Hammonds’ speed, doing ‘what he needed to’ gets him back on scholarship

When T.J. Hammonds re-joined Arkansas last year after sitting out a semester he did it without a scholarship but Sam Pittman announced Wednesday that changed Tuesday.

“He signed it yesterday,” Pittman said. “We’re happy to be able to do that. He earned the right to get his scholarship back.”

Hammonds does add some speed and Pittman may have given a little bit of a clue what’s he’s trying to address immediately in recruiting for the Razorbacks

“You can beat people two ways,” Pittman said. “You can beat them with speed or you can beat them bigness. You can beat them with large humans. Right now it’s a little faster for us to get fast guys than it is get a whole team of big guys.”

Hammonds delivers that. After a 64-yard scoring run against Colorado State in 2018, the rest of the way has been up and down and out. It appeared there was some sort of disconnect with the previous coaching staff, but that’s pure speculation.

Last season he rushed for 65 yards on eight carries and caught four passes for 10 yards after sitting out the first four games after re-joining the team. He redshirted in 2018 after playing the first four games.

“He’s fast,” Pittman said Wednesday. “He’s got a lot of speed.”

Which is something Pittman obviously wants more of and adding Hammonds back is a way to start on that immediately.