FAYETTEVILLE – Chad Morris and the Arkansas Razorbacks will officially welcome between 18-21 new signees next Wednesday, the first day of the early national signing period for the Class of 2019.
The Hogs currently have 23 verbal commitments in the class, with 18 of them planning to sign National Letters of Intent throughout the day on Wednesday. Between now and then, Morris and his staff have a chance to add three more to that total as a trio of their top targets are expected to announce their respective college choices within the next week.
At the time of this writing, one of those – junior college offensive line target Myron Cunningham of Fort Dodge (Iowa) Iowa Central C.C– hadn’t yet announced his decision on Tuesday. It is widely speculated that he will be choosing Arkansas over Oklahoma, and the 6-5, 300-pound lineman will then be expected to sign his NLI next week.
Cunningham, who was in Fayetteville for an official visit over the weekend, is a mid-year graduate who will be eligible to enroll in January.
Fellow JUCO offensive lineman Chibueze Nwanna of Scranton (Pa.) Lackawanna C.C. is in a similar situation as Cunningham. He, too, will be announcing his decision this week, and all signs point toward him choosing the Razorbacks.
Like Cunningham, Nwanna, 6-8, 315, graduates this month and plans to enroll at his next stop in January. Both offensive line targets will have two years to play two seasons at their next destinations.
The third possible addition to Arkansas’ 18 early signees is cornerback Gregory Brooks Jr. of Harvey (La.) West Jefferson. Brooks, 5-11, 178, 4.5, has been committed to Mississippi State since June, but plans to announce his final decision between Arkansas, MSU and Kansas State next Wednesday.
Typically, already-committed prospects don’t hold signing day announcements unless they’re planning to flip to another school. In this case, Arkansas still feels confident in its chances of stealing one from their SEC Western Division foe.
The 18 committed players who have confirmed their intentions to sign with Arkansas next Wednesday include seven on the offensive side of the ball. The group includes quarterback KJ Jefferson, wide receivers TQ Jackson, Shamar Nash and Trey Knox, and offensive linemen Dylan Rathcke, Brady Latham and Beaux Limmer.
The offensive commits who plan to wait until February to sign include running back A’Montae Spivey, wide receiver Treylon Burks, and tight end Hudson Henry.
Nash and Knox have already confirmed their plans to enroll in January.
On defense, 11 of the Hogs’ commitments plan to ink with the Hogs next week.
That group consists of seven defensive linemen in Eric Gregory, Mataio Soli, Zach Williams, Collin Clay, Taurean Carter, Enoch Jackson and Marcus Miller.
Linebacker Zach Zimos and defensive backs Malik Chavis, Adonis Otey and Devin Bush also plan to make it official next Wednesday. That leaves defensive end Dante Walker and defensive back Myles Brooks as the two defensive prospects who will wait and sign in February.
Arkansas’ coaching staff plans to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 players enroll early and be able to go through spring drills, which begin Feb. 26.
In addition to Knox and Nash on offense, the Razorbacks look to welcome three defensive ends in Williams, Soli and Gregory, and Bush at defensive back.
The Razorbacks also hold a commitment from Searcy (Ark.) offensive lineman Drew Vest as a preferred walk-on, and the 6-6, 290-pounder will be enrolling January, as well.
Counting Vest and the six others listed above, the Hogs are likely looking at a total of 10 early enrollees, assuming everything goes as planned with Brooks and the JUCO linemen.