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Arkansas falls to Golden Hurricane in second match of season

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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TULSA, Okla. — Arkansas dropped its second match of the season, falling 4-1 at Tulsa Saturday afternoon.

The Razorbacks dropped the doubles point in straight sets, with Tulsa clinching the point at the No. 2 position.

Tulsa went up 2-0 at the No. 6 position, as Shwetha Prabakar fell 6-1, 6-2 to Marina Davtyan. The Golden Hurricane got within one as Lauren Alter fell 6-1, 6-4, before No. 78 Tatum Rice earned Arkansas’ lone point of the match with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 third-set victory.

Freshman Miruna Tudor dropped her match 7-5, 6-3 at the No. 6 position, clinching the match for Tulsa. Play on the final two courts was suspended due to the clinch.

The Hogs will return to the court next weekend at Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles.

For more information on Razorback women’s tennis, follow @RazorbackWTEN on Twitter.

Tulsa 4, Arkansas 1
Doubles Results – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #10 Martina Okalova/Vera Ploner (TLSW) def. Tatum Rice/Martina Zerulo (ARK) 6-2
2. Martha Matoula/Manon Meulenberg (TLSW) def. Lauren Alter/Miruna Tudor (ARK) 6-2
3. Marina Davtyan/Megan Hopton (TLSW) vs. Jackie Carr/Shwetha Prabakar (ARK) 4-4, unfinished

Singles Results – Order of Finish (6,3,2,5)
1. Martina Okalova (TLSW) vs. Martina Zerulo (ARK) 4-6, 6-1, 4-2, unfinished
2. #78 Tatum Rice (ARK) def. Martha Matoula (TLSW) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2
3. Vera Ploner (TLSW) def. Lauren Alter (ARK) 6-1, 6-3
4. Shura Poppe (TLSW) vs. Jackie Carr (ARK) 6-1, 6-6 (2-4), unfinished
5. Megan Hopton (TLSW) def. Miruna Tudor (ARK) 7-5, 6-3
6. Marina Davtyan (TLSW) def. Shwetha Prabakar (ARK) 6-1, 6-2

Razorbacks open season with back-to-back wins at Cowgirl Classic

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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LAKE CHARLES, La. — Arkansaswas in mid-season form Friday, taking down both opponents on day one of the Cowgirl Classic.

Now sitting at 2-0 one day into the 2019 campaign, the Razorbacks opened with a 7-3 victory over Campbell and capped their day with a statement 6-0 win over McNeese. Junior Autumn Storms and sophomore Mary Haff each recorded a win in the circle.

Up Next

The Razorbacks will return to Joe Miller Ballpark on Saturday (Feb. 9) for day two of the Cowgirl Classic, taking on Samford at 12:30 p.m. and Lipscomb at 3:00 p.m.

While Lipscomb is a never-faced opponent, Arkansas has matched up against Samford once before, defeating the Bulldogs in Hattiesburg, Miss. in 2009 (6-2).

Game 1: Arkansas 7, Campbell 3

Arkansas came out strong; with Hannah McEwen reaching first base on balls, sophomore transfer Danielle Gibson followed with a single through the right side.

With Hogs on first and second, senior Katie Warrick stepped up to the plate and sent one up the middle, loading the bases for hot-hitter Ashley Diaz. Diaz hit her first double of the game, a grounder up the middle, scoring McEwen and Gibson.

With the bases loaded, Gibson returned to the plate in the second inning, where she put the ball in play, allowing Sydney Parr and Maggie Hicks to score.

Warrick reached first on a fielder’s choice and Diaz followed with her second double of the game. The Razorbacks now had two in scoring position, with two outs, and Kayla Green up to bat.

A Campbell error would send Warrick and Diaz over home plate, giving Arkansas a 6-0 lead after two innings of play.

It would be in the sixth inning, that Gibson reached on a triple down the left-field line, putting her in prime scoring position for Diaz. Diaz beautifully executed the sacrifice fly, floating her hit deep into right field, giving Gibson the chance to score.

