offensive line and on defense, with the possible exception of linebacker.
It should also be the case at quarterback as well because somebody should rise to the top of what could be — but surely won’t be — six different signal-callers vying for the starting job.
Now, I can’t tell you who is going to start because there are too many variables, but it has the chance to be a case where iron sharpens iron.
Will it be former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant, who went 16-2 at the helm of the Tigers before being benched in favor of freshman Trevor Lawrence and deciding to play his last year somewhere else?
Bryant was recruited to Clemson by current Arkansas coach Chad Morris. He is on an official visit to check out the Razorbacks this weekend.
Will 2018 Razorback red-shirt junior starter Ty Storey return and be the man? Storey has already graduated and locked down the spot this season when healthy.
Will celebrated freshman Connor Noland, also an outstanding baseball pitcher, get a chance to play late in this season and stake his claim to the job?
What about 2019 Arkansas quarterback pledge K.J. Jefferson? He’s a true RPO guy that passed for over 3,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards as a junior and is on pace to do that again this season before he arrives in Fayetteville in January as an early enrollee and thus gets to go through spring practice.
I also know better than to count out the rest of the current candidates, sophomore Cole Kelley, freshmen John Stephen Jones and redshirt freshman Daulton Hyatt.
It should make for a fun 15 days of spring practice to see who will be around and ascend to the throne.
I’m confident that Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock will find the right guy for their system, something that we have seen progress each of the last three games this season.
There is going to be a lot more talent and simple system fit in terms of play-makers as well as a energy that will come from the roster turnover, which is a necessity when your last two coaches have been almost polar opposites.
I go back to the comment earlier this season from Sardis (Miss.) North Panola head coach Carl Diffee, Jefferson’s high school coach. Diffee noted that Arkansas was trying to run a drag race with a heavy duty truck right now.
While a fan of heavy-duty trucks myself, there are times when we all feel the need for speed and Morris came in talking about not having enough of it on campus.
He and his assistants have added a ton of that on both sides of the ball in the 2019 recruiting class, which is currently ranked 12th nationally by Rivals.
It’s going to be fun — albeit after a tough year — to see who is at the wheel as the truck transforms into a race car.
Dudley Dawson is the recruiting editor for Hawgs Illustrated magazine.