Fox Sports’ Aaron Torres on basketball, Calipari courtside at NBA Finals game this week
Matt Jones and Torres covering wide group of subjects heading into summer including Hogs’ coach in attendance at Spurs-Knicks game in Madison Square Garden.
Chris Marler of ESPN 104.5 in Baton Rouge on target now ar LSU
With former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin probably bringing the target he has to the Tigers it may be as big of a bucket of chaos at other teams.
Helfrick, Dietz earn Baseball America All-America honors for Razorbacks
Ryder Helfrick and Hunter Dietz earned Baseball America All-America recognition this week, adding another layer to what’s been a strong individual postseason for the Razorbacks.
Both players landed on the third team. Helfrick got the nod at catcher while Dietz was honored as a starting pitcher, the third All-America accolade of the postseason for the left-hander.
Helfrick makes history at catcher
Helfrick’s selection carries some history with it. He’s the 42nd All-America pick in program history and the 43rd overall honoree of the Dave Van Horn era dating to 2003.
More notably, he’s just the third Arkansas catcher ever to reach All-America status and the first catcher in the Van Horn era to do it, joining Ronn Reynolds (1979) and Andy Skeels (1987).
The numbers behind the honor aren’t hard to find. Helfrick led the nation in defensive runs saved (27.00), framing runs saved (24.49) and defensive wins above replacement (1.99). That made him the top defender in college baseball this season.
The Hogs’ SEC All-Defensive catcher also slashed .283/.417/.562 with 18 home runs, 53 RBI and 55 walks in 62 games. That walk total puts him fourth on Arkansas’ single-season top 10 list.
Helfrick also served as a semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
He’s the 13th hitter to earn All-America honors under hitting coach Nate Thompson, who’s been with the program since 2018.
Dietz emerges as staff ace
Dietz’s path to this moment wasn’t a straight line. After injury-limited seasons as a true freshman in 2024 and a redshirt freshman in 2025, the Trinity, Florida native broke through in a big way this year.
He went 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA across 16 starts and 85.2 innings, leading the Razorbacks’ staff with 131 strikeouts, a total that ranks fourth on the program’s single-season top 10 list. He also posted an SEC-best 47 strikeouts looking and became the first SEC pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts on the season.
Dietz led the conference with nine quality starts and earned All-SEC recognition from the league’s 16 head coaches.
Like Helfrick, he was also a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy.
Four Razorbacks honored this postseason
Helfrick and Dietz aren’t the only Hogs picking up postseason recognition.
Camden Kozeal earned All-America honors from both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game.
Ethan McElvain was also named an All-American by the NCBWA and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings, giving Arkansas four players with at least one All-America honor this postseason.
Jason Campbell sees sleeping giant in Razorback football if they win
Former Auburn and NFL quarterback Jason Campbell appeared on ESPN Arkansas Thursday morning and had some warm things to say about first-year Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield.
That’s not exactly a shocker. Campbell wasn’t going to hop on a Fayetteville radio show and rip the Hogs to shreds.
Underneath the encouragement, there were enough qualifiers sprinkled in to remind fans what still has to happen before any of it means anything.
The short version: Silverfield seems to know what he’s doing, the region’s economy is thriving and the fan base has the potential to be a force again.
The long version includes the part where the Razorbacks have to actually go out and win football games in one of the toughest conferences on the planet. All of this will probably only follow wins.
That’s been the problem. Outside of the 2021 season, where the Hogs briefly looked like a program on the rise, Arkansas has spent most of the past several years stuck in mediocrity in the good years.
The 2025 season ended at 2-10 with six losses decided by a week or fewer points. Silverfield walks into a program that’s been ranked dead last in most preseason power rankings this offseason.
Nobody’s exactly trembling with either excitement or disappointment these days. Talk Hogs football now and you get a lot of shrugs.
Apparently not even national people are able to generate much they know will be good.
What Campbell actually liked about Silverfield
Campbell had Silverfield on his podcast earlier in the week before making his ESPN Arkansas appearance, and he came away impressed with the new coach’s clarity of purpose.
He didn’t bring it up but Chad Morris had a plan, too. And better players to fail with.
