FAYETTEVILLE – Chad Morris is known around college football as an offensive guru, but his first signing class as Arkansas’s head coach would indicate otherwise.
The Razorbacks made defense a priority in this year’s haul, and several of the new additions could be asked to contribute early on a unit that finished last in the SEC over the past two seasons.
“I felt like our biggest need was speed. We had to go and target players with great speed, quickness and lateral movement,” Morris said. “That was the biggest need for us and on the defensive side of the ball in particular.
“Those guys are going to come in and they’re going to make people uncomfortable. They’re going to push guys that maybe have gotten comfortable on this roster, and we’re going to see where they fit.”
Arguably the biggest signee of Arkansas’ class actually came two days after National Signing Day. That’s when Dorian Gerald, the nation’s top JUCO defensive end according to ESPN, made his decision in his hometown of Florence, South Carolina.
Gerald, who attended junior college at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita (Calif.), chose the Razorbacks over Texas A&M, Florida, Louisville, Florida State, Georgia and others.
Arkansas’s defensive line class was already fairly solid with defensive tackle Billy Ferrell of Fordyce (Ark.) and ends Isaiah Nichols of Springdale (Ark.), Nick Fulwider of Tyrone (Ga.) and Courtre Alexander of Owasso (Okla.), but it was missing an immediate-impact pass rusher.
That’s what Gerald brings to the table after recording 43 tackles for loss and 22 sacks during his two-year JUCO career.
According to the staff, Gerald, Alexander and Ferrell are frontrunners to receive early playing time in 2018.
“If you’re going to be heavy in your numbers, be heavy in the defensive line because of the depth that it’s going to take to compete in this league and play against some offenses in this league,” Morris said. “Obviously with the offense that we have and being very fast paced, we’ve got to have some depth in that defensive line. In particular, we’ve got to be able to rush the passer.”
At linebacker, the Hogs return a very deep group of 11 scholarship players led by one of the SEC’s better duos in De’Jon Harris and Dre Greenlaw.
However, 2018 signees Bumper Pool and Andrew Parker will enter the mix with high expectations after being very heavily-recruited as prospects.
“This is a young man that has got incredible upside, a huge upside,” Morris said of Pool, who enrolled in January. “I believe the sky is the limit for him. He meets all the intangibles. Extremely fast, he’s big, he’s got the height and obviously the explosion to go along with it.
“[Parker] has a huge upside,” Morris said. “You’re going to hear a lot about him. He’s going to play this game for a long, long time.”
Arkansas’s trio of defensive back signees is probably the most impressive position group in this year’s class.
The Hogs came away with a four-star cornerback in Ladarrius Bishop of Ashdown (Ark.), as well as two big-time safeties in Joe Foucha of New Orleans (La.) McDonogh 35 and Myles Mason of Trussville (Ala.) Hewitt.
Bishop turned down Florida, Mississippi State, Baylor and others, while Foucha and Mason both held offers from over half of the SEC’s members.
“We really like what we see so far from the guys that are here on the current roster,” cornerbacks’ coach Mark Smith said. “Then you add in Joe Foucha, you add in Myles Mason, you add in Ladarrius Bishop, we feel like we really, really have a solid group there.”