Tye and Tommy talk news regarding Arkansas basketball and lay out their beefs on a What’s Your Beef Wednesday!
Guests: Richard Davenport!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 6-10-26
McElvain, Kozeal and Dietz earn NCBWA All-America honors for Arkansas
Three Arkansas baseball players walked away with national recognition Wednesday when the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association released its All-America teams for the 2026 season.
Shortstop Camden Kozeal and starting pitcher Hunter Dietz each pulled down third-team honors, while relief pitcher Ethan McElvain stepped up a rung to claim a second-team spot.
The three picks push the Hogs to 41 All-America selections in program history and mark the 40th, 41st and 42nd honorees of the Dave Van Horn era dating to 2003.
The class also adds to the growing totals for two key staff members.
McElvain and Dietz become the 11th and 12th pitchers to earn the honor under pitching coach Matt Hobbs, who’s been on staff since 2019.
Kozeal, meanwhile, is the 12th hitter to land All-America recognition under hitting coach Nate Thompson, who joined the program in 2018.
McElvain’s dominant bullpen run
McElvain was about as tough to beat as any reliever in the country this year.
The left-hander went 6-0 with a 1.03 ERA and six saves across 19 relief appearances covering 35.0 innings.
He struck out 52 batters while holding opposing hitters to a .163 average, allowing just 21 hits, 10 walks and four total runs.
Two outings stand out as his best of the regular season. He fanned seven across three scoreless frames in relief at Kentucky on May 15, then came back to throw a season-long 4.1 innings of shutout ball with six strikeouts against Auburn in the SEC Tournament on May 23.
His final appearance came in a start against Kansas on May 31 in the NCAA Lawrence Regional, where he allowed four runs in 3.1 innings.
That bumped his final numbers to a 6-0 record, a 1.88 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 38.1 innings.
The NCBWA had already named him one of 14 finalists for the Stopper of the Year Award, which goes to the nation’s top relief pitcher.
The league’s 16 head coaches also gave him All-SEC recognition.
Kozeal’s historic offensive season
Kozeal was the engine that drove the Razorback lineup all year long.
The shortstop posted a .318/.410/.653 slash line with 20 home runs and 71 RBI in 62 games, pacing the team in batting average, runs scored (59), base hits (78), doubles (18), triples (2), total bases (160) and slugging percentage.
His 20 home runs put him in select company in program history. He finished tied for fourth on Arkansas’s single-season home run list alongside Chad Spanberger, Andrew Benintendi and Rodney Nye, a list that includes some of the best hitters ever to wear a Razorback uniform.
Dietz’s breakout after injury battles
Dietz’s path to All-America status wasn’t a straight line. Injuries limited his impact as a true freshman in 2024 and again as a redshirt freshman in 2025.
But the left-hander from Trinity, Florida, broke through in a big way this season, finishing with a 7-4 record, 3.57 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 85.2 innings over 16 starts.
His 131 punchouts place him fourth on the program’s single-season strikeout list, and his 47 strikeouts looking led the SEC.
He also led the conference with nine quality starts and became the first SEC pitcher to crack the 100-strikeout mark on the season.
The league’s head coaches honored him with All-SEC recognition as well, and he’s a semifinalist for both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy.
Acuff Jr. earns NBA Draft green room invite ahead of June 23 draft
The path from Fayetteville to Brooklyn is starting to take shape for Darius Acuff Jr.
The former Arkansas point guard has been invited to the NBA Draft Green Room, joining a select group of top prospects who’ll be seated near the podium when the draft kicks off June 23 in Brooklyn, New York.
The event runs June 23 and 24.
The Green Room is where the most coveted names in any draft class wait to hear their futures called out loud.
It’s an invite-only setup, and making the cut signals where a player stands in the eyes of the NBA.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Woo, Acuff is one of 14 draft-eligible players extended an invitation so far.
First wave of 2026 draft green room invites went out today, per sources:
AJ Dybantsa
Darryn Peterson
Cam Boozer
Caleb Wilson
Keaton Wagler
Mikel Brown Jr.
Darius Acuff Jr.
Aday Mara
Karim Lopez
Kingston Flemings
Nate Ament
Brayden Burries
Christian Anderson Jr.
Labaron Philon— Jeremy Woo (@JeremyWoo) June 9, 2026
He’s in the company of AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Caleb Wilson (North Carolina), Keaton Wagler (Illinois), Mikel Brown (Louisville), Kingston Flemings (Houston), Nate Ament (Tennessee), Aday Mara (Michigan), Brayden Burries (Arizona), Karim Lopez (Mexico), Labaron Philon (Alabama) and Christian Anderson (Texas Tech).
