The decision by wide receiver Mike Woods to enter the transfer portal was a surprise to HawgBeat’s Nikki Chavanelle, she said on Halftime.
Yurachek on Muss’ deal, overall winning in sports, covid update
A large number of athletes and administrative personnel at Arkansas are fully vaccinated, athletics director Hunter Yurachek said on Halftime.
Rumors turn to reality with Woods entering transfer portal
The rumor first started Monday afternoon and when it first started, nobody wanted to actually believe Mike Woods would be leaving Arkansas.
Tuesday it became official.
— WOODVILLE. (@TheMikeWoods) April 20, 2021
Exactly why or how he came to that decision we probably won’t know for awhile, but he’s graduated and that’s the rules in today’s world of college athletics.
Woods caught 32 passes for a career-high 619 yards and five touchdowns last season, and was a deep-ball favorite of quarterback Feleipe Franks.
Woods averaged 19.3 yards per reception in 2020, the highest mark among players with 10-plus receptions with back-to-back 100-yard performances last season at Florida (129 yards, two touchdowns) and LSU (140 yards) and had a season-high six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown at Auburn.
A three-star receiver in the 2018 class who caught 41 touchdown passes at Magnolia (Texas) High School, Woods signed with Arkansas over scholarship offers from Washington State, Colorado State, Vanderbilt, SMU and other programs.
As a high school senior, Woods flipped his commitment from SMU to Arkansas within a week of when the Razorbacks hired SMU coach Chad Morris in December 2017.
This leaves the Hogs with a playmaker to replace, but it is a talented wide receivers room.
Left on the roster are Treylon Burks, Trey Knox and John David White along with De’Vion Warren and Tyson Morris, both of whom are close to tenure status in Fayetteville.
There is plenty of players left, but Woods had stepped up to make big plays last season and had a big catch in the Red-White scrimmage Saturday.
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Razorbacks keep hold on No. 1 spot in baseball polls
There’s no change at the top.
Arkansas checked in as the unanimous No. 1 team in college baseball for week 10 of the season, leading all six major polls released Monday.
Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, D1Baseball, NCBWA, Perfect Game and USA Today each put the Razorbacks atop their respective rankings for the second consecutive week.
It is the fourth time this season that Arkansas is the undisputed No. 1 squad as well as the eighth consecutive week that the Hogs maintain the top spot in at least one of the six.
Arkansas, 30-6 overall on the year, is in sole possession of first place in the SEC West with an 11-4 mark in conference play.
The Hogs, who took two of three against Texas A&M over the weekend, are the only team in the SEC that has not lost a series.
The Razorbacks conclude their six-game homestand tomorrow at Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch against non-conference foe Grambling State is set for 5 p.m. on SEC Network+.
O’Gara says receivers ‘elevate the floor’ for Jefferson, Hornsby
SDS’ Connor O’Gara saw the Red-White scrimmage and thinks Treylon Burks and Mike Woods make it easier for young quarterbacks.
Murphy’s thoughts on spring game, how quarterbacks looking
Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy thought the Hogs’ quarterbacks did okay as a “confidence-building deal” for a lot of people.
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Hogs have to reach into bullpen too early again, falling to Aggies
If Arkansas doesn’t get some starting pitchers to go deeper into games, Dave Van Horn probably knows he may have a problem they can’t out-hit in May.
Sunday, with a chance to sweep an SEC series over the Texas Aggies, Lael Lockhart gave up five hits and three runs in lasting just three innings and the Razorbacks had a problem.
“The game got away really early from us,” Van Horn said later.
They came up just short in an 11-10 loss. For a team that has made coming from behind way too routine, they couldn’t get the bat on the ball in the ninth inning.
“Just a tough loss because of the way it finished,” Van Horn said.
The nagging problem that keeps popping up too much is the failure of too many starters to get very deep into games. Kevin Kopps can’t save the day in the fourth inning every game.
“We had to go to the bullpen again way too early,” Van Horn said. “We didn’t play good defense and pitched behind in the count all day long. We walked them six times and hit them twice and it seemed like more. They were just ahead in the count 2-0 and 3-1 a lot and took some really good swings and we didn’t play good.”
The Hogs are still 11-4 in the league despite having to make some gigantic comebacks and win some wild games like holding off Ole Miss last week.
“With who we’ve played and where we’ve played that’s a good record,” Van Horn said. “Pretty much every coach in the league would be happy with 11-4, but it’s why we say when you can get a win, get a win because you never know.”
Hitting early has been a problem at times this year. It’s forced the Hogs to make some of these comebacks with big swings.
“We’ve shown the power,” Van Horn said. “As far as spreading it out, that’s what we thought we’d do. When the season ends we project we’re going to have several guys up and down the lineup with 10, 12, 15.”
For the most part, though, the Hogs will be okay and the guess is they’ll figure out the pitching issues over the next few weeks.
But Van Horn is probably hoping failing to close out the sweep against A&M doesn’t come back to be too costly.
“It wasn’t a good day for us,” Van Horn said.
He wasn’t talking about one specific area, either. There was enough blame to go around.