The Fighting Camels were not going down without a fight, rallying in the sixth inning for three runs. Storms and the Razorbacks regrouped and closed out the inning with a 5-3 play by Bugarin.

The seventh inning would yield no additional runs for either team and Arkansas would escape a feisty Campbell comeback attempt and hold onto the 7-3 victory.

Game 2: Arkansas 6, McNeese 0

It was a defensive battle from the start for the Razorbacks and Cowgirls, as the two teams entered the fourth inning scoreless.

Warrick would be the one to step up to the plate and take a 1-2 count from McNeese’s Alex Flores over the left field wall for Arkansas’ first run of the game.

The Razorbacks saw two Cowgirls on base in the fourth, but a leaping catch by Hicks would send the runners back to the dugout as Arkansas held onto its one-run lead headed into the fifth inning.

Arkansas wasted no time pushing its lead out to six runs, batting through the lineup in the fifth inning. The rally began with one out on the board and Hicks and Parr on first and second. McEwen soared a 1-0 pitch over the right-center wall, clearing the bases and giving the Razorbacks a 4-0 lead.

Gibson followed suit and hit a double off the right-center wall, forcing McNeese to make a call to their bull-pen. The Cowgirls would sub out junior Alex Flores for her sister, freshman right-handed pitcher Saleen Flores.

Warrick used her power at the plate once more, to single in right center and score pinch runner Carley Haizlip. Freshman Sam Torres would be called upon to pinch run for Warrick and would make her way around the bases to score, thanks to a ball in play by Diaz and a single to left center by Green.

Now leading 6-0, the Razorbacks had only to hold strong defensively to outlast the McNeese Cowgirls, and that’s exactly what they did.

With Haff on the mound, the Razorbacks allowed only one hit from the Cowgirls, a short fly ball onto the green in left field. Freshman Sam Torres tore up the turf and dove to make the catch, but the perfectly placed ball fell just short of her glove.

Arkansas did not loosen the reins until the shutout was complete, burning through the sixth and seventh innings with a defensively strong hold. Not only did McNeese go scoreless on their home turf tonight, a feat that has not been achieve by an opponent since April of 2017, not a single Cowgirl reach third base through seven innings of play.

Arkansas’ series with McNeese advances to 3-1 with the 6-0 win, the shutout is Haff’s 12th of her career.

Razorbacks set variety of personal records on first day of Tyson Invitational

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — The Razorbacks went to work at Randal Tyson Indoor Track and Dempsy Indoor in Seattle, Washington, on Friday night.

“Today was a great meet with great competition across the board,” said assistant coach Doug Case. “Obviously the sprints were incredible. I think overall if you look at our team, our hurdlers ran really well, in particular, Carl Elliot III ran a PR of 7.81 which is a good run. the 400-meter guys ran very well.

“They ran into some traffic in some of those races with a little bump and go going on, but overall where we’ve trained and the way we’ve prepared we’re ready to run really fast. we’re obviously shooting for SEC that weekend. The 800-meter group ran well as a whole today, Kieran Taylor ran a PR of 1:49.46.

“As a whole, I think we’ve made some progression in the right direction, we’re getting better and better every week with the goal being the SEC meet here in two and weeks and then the NCAA meet two weeks after that.”

In the 60-meter hurdles, Elliot III was the top Razorback on the day finishing fourth in the final with his aforementioned PR of 7.81. Tre’Bien Gilbert finished 14th overall running 7.94 in the prelims.

Josh Oglesby and Kris Hari advanced to the semifinal of the 60-meter flat, finishing with identical times of 6.82 for 17th and 18th, respectively.

Jalen Brown and Hunter Woodhall set new personal-best in the 400-meters running 46.70 and 47.07, respectively,  for fifth and seventh-place finishes.

Kieran Taylor led the way for a Razorback sweep in the 800-meters running a personal-best of 1:49.65, followed by Chase Pareti (1:50.93) and Kevin Wilkinson (1:51.38) in second and third-place.