The Detroit native is widely projected to land somewhere between picks five and seven, making him a near-certain lottery selection.
That would end the brief gap in John Calipari’s run of producing first-round picks — a streak that didn’t carry over from his previous program last draft cycle but is set to resume in Brooklyn.
Acuff’s one season in Fayetteville was historic. He earned both SEC Player of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year honors while breaking multiple program records during his lone campaign with the Hogs.
He won’t be the only former Razorback with pro dreams riding on draft night.
Meleek Thomas has been tracking as a late first-round prospect while Trevon Brazile has floated around the middle of the second round in most mock draft projections.
Three former Arkansas players hearing their names called across two nights in Brooklyn would be a meaningful moment for the program.
Acuff’s green room invite, though, puts him in a category of his own heading into draft week.
Arkansas Diamonds coach Bones Bagaunte on last road trip this weekend
After being away from the friendly confines of Bank OZK Arena in Hot Springs, this weekend’s game in Monroe will be closer but then they return home in Arena League games.
Silverfield inherits Razorback football’s biggest rebuilding challenge in years
Here’s where Arkansas football stands heading into 2026: Dead last.
Sixteen teams in the SEC and the Hogs sit at the bottom of On3’s preseason power rankings by Chris Low, right where you’d expect a program that’s lost 10 straight conference games to land.
Welcome to the rebuild, Razorback fans. I know you never thought it was something you’d ever see. There will still be some folks at SEC Media Days next month that don’t have the Hogs there, but don’t be surprised that most will.
Ryan Silverfield left Memphis after 10 seasons, six of those as head coach, knowing full well what he was walking into in Fayetteville. He’s a proven winner at the Group of Five level, and that may or may not count for something.
What’s waiting for him in the SEC, though, is a completely different animal, and the power rankings make that abundantly clear.
The first order of business is simple enough to say and nearly impossible to do to win an SEC game.
Arkansas hasn’t beaten a conference opponent in 10 tries, a streak that shows the program’s collapse better than any statistic could. Don’t bring up the close misses or any other excuses.
The Hogs went 2-10 last season, and the primary reason was a defense that finished 129th nationally in scoring defense, surrendering 33.8 points per game.
That’s not a defense. That’s a revolving door.
Silverfield’s portal-heavy makeover
To patch the holes, Silverfield did what every new coach in this era does by hitting the transfer portal hard. The Hogs brought in 64 new players total, 41 of them transfers, which means this roster looks almost nothing like the one that stumbled to a 2-10 finish.
On defense, the key additions are linebacker Khmori House from North Carolina, cornerback Jahiem Johnson from Tulane and safety Christian Harrison from Cincinnati.
It’s an ambitious haul, and it addresses the areas that hurt Arkansas most a year ago.
The crown jewel of the offseason, though, wasn’t a portal addition at all.
Retaining second-team All-SEC defensive end Quincy Rhodes Jr. was massive for a program desperately trying to establish some continuity.
Keeping a player of his caliber from hitting the portal himself was as important as any recruit Silverfield brought in, and it gives the defense an established anchor heading into what figures to be a rough season.
Still, 64 new players means 64 players who haven’t proven they can win together in the SEC. Chemistry doesn’t ship overnight.
Roster volume and roster quality are two different conversations, and the league Arkansas is playing in doesn’t grade on a curve.
The neighborhood isn’t getting any easier
The rest of the SEC isn’t exactly standing still while the Hogs sort themselves out.
Texas sits atop the rankings with Arch Manning entering his second year as starter and a roster that Steve Sarkisian said was the first time he’s had top-level talent across the board, position by position on both sides of the ball.
Manning could be the top pick in the 2027 NFL Draft, and the Longhorns added Cam Coleman from Auburn as the top-ranked receiver in the portal.
Georgia brings back 14 players who were at least part-time starters, including quarterback Gunner Stockton and four of his five offensive linemen.
Ole Miss returns the premier quarterback-running back combo in college football — Trinidad Chambliss and Kewan Lacy — who combined for 54 touchdowns last season.
Oklahoma has 14 starters back from a playoff team. The league is genuinely deep this year, which is exactly the wrong time for a rebuilding program to be finding its footing.
Even teams ranked below the elite tier aren’t easy outs. Tennessee overhauled its defensive staff and brought in veteran coordinator Jim Knowles.