“I’ll tell you one thing, [Silverfield] definitely has a plan when you listen to him. He knows the direction he wants to go in,” Campbell said. “Everything around the building points to now. He wants everyone to be focused and present where their feet are in the moment.”
Arkansas fans who’ve followed the program closely know exactly what that sounds like.
Silverfield has made the concept of presence and focus a cornerstone of his messaging since arriving in Fayetteville. Every coach has a catchphrase that makes the fan base roll their eyes at first.
They all have ’em. Bill Belichick had “do your job,” Nick Saban leaned on “trust the process,” Urban Meyer preached “leave no doubt” and Mike Leach told his players to “swing your sword.”
Silverfield’s version centers on being present, and it worked well enough at Memphis. Whether it translates to the SEC is another conversation entirely.
Campbell also pointed to something more tangible than a motivational mantra.
He credited Silverfield’s record against the coaches who now populate the SEC.
“He talks with such confidence,” Campbell said. “He’s going to be coaching against some guys in [the SEC] that he has coached against before and he’s had success.”
Silverfield went 50-25 at Memphis with six straight bowl appearances, competing against programs that now call the SEC home, and he didn’t lose those matchups often.
The roster situation is real
Still, Campbell didn’t pretend the pieces are already in place.
“He feels like in order to get [Arkansas] back to where it needs to be it’s going to take some time, honestly,” Campbell said. “He has to reset his roster and has young quarterbacks and neither one have a lot of experience so you never know what’s going to happen with that position.”
That’s a polite way of saying the Razorbacks are going into 2026 with questions under center that don’t have answers yet.
Silverfield brought in more than 80 new faces this offseason as part of what amounts to a full roster overhaul.
That kind of turnover can accelerate a culture reset, but it doesn’t instantly produce wins on an SEC schedule that doesn’t offer many favors to a program still finding its footing.
The booster base angle
Where Campbell got genuinely enthusiastic was talking about what Arkansas could look like if Silverfield gets the program pointed in the right direction.
“Arkansas has a community, a support system, if [Silverfield] starts winning watch out because it’s a region that is booming economically and is having a lot of success in other sports,” Campbell said.
He drew a direct comparison to Auburn, noting that both programs have watched other sports carry the flag while football has lagged.
“If you get the football part going that generates the most excitement around campus, you know, watch out,” Campbell said.
He’s not wrong about any of that. Northwest Arkansas in particular has seen significant economic growth over the past decade, and the Razorbacks’ fan base has never lacked passion.
It’s just been starved for reasons to show it lately. The program’s brand is still strong even after back-to-back rough seasons, and the infrastructure exists for something special if the wins start coming.
The problem is that “if the wins start coming” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
Arkansas faces one of the more demanding schedules in the SEC in 2026, and the roster is heavy on newcomers with limited game experience at the position that matters most.
Campbell’s optimism is genuine, but it’s also the kind of optimism that comes with a very large asterisk attached.
Silverfield seems to understand that. He’s not making guarantees.
He’s talking about process, presence and building something sustainable.
Whether the SEC gives him enough time to do it is the real question nobody on a radio show is going to answer right now.
Hog fans may have a much shorter attention span.
Arkansas basketball fills key staff vacancy with experienced SEC strength coach
Arkansas basketball has a new head strength and conditioning coach.
The Razorbacks have hired Marcus Edwards to fill the role, a source confirmed to HawgBeat, adding a coach with SEC and NCAA Tournament pedigree to John Calipari’s staff.
Edwards takes over a position that sat vacant after Dave Richardson departed in the offseason to return to Ohio State.
Richardson’s exit ended a nine-year run in Fayetteville that stretched across three different head coaches.
Richardson first came to Arkansas in 2018 under Mike Anderson. He stayed put when Eric Musselman took over and remained through Calipari’s first two seasons before heading back to Columbus.
Edwards brings SEC background to Fayetteville
Edwards arrives in Fayetteville from Oklahoma State, where he spent two seasons working under coach Steve Lutz.
His time in Stillwater wasn’t without results. The Cowboys improved by five wins in his first year and climbed more than 30 spots in the NCAA NET rankings while making a run to the NIT quarterfinals.
Before Oklahoma State, Edwards worked two seasons at Vanderbilt under Jerry Stackhouse, the former NBA All-Star who earned SEC Coach of the Year honors in 2023.
