FAYETTEVILLE – With his new staff now complete, Arkansas head football coach Chad Morris is finalizing recruiting territories for each of his assistants.
Not surprisingly, there’s a heavy emphasis on Texas, particularly the Dallas-Fort Worth area where Morris plans to divide the metroplex among five different coaches.
Morris is also doing something unique in Arkansas as every assistant coach is responsible for a specific area of the Hogs’ home state.
“We’ll have our entire staff divided up across Arkansas,” Morris said. “All ten of our coaches will have a piece of Arkansas they’ll recruit. We’ll see every high school in this great state.”
Starting with the offense, new coordinator Joe Craddock, who came from SMU with Morris, will be lead recruiter at schools in northwest Dallas-Fort Worth, central Florida, and his home state of Alabama.
Craddock will also be responsible for 11 schools in the bottom half of northwest Arkansas, including Springdale, Springdale Har-Ber, Shiloh Christian and Fayetteville.
Running backs coach Jeff Traylor, who was named the Big 12’s Recruiter of the Year for his efforts in Texas’ 2016 signing class, will have all of east Texas in addition to 15 schools in the southwest portion of Arkansas, including Texarkana and Ashdown.
Wide receivers coach Justin Stepp will be in charge of 27 schools in the southeast portion of Dallas-Fort Worth, which includes talent-rich programs such as Mesquite, Dallas Skyline and others.
His instate duties include 20 schools in south-central Arkansas, including Rison, Warren, Fordyce, Camden, Arkadelphia, El Dorado and others. Stepp also has parts of Georgia and his home state, South Carolina.
Dustin Fry, the Hogs’ new offensive line coach and fourth offensive staff member who came from SMU to Arkansas, has a loaded plate with 68 high schools to cover in northeast Dallas-Fort Worth. Fry’s coverage area consists of several programs that produce major talent on an annual basis, such as Allen, Plano, Plano-East, Bishop Lynch, Highland Park, McKinney, Frisco, Garland and several others.
Additionally, Fry will also have parts of South Carolina, all of the Mississippi junior colleges and a dozen high schools the Hot Springs area of Arkansas.
Barry Lunney Jr., who was retained from the previous staff and will continue to coach Arkansas’ tight ends, has somewhat of a new area to recruit. In addition to 55 schools in the River Valley and Little Rock, Lunney will now spend more time in the state of Oklahoma, specifically Tulsa and Oklahoma City, two areas he recruited during three years with the University of Tulsa in 2000-02.
Lunney’s home base area consists of schools in Fort Smith and east to notable programs in Greenwood, Charleston, Russellville and nearly all schools in Little Rock.
Defensively, new coordinator John Chavis is in charge of Tennessee, parts of Louisiana, and 11 schools in the upper half of northwest Arkansas, which consists of Bentonville, Bentonville-West, Rogers and Siloam Springs.
New defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell, who coached at Arkansas under former head coach Bobby Petrino, will focus on Missouri, Kansas junior colleges, and 26 schools in the northern part of the Natural State, including Jonesboro, Newport and Harrison.
Defensive tackles coach John Scott Jr., who was let go with the previous staff but rehired by Morris, will own 27 schools in south Dallas, the northern half of Houston, parts of Georgia, and 20 schools in northeast Arkansas.
Cornerbacks coach Mark Smith, another former Texas high school head coach, has 86 schools in Fort Worth and southwest Dallas.
Smith will also cover central Texas and 20 schools in east-central Arkansas.
Safeties coach Ron Cooper will have Louisiana, south Houston, south Florida, and 21 schools in southeast Arkansas including Pine Bluff, Stuttgart, Monticello and Helena.