Erich Sullins streak of wins came to an end Friday night in the men’s weight throw despite Sullins turning in a third-place finish with a best of 21.05m (69-0.75) that is just short of his season-best and school record mark from earlier this season.

In Seattle, head coach Chris Bucknam and crew got a lot done at the Husky Classic as Ethan Moehn posted a top-20 finish in the mile at 4:04.49 followed by Colin O’Mara at 4:08.07.

Cameron Griffith finished seventh in the 3,000-meters (7:52.79) in a season-best time that fell just a few seconds short of his lifetime-best in the event. Griffith was joined by Matt Young who finished 20th in 8:04.30 – a personal-best.

Gilbert Boit was the top Razorback in the 5,000-meters with his mark of 13:42.95 that is a personal-best.

Arkansas will return to Randal Tyson for day two of the Tyson Invitational tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m.

Arkansas gets third sweep of season, downing SMU on Friday afternoon

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas men’s tennis team earned its third sweep of the season, defeating SMU at home Friday night.

The Hogs got off to a quick start, taking the doubles point in straight sets. The team went up 2-0 as Josh Howard-Tripp earned a 6-2, 6-2 victory, and Alex Reco put the team within one at the No. 3 position.

Josh Howard-Tripp made quick work in the second position over Jan-Simon Vrbsky, 6-2, 6-2 as the Hogs took a 2-0 lead. Alex Reco would give the Razorbacks a 3-0 lead as he topped Roberto Rosales 6-3, 6-4.

Oscar Mesquida clinched the match at the No. 1 position, while Jose Dominguez Alonso put the team at 5-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 victory. The final two matches went to the tiebreaker set, as Enrique Paya defeated Tomas Vaise and Maxim Verboven earned a comeback win over Michael Smith in the five spot.

Arkansas will return to the court Sunday afternoon, hosting No. 6 Texas at 1 p.m.

For more information on Arkansas men’s tennis, including in-match updates, follow @RazorbackMTEN on Twitter.

Arkansas 7, SMU 0

Doubles Results – Order of Finish (3,2)
1. Enrique Paya/Maxim Verboven (AR) vs. Jan-Simon Vrbsky/Tomas Vaise (SMU) 6-6, unfinished
2. Oscar Mesquida/Alex Reco (AR) def. Carles Sarrio/Roberto Rosales (SMU) 7-5
3. Jose Alonso/Pedro Alonso (AR) def. Blaise Fagan/Avery Pennywell (SMU) 6-4

Singles Results – Order of Finish (2,3,1,6,4,5)
1. Oscar Mesquida (AR) def. Carles Sarrio (SMU) 6-3, 6-2
2. Josh Howard-Tripp (AR) def. Jan-Simon Vrbsky (SMU) 6-2, 6-2
3. Alex Reco (AR) def. Roberto Rosales (SMU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Enrique Paya (AR) def. Tomas Vaise (SMU) 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 1-0 (10-7)
5. Maxim Verboven (AR) def. Michael Smith (SMU) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
6. Jose Alonso (AR) def. Andrew Buhelos (SMU) 6-3, 6-2

No. 22 Razorbacks fall in home meet to eighth-ranked Crimson Tide on Friday

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 22 Arkansas gymnastics team fell to No. 8 Alabama 196.700-195.800 Friday night inside Barnhill Arena.

The Razorbacks were short a competitor as sophomore Sarah Shaffer sat the meet out with an injury.

First Rotation: Alabama Bars: 49.225, Arkansas Vault: 49.050

Arkansas again broke the 49 mark on the vault as Sydney McGlone led the Razorbacks with a 9.900 on the event. Freshman Kennedy Hambrick posted a 9.875 en route to a 39.375 all-around score. Fellow freshman Amanda Elswick anchored the rotation with a 9.800.

Second Rotation: Alabama Vault: 49.150, Arkansas Bars: 48.975

Hambrick led the Razorbacks on bars with a 9.900 which set a new career high for her as the Gymbacks put up their highest score of the season on the event. Sophomore Sophia Carter also set a career high with a 9.825 as junior Michaela Burton anchored the rotation with a 9.850.

