Credit: Craven Whitlow
Sam Pittman appears to have put the final touches on the 2025 Arkansas football roster by landing Andrew Harris and Jalen Brown out of the transfer portal over the weekend.
Both transfers were four-star recruits in the 2023 class and come to Fayetteville from Power Four programs in Florida. Harris spent each of the last two years at UCF, while Brown began his career at LSU before heading to Florida State last season.
The Razorbacks have now secured nine transfers during the spring cycle, bringing their total offseason haul to 29 scholarship additions as they’ve restocked in light of losing 34 players to the portal. It sounds like they’re done, too, based on what Brown told reporters following his commitment.
“They’ve got one scholarship left and they’re holding it for me,” Brown told Hogville’s Otis Kirk.
As it stands, that group checks in at No. 17 nationally in the 247Sports Composite, but On3 — which weighs the portal losses against the additions — still has it at No. 60 in the country.
Arkansas going after Harris made a lot of sense. While it seems to be set at the top of the depth chart with Xavian Sorey Jr., Stephen Dix Jr. and Bradley Shaw, the linebacker room gets very young past that.
Even though Shaw is just a sophomore, his 68 snaps last year make him look like a veteran compared to the likes of Justin Logan, Wyatt Simmons and Tavion Wallace, who have a combined 3 defensive snaps in college.
The Razorbacks addressed that early in the spring cycle by signing Trent Whalen out of Southern Utah/Kent State, but he appeared to be more of the depth piece. Harris has a much higher ceiling and could conceivably crack the rotation – plus he committed to defensive coordinator Travis Williams at UCF, so there was already a strong prior relationship.
Bringing in Brown, however, is a bit more of a head-scratcher when you dig into it.
Is Bobby Petrino Overbooking His Wide Receiver Room?
On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer. Jalen Brown is a former top-100 recruit who actually started a pair of games for the Seminoles last year, and the Razorbacks are trying to replace their top five wide receivers from 2024.
However, they already added five transfer wide receivers at midterm. Throw in three who signed in the 2025 class and Arkansas appeared to be set from a numbers standpoint.
That didn’t stop it from extending more offers to wide receiver transfers during spring ball, though. Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman repeatedly said the Razorbacks’ needs were on defense and played coy when asked about the possibility of adding at the position during a press conference on April 3.
“We need some help in the secondary and we need some help on the defensive line a little bit, so that would be the top priority,” Pittman said after jokingly questioning where the reporter had seen the offers. “That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t take a wide receiver. That just means that’s not priority one right now.”
It turned out to be more of a priority than the head coach was letting on. Last week, Arkansas signed Andy Jean, who spent two years at Florida before transferring to Pittsburgh this spring. It also hosted Texas transfer Johntay Cook before he ultimately committed to Syracuse.
Brown is set to be one of 13 scholarship wide receivers for the Razorbacks in 2025 if Jordan Anthony chooses to focus on track and doesn’t return to the football team, which Pittman indicated may happen.
There’s a chance that count could drop to 12 if incoming freshman Jace Brown doesn’t make it to campus. Asked if the departure of California high school teammate Madden Iamaleava might impact his status, Pittman simply said, “We’ll see. It certainly could.”
Even without Anthony nor Brown, using 12 of their 85 scholarships on wide receivers seems like an unnecessary surplus – possibly at the expense of another position. (It’s also worth noting that Monte Harrison is not included in that number because he’s technically a walk-on, but he’s probably in the receiver rotation coming out of spring.)
For those who’ve been around the program for the last two decades or so, it’s a familiar feeling. During a YouTube show last week, HawgSports’ Trey Biddy and Danny West – longtime reporters covering the Razorbacks – likened it to Bobby Petrino’s head coach stint from 2008-11.
“Petrino back in the day, he would carry what 11, 12 (receivers) seemed like most of the time, so it’s probably a little bit of the Petrino effect I would imagine,” West said. “I’d like to see that spot go to defensive tackle. I would’ve liked to have seen maybe two of them go there.”
The concern for depth at defensive tackle is legitimate. Cam Ball is back as a fifth-year senior and is as close to a guaranteed starter as there is. Returnees Ian Geffrard and Danny Saili, meanwhile, impressed the coaching staff while handling the first-team reps with Ball out this spring because of elbow surgery.
While those latter two lack significant experience, with a combined 285 career snaps at the FBS level, it sounds like the Razorbacks are confident in their top three defensive tackles. Beyond that, it gets a little fuzzy.
They added would-be fashion mogul David Oke as a midterm transfer, but he’s making the jump from the FCS and missed the first half of spring ball with an injury. During the spring cycle, Arkansas added another transfer defensive tackle in Frank Mulipola, but he’s making the jump from Division II and won’t arrive on campus until this summer.
Caleb Bell and Kevin Oatis have a lot of potential, but it’s rare for true freshmen to contribute significantly at that position in the SEC. Then there’s JJ Hollingsworth and Kaleb James – two guys who’ve been in the program for multiple years, yet haven’t played meaningful snaps.
If one of those top three interior linemen goes down with an injury this season, Pittman might find himself wishing he had used one of those scholarships on a more proven defensive tackle instead of yet another wide receiver – especially two spring transfers who’ve combined for 14 career receptions.
The Breakdown on Jalen Brown
Jalen Brown was a high four-star recruit in the Class of 2023, ranked No. 71 in the country by 247Sports. Andrew Ivins, 247Sports’ director of football scouting, described him as a “true deep threat that uses elite foot speed to take the top off a defense” and has “almost mastered the fly/go route.” That ability comes through loud and clear here:
Listed at 6-foot-1 and 174 pounds, he also has decent positional size.
He signed with LSU out of high school, playing in three games and preserving his redshirt before entering the transfer portal. The Miami native opted to head closer to home with the Seminoles. In his lone season at Florida State, Brown appeared in nine games with two starts and caught eight passes for 75 yards.
The rising redshirt sophomore was expected to compete for a starting spot this year, but was dismissed from the team in April for an off-field incident. He was arrested by the Florida State Police Department and charged with third-degree felony possession of a controlled substance. He was dismissed from the FSU squad less than 24 hours later.
The addition of Brown risks overloading the Razorbacks’ receiving room for the 2025 season. But at the same time, the FSU transfer is one of the most talented additions of the offseason in what has otherwise been a bit of a lackluster transfer portal class for Pittman and Arkansas. The Hogs are attempting to build a solid team while apparently working with less money than most of their SEC peers.
The former blue-chip prospect presents a Moneyball opportunity for Petrino’s offense, giving a second chance at the highest level to an uber-talented speedster who could unlock Arkansas’ deep passing game this season.
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One reason Petrino might have targeted Brown is that ballyhooed Arkansas native Courtney Crutchfield has underwhlemed so far in the few months in Fayetteville since arrived from Mizzou.
More on that here:
Michael Main contributed to the above article
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More coverage of Arkansas football and the transfer portal from BoAS…