Florida hired Jon Sumrall and landed an offensive coordinator in Buster Faulkner who has a running back, Jadan Baugh, capable of carrying an offense. South Carolina has LaNorris Sellers and Dylan Stewart as foundational pieces and returns four of its top six tacklers.
There’s no shortcut here
Silverfield isn’t naive about the situation. He knows a program that’s given up this much ground in the SEC doesn’t turn it around in one offseason, no matter how many portal additions you make.
The defense has to improve dramatically just to be respectable, and the offense needs to manufacture something functional while everybody on the roster learns how to play together.
The Razorbacks are at the bottom of the SEC power rankings because that’s where the evidence puts them.
Getting off the bottom starts with winning one league game — just one — and building from there.
It won’t be pretty. But it has to start somewhere.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: 6-9-26
Tye and Tommy talk fishin’, debate more on the Sorsby saga in Lubbock, and tthe questionable officiating in last night’s NBA Finals Game 3.
Guests: Bruce Stanton and Tom Murphy!
Democrat-Gazette’s Tom Murphy on new problems facing college sports
Has it been too much too fast for college football fans in the past few years with Brendan Sorsby’s gambling issues being latest crazy ruling from a court.
Four-star WR Jabari Watkins commits to Arkansas over Georgia, FSU and Texas A&M
Arkansas’ recruiting class of 2027 picked up a major addition Monday when four-star wide receiver Jabari Watkins announced his commitment to the Razorbacks following an official visit to Fayetteville over the weekend.
Watkins, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound pass catcher out of Thomas County Central High School in Thomasville, Georgia, didn’t waste much time making his choice after wrapping up his trip to campus.
He becomes the 15th player to pledge to the 2027 class and the second commitment Arkansas picked up Monday afternoon.
The pickup carries real weight in the class. Watkins checks in at No. 285 overall in the Rivals300 rankings and ranks as the 25th-best wide receiver in the country per Rivals, making him the highest-rated prospect the Hogs have landed in this cycle.
Arkansas won out over a deep offer list that includes Georgia, Florida State, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Louisville and others.
Watkins had an official visit to Louisville set for the following weekend before choosing Fayetteville instead.
He chose family feel over the field of options
“It’s basically like a family,” Watkins said. “The first time I came up here, I just loved it. Now I’m up here again and it feels like it’s home.”
That comfort level traces back to first-year wide receivers coach Larry Smith, who led the recruitment from the start. Rivals analyst Chad Simmons said Smith has played a major role in Arkansas’ rise on the recruiting trail this spring.
Watkins made clear the player-to-player feedback on Smith sealed a lot of it.
“Coach Smith, he’s a great coach,” he said. “The players were telling me that he’s going to be on you every day, like hard. He’s going to make you a better player.”
It’s worth noting Watkins wasn’t a stranger to the recruiting process.
He’d previously been committed to Nebraska before landing elsewhere, with the decommitment stemming from what Watkins described as the coaching staff “just stopped texting” him.
That experience made the personal connection he found in Fayetteville stand out even more.
On the field, Watkins backed up his ranking with a standout senior season. He hauled in 55 catches for 847 yards and 11 touchdowns while helping Thomas County Central post a perfect 15-0 record and win a state championship.
Razorbacks building momentum through official visit weekends
Arkansas hosted 15 official visitors over the same weekend, the second of four consecutive official visit weekends on The Hill under coach Ryan Silverfield.
The recruiting calendar has been working in the program’s favor, with the class taking real shape through the spring.
Watkins joins a 2027 group that now includes pledges at multiple positions across both sides of the ball.
The class has offensive linemen Bradley Sturdivant of Sheridan, Odaefe Oruru of Jenks (Okla.), Henry Frazier of Rogers and Teagan Parizek of Hendersonville (Tenn.), along with cornerback Zy’Corius Huzzie of LaGrange (Ga.), linebacker Will Caston of Fayetteville, defensive linemen Eli Thornton of Valley View and James Stewart of Murfreesboro (Tenn.), running back Jeremiah Dent of Marion, wide receiver Darion Moseley of Alabaster (Ala.), tight end Parker Keenan of Hendersonville (Tenn.), edge rusher Keith Richmond of Clay-Chalkville (Ala.) and specialists Rocco DePrima and Declan Hamm.
Ole Miss held a serious offer with Watkins, but the Rebs couldn’t close once the official visit to Fayetteville was on the books.
With the highest-rated commit in the class now on board and three more official visit weekends ahead, the Hogs probably like their position heading into the summer recruiting stretch.