Third Rotation: Alabama Floor: 49.225, Arkansas Beam: 48.750

Arkansas started strong on beam with a pair of 9.875’s from Hambrick and junior Jessica Yamzon. Arkansas was forced to count a low score on the rotation as Burton again anchored the rotation with a 9.850.

Fourth Rotation: Alabama Beam: 49.025, Arkansas Floor: 49.025

Carter garnered her fifth floor title in six meets with a 9.900 to end the meet for her fourth 9.900 or higher this season on the event. Freshman Savannah Pennese posted a 9.750 in her first appearance in the event as McGlone recorded a 9.875.

Up Next

Arkansas hits the road again to face the Auburn Tigers in Auburn, Alabama. The meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15.

Arkansas’ Brown joins sub-eight club one of few highlights at Tyson Invitational

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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FAYETTEVILLE — The Razorbacks competed near and far at Randal Tyson Indoor Track and in Seattle, Washington, at Dempsey Indoor on Friday night.

“We had some highs, I wouldn’t say we had lows, but we didn’t run to our expectations,” said associate head coach Chris Johnson. “Obviously, we traveled [last weekend] and I’m not a coach to make excuses but that’s a part of it.

“When you travel, you come back and have a short week to get ready and then you have teams coming in ready to run fast, and obviously, that’s a testament to who they are and the level of caliber of athletes that they have. We just had to go out and compete, and sometimes it doesn’t go bad, but it doesn’t necessarily go your way.

“We’ll build from that, take a look at it and see what we need to do to be better and get ready for the conference meet. I don’t think it was bad by any stretch of the imagination, the bar is really high for the times that the ladies and I have set for themselves. I think we’re very consistent, and that’s going to lead to success.”

Day one action at the Tyson Invitational was highlighted by the final of the 60-meter flat and the 60-meter hurdles as Arkansas qualified two through to the final in each.

In the 60-meters, Kiara Parker and Jada Baylark finished fourth and fifth, respectively, running times of 7.28 and 7.31 as LSU’s Kortnei Johnson grabbed the win in 7.17 – two one-hundredths slower than Parker’s season best of 7.15 she ran at the Razorback Invitational.

“Obviously, Janeek PR’d in the hurdles, which was a very big PR for her, so we now have two hurdles under eight-seconds flat so I think that’s fantastic,” said Johnson.

The 60-meter hurdle final saw its second athlete post a sub-eight time in the event as Janeek Brown turned in a huge PR of 7.95 for a second-place finish. Payton Chadwick, who ran 7.93 last season en route to the NCAA title finished eighth in 8.17.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t Payton’s day, but that happens with the territory and I’d rather have it happen here and now so we can make some corrections moving forward to the conference meet and the national meet,” Johnson finished.

Morgan Burks-Magee was the top finisher for the Razorbacks in the 400-meters, running 53.71 for a fifth-place finish while teammate Sydney Hammit turned in a top-10 finish running 54.08 for ninth-place.

Alex Byrnes continues to shave time off her personal-best in the 800-meters meet after meet, finishing the Tyson Invitational with a lifetime-best of 2:06.85 for third-place.

Kelsey Herman pieced together a series of jumps that ended with a days best of 5.96m (19-6.75) for fifth-place.

On the west coast at the Husky Classic, the Arkansas distance crew laid down PR after PR after PR. Lauren Gregory and Taylor Werner led the way in the 3,000-meter with their personal-best times of 8:55.97 and 8:56.97 that finished fourth and fifth overall. Devin Clark (9:20.59) and Sydney Brown (9:27.05) also notched personal-best times in the 3K Friday night.

Arkansas will return to Randal Tyson for day two of the Tyson Invitational tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m.

Nick Saban not most powerful man in college football anymore … Tom Mars is

Andy Hodges
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The kangaroo court in Indianapolis that has wallowed around in its own hypocrisy for decades has apparently just finally shrugged and put the rulebook in the bottom desk drawer.

