All week we’ll be examining how each team in the SEC performed on national signing day. Up next: Arkansas.
Biggest need heading into signing day: To say that the loss of Jonathan Williams before the start of last season exposed Arkansas would be an overstatement. Alex Collins was one of the top three running backs in the conference, and that’s saying a lot when you consider who was ahead of him (Derrick Henry, Leonard Fournette). But the subsequent injury to Rawleigh Williams III showed that you can’t have enough depth in your backfield. If coach Bret Bielema wants to continue to lean on the running game, he needs multiple options. Collins and Jonathan Williams are gone, and how Rawleigh Williams looks after rehab is uncertain. Between Kody Walker, Denzell Evans and Juan Day, you’re not looking at a lot of career carries.
How it was addressed: It’s somewhat surprising that Arkansas took only one running back in this class. The addition of 6-foot-3, 255-pound fullback Hayden Johnson should help the running game, of course, but he doesn’t project to be a guy who will get 10-15 carries per game. So to say that Bielema is placing a lot of faith in Devwah Whaley is an understatement. The Texas product certainly has the look of an every-down back, however. At 6-foot and 195 pounds, he has a similar build to Alex Collins coming out of high school, who was an inch shorter and 5 pounds heavier. With time, he’ll add the necessary weight and should maintain the athleticism that helped him rush for 23 touchdowns as a senior, earning offers from schools like Alabama, Georgia, Notre Dame and Stanford. Bielema, who has helped develop his fair share of great backs, told reporters that, “In my opinion, he’s as good as any I’ve recruited.”
Position of strength: You look at the numbers and they weren’t pretty. A year after boasting a surprisingly solid defensive line, the Razorbacks regressed in the trenches, ranking 11th in the SEC in sacks and 11th in disrupted dropbacks, which combines sacks, interceptions, batted passes and passes defended. So Bielema and his staff went out and loaded up on D-line prospects with four of their nine highest-rated recruits coming at the position. The crown jewel of the entire class was four-star defensive end McTelvin Agim. The Arkansas native is already 6-foot-3 and 268 pounds, and ranked 11th overall in the ESPN 300.
Biggest remaining question mark: Bielema is either really happy with the defensive backs already on his roster or he believes his front seven will be so good it won’t matter. But either way, the signing of two total DBs in this class is odd, especially when you consider that they were both safeties. If one of those two becomes the eventual replacement for safety Rohan Gaines, then that’s great. But what about two years from now when starting corners Jared Collins and D.J. Dean have exhausted their eligibility? Developing the talent on the roster will be key, but so will signing a few corners in next year's class.