During his first year with the Commodores, Vanderbilt posted 22 wins and reached the NIT quarterfinals.
That stint also put Edwards on the same staff as Brad Calipari, who’s now an assistant at Arkansas, during the 2023-24 season.
When Lutz announced Edwards’ hiring at Oklahoma State in June 2024, he made clear what he was looking for in the role.
“Our brand of basketball requires physically and mentally resilient athletes, and Marcus has an extensive track record of developing them,” Lutz said. “He’s a hard worker who is passionate about his craft and about helping student-athletes reach their full potential.
“He’s an outstanding mentor and relationship builder, and I know he will have a positive impact on our program.”
A career built across multiple stops
Edwards’ path to Fayetteville runs through several programs. Before his time in Nashville, he spent a season at Wyoming in 2018-19 and two years at Southern Illinois from 2019 to 2021.
He also completed two separate stints at Missouri, his alma mater, working under former head coach Cuonzo Martin.
His first tour in Columbia came during the 2017-18 season when he served as assistant strength and conditioning coach.
That Mizzou squad reached the NCAA Tournament as an No. 8 seed. He returned to the University of Missouri for the 2021-22 season as director of athletic performance.
Edwards graduated from Missouri in 2015 and later earned a master’s degree from the University of Texas in 2017 after a two-year stint as a graduate strength and conditioning intern.
He’s also certified by the Collegiate Strength & Conditioning Coaches Association.
He’s got a playing background as well. Edwards won back-to-back Kansas Class 4A state titles at Kansas City Sumner High School.
Edwards and his wife Anika have a daughter, Ahna, and a son, MeeJay.
Matt Hobbs tapped as USA Baseball Collegiate National Team pitching coach
Matt Hobbs has added another line to what’s already a strong coaching résumé.
The Arkansas pitching coach has been selected to serve on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team staff. It’s a recognition that puts him among the top college baseball minds in the country this summer.
Hobbs will serve as pitching coach for the Stars Team during the Collegiate National Team Training Camp, one of two squads — Stars and Stripes — that’ll split up a 14-man coaching staff for exhibition play this month.
That slate of games runs from June 27 through July 4 at various venues across North Carolina and Virginia, including the Stars vs. Stripes series.
It doesn’t stop there for the Razorback staff member.
Hobbs is also one of six coaches tapped to represent the United States in the inaugural World Collegiate Baseball Championship in Taichung City, Taiwan, from July 11-15.
Illinois coach Dan Hartleb will manage Team USA in that tournament.
Rounding out the international staff alongside Hobbs are Bethune-Cookman coach Jonathan Hernandez, Michigan coach Tracy Smith, Wake Forest head coach Tom Walter and bullpen coach Carlos Muñoz.
Team USA will face Chinese Taipei, Japan and Korea during pool play at Taichung City Intercontinental Stadium before semifinals and a championship game wrap things up on July 15.
Hobbs wraps up his eighth season on the Fayetteville staff in 2026. He’s widely considered one of the premier pitching developers in college baseball, earning 2024 D1Baseball Assistant Coach of the Year award.
The list of talent he has shaped at Arkansas speaks for itself.
Since joining the Hogs, Hobbs has helped produce one Golden Spikes Award winner, one Dick Howser Trophy winner, 12 All-Americans, 12 All-SEC honorees, including two SEC pitchers of the year.
That goes along with 30 MLB draft picks, 22 of whom went in the top 10 rounds.
Two names stand out among that group. Kevin Kopps won both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy in 2021 under Hobbs’s watch. Hagen Smith was the unanimous national pitcher of the year in 2024.
What Hobbs has helped build in Fayetteville
The Razorbacks’ success over Hobbs’s tenure reflects well beyond individual awards.
The program has made three College World Series trips. In 2019, 2022 and 2025 the Hogs claimed two overall SEC championships. The Razorbacks won 2021 and 2023 and four SEC Western Division titles in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
That kind of sustained run is exactly what earns a coach a seat on a USA Baseball staff.
Brett Dolan on still trying to figure out how anyone can let Sorsby play
After court injunction allowed Texas Tech quarterback Brandan Sorsby to be eligible this year, it flies in the face of long-established rules.