Some say the NCAA has been there for years.

But Friday’s ruling that Ohio State can put former Georgia quarterback Justin Fields on the field this coming season is maybe the most laughably hypocritical move the NCAA has ever made.

Seriously, 14 months ago Fields was in high school and now he’s on his second big-time college. The former five-star recruit couldn’t beat out Jake Fromm with the Bulldogs so now, well, he’s going to try his luck with the Buckeyes.

Before you jump into never-never land, there is no blame from this corner for Fields. He’s doing what he thinks is best for him.

All of this is just a couple of weeks after the NCAA apparently got so mad over Missouri self-reporting a tutor they put nearly a fourth of the athletic department on probation and banned them from the postseason. North Carolina did almost the same thing and got off with no penalties because it was available to everybody in Chapel Hill.

The NCAA’s punishment for the Tigers was so egregious the all-too-familiar jock-sniffer Jeff Long was aghast from his new perch in Kansas. Apparently he finally opened his eyes to the fact that sucking up to folks ain’t the way to get anything done.

It’s always better to have a good attorney who happens to be a pit bull for whoever’s paying him (and that’s not a negative from this view … that’s what you want from your lawyer). The NCAA punished Ole Miss by dragging things out for years … not the actual penalties, the overwhelming majority of those were already self-imposed.

Nick Saban isn’t the most powerful person in college football anymore … Tom Mars in Little Rock is. He’s the attorney that got six former Ole Miss players immediate eligibility and now has somehow beaten down the NCAA for Fields.

I don’t blame Mars, either.

Until just two or three years ago if you had eligibility left you had to sit out a full year before you could get onto the field in a game. Ask former Razorback and current UA Board of Trustee member Steve Cox. He started at Tulsa, transferred to Fayetteville, sat out a year and finally got to play.

If the NCAA made an exception to that rule, I don’t recall it.

At least the rule originally was an attempt to allow players at a school that was hit with penalties to get away from all of that.

The NCAA changed the rules last spring to make it easier for transferring athletes to find an immediate path to the playing field. Now a player can be granted a waiver to play immediately if he can show “documented mitigation circumstances” that the change of schools was made to better impact his “health, safety and well-being.”

Apparently Mars can show those circumstances better than anybody else these days.

Part of this is because the NCAA’s track record in court is miserable. Maybe they should pay a bigger portion of the millions they pay the top guy to better lawyers.

Now I’m not a lawyer, but I’ve been around long enough to know that “documented mitigation circumstances” opens the gate and “health, safety and well-being” widens it enough to turn a semi around in a complete circle.

There’s no way of knowing what Mars is charging for this immediately-eligible legal work. If his law firm is doing all of this pro bono, well, that would be interesting. No, I’m not setting anyone up for a punch line there.

But who IS paying the legal bill for this stuff if it’s not being done pro bono? Are these players coming up with the money on their own and is it really that inexpensive to get done?

And I’m assuming the schools receiving the transfer player wouldn’t be allowed to pay the legal fees.

That assumes, of course, there’s actually a rule left that prohibits that. Assuming there ever was one in place to handle something that didn’t exist until a little over a year ago.

But it is an interesting question.

Cronin, Kjerstad, Martin all named to watch list for ‘Golden Spikes’ award

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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DURHAM, N.C. — Sophomores Heston Kjerstad and Casey Martin, as well as junior reliever Matt Cronin were among 55 players on the 2019 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award watch list this week.

The award is presented to the top amateur player in the country.

All three Razorbacks were recently named to the Preseason All-SEC First Team and have each been named to numerous preseason All-America teams. Arkansas leads all schools on the preseason watch list with three selections, while Auburn, Baylor, Elon, Florida, Florida State, NC State, Oregon State, Stanford and UCLA each boast a pair of athletes represented as well.

As a conference, the SEC leads the way with 13 representatives, while the Pac-12 Conference garnered 10 selections, the Atlantic Coast Conference claims nine and the Big 12 Conference has five.

