So far, so good for Arkansas freshman pitcher Connor Noland.
If the preseason is any indication, he may have a successful freshman season on the diamond, which could make him think hard about his football future.
As you know, the Greenwood native is also a UA quarterback. That’s not necessarily a title of distinction these days and frankly the Razorbacks quarterback room is jumbled.
Hogs coach Chad Morris brought his former signal caller at SMU, Ben Hicks, in as a graduate transfer for insurance. He presumably will be the starter with Noland and fellow redshirt freshman John Steven Jones and others competing for backup time.
Hicks’ presence is exactly why if Noland shows baseball promise, he may be wise to walk away from football. Morris is investing in a player that can help him for one season. A season that most likely has a ceiling of 6-6 and could have a basement of 4-8.
The point is, Hicks won’t take Arkansas to great heights. There are too many missing pieces. This is not a team that is 6-6 currently and needs a missing piece to rise to another level.
It makes much more sense to invest in a younger quarterback such as Noland. Let him start next year and as he and the team grow, prepare to make a major climb in 2020. With Hicks starting next year, Noland would have another year to learn the offense and basically use Hicks as a tutor, but he wouldn’t get real game action that he needs to grow and develop.
The good news is Noland played this year and still qualified as a redshirt under the new NCAA rules. So, if he did sit behind Hicks he’d still have three years of eligibility.
Why is Morris so interested in Hicks? I assume because he thinks he has the best chance of all of the quarterbacks to win immediately.
After his 2-10 debut, it is easy to see that Morris and Co. feel a great deal of pressure. Someone on The Hill needs to reassure him that he is going to have at least four years to fix the dumpster fire that Bret Bielema left behind.
There is no quick fix to this situation and it doesn’t seem like a graduate transfer quarterback is the solution, but desperation it appears has set in. It’s also important to note that graduate transfers Nick Starkel (Texas A&M) and Josh Jackson (Virginia Tech) are all considering Arkansas.
That would complicate matters even more.
Contrast football to baseball where Noland has earned the right to play immediately on a team that is ranked in the Top 20 by most polls.
UA coach Dave Van Horn has a solid nucleus returning with high expectations but needs to fill some holes. He is looking for Noland to fill those holes either in the rotation or out of the bullpen.
There is no question Van Horn wants Noland to play immediately if he’s ready, which in preseason workouts it looks like he is.
So, if the baseball season is a success, why waste time with the uncertainty of football? Morris says publicly he supports Noland playing baseball, but maybe the interest in graduate transfers is because Noland is trying to play both sports.
If Noland knew he was the clear-cut starter, would he play baseball?
There’s a ton of uncertainty and potential for big developments in the spring. Look for at least some of it to clear up by June when baseball season ends and summer football workouts begin.