Just four years ago, former Razorback Andrew Benintendi won the 38th Golden Spikes Award, joining Philip Stidham as the second Razorback to ever be named a finalist for the prestigious award.

After winning the 2018 SEC Freshman of the Year award, Kjerstad comes into his sophomore season as one of the most highly touted players in the nation. Kjerstad was named a freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA, while also making the All-SEC Second Team and the SEC All-Freshman Team.

The Amarillo, Texas native started all 69 games for the Hogs in left field and finished second on the team with a .332 batting average, while leading with 87 hits, 14 home runs and 58 RBIs. His hit total, home runs and RBIs were all Arkansas freshman records.

As for Martin, he practically matched Kjerstad’s numbers as he led the team with a .345 average, an average that also led all freshmen in the SEC. He was named to the All-SEC Second Team and SEC All-Freshman Team at the end of the regular season and was tabbed a freshman All-American by the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper as well.

Martin was a key part in Arkansas’ run to their ninth College World Series appearance last year as he led all Razorbacks with a .352 batting average in the NCAA Tournament, including a .357 clip in the CWS. He totaled 10 of his 19 postseason hits in Omaha and made the CWS All-Tournament Team.

On the mound, Cronin returns as one of the top relievers in the nation after setting a UA single-season record with 14 saves. The save total tied for the second-most in the SEC and was the 14th most in the nation.

Over his 48.1 innings, Cronin struck out 59 batters, which was the sixth-most on the staff and he held opponents to a .154 batting average, which was the lowest on the team for the second-consecutive season.

USA Baseball will announce the finalists on May 29 and fan voting will open at GoldenSpikesAward.com concurrently and will remain open through June 10.

The winner of the 42nd Golden Spikes Award will be named on June 14.

Arkansas will open the 2019 season against Eastern Illinois on Feb. 15 at Baum Stadium.

Neighbors won’t be watching any film of surprising loss at LSU

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors previewed Sunday afternoon’s matchup with Auburn at Bud Walton Arena, but won’t be looking at the loss to the Tigers on Thursday night.

Haff, three teammates named to ‘Softball America’ Top 100 softball players

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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DURHAM, N.C. — With the start of the 2019 season on the horizon, four Razorbacks find themselves on Softball America’s Top 100 Player Ranking: sophomores Mary Haff, Hannah McEwen and transfer Danielle Gibson, and junior transfer Ryan Jackson.

Haff was the highest ranked player for Arkansas, coming in at number 18. The sophomore recently earned a spot on the All-SEC Preseason team and was listed as part of USA Softball’s Top-50 Watch List for Player of the Year.

The honor is added to Haff’s already impressive list of awards, which include Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year Top-Three Finalist, NFCA All-South Region Second Team, SEC All-Tournament Team, All-SEC Second Team, SEC All-Freshman Team and three-time SEC Freshman of the Week.

Coming in at number 40, McEwen was only one of three players to start all 59 games of the 2018 season. McEwen led Arkansas in multiple offensive categories, including batting average, on base percentage, runs scored, RBI and hits. McEwen’s 57 RBI set a new Razorback single-season record.

Already garnering recognition in the cardinal and white, Arizona State transfer Gibson shined as a freshman for the Sun Devils. She had 16 multi-hit games, including two games in which she recorded multiple home runs.

After a stellar freshman season, Gibson was one of three freshmen to be named to the All-PAC-12 First Team in 2018, in addition to be named to the All-PAC-12 Freshman team.

Rounding out the Razorbacks in the ranks, Jackson begins her first season at Arkansas after playing her first two years at Bethune-Cookman.

As a two-time MEAC Player of the Year,  Jackson led the league in on-base percentage (.467), RBI (50), runs scored (54), total bases (127) and home runs (17) as a sophomore. Her 17 dingers stands as a single-season record at Bethune-Cookman.

Connor would be better off sticking with baseball for Razorbacks

Nate Olson
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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.

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