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Is Arkansas losing two of its newest signees this week?
A few days after it was announced offensive lineman Jovan Pruitt would have to attend junior college, there are many reports stating cornerback Chris Murphy is leaving the program after enrolling early and participating in this year's spring practice.
Bielema addressed the situation today on the Bo Mattingly show:
Bielema: When Chris Murphy left after spring, he said he was coming back for the summer at least. Not sure where it’s at right now.
— Bo Mattingly (@SportsTalkwBo) May 27, 2014
Bret Bielema telling me today the Chris Murphy situation (reportedly not coming back) is "still up in the air".
— Bo Mattingly (@SportsTalkwBo) May 27, 2014
It seems as though the coaches have not yet gotten confirmation as to whether Murphy intends to come back or not. Robbie Neiswanger wrote a blog post about the situation, reporting that Bielema said this trough a spokesperson:
"We are talking to him," Bielema said through a spokesperson Tuesday. "It’s not all that uncommon to have kids think about these things. He’s deciding if Arkansas is the right fit for him. Every kid needs to be happy. We’ll work through the situation and hopefully come up with what’s best for all of us."
Perhaps the coaches can make some sort of recruiting pitch to get him to stay similar to how they convinced Damon Mitchell to stay (and yes, Mitchell wasn't thinking about transferring due to homesickness, but he was apparently thinking about transferring nonetheless), but make no mistake, it's not looking good. But it's not over yet, so we'll see how it plays out.
It should be noted, according to this article from the Marietta Daily Journal, that his main recruiter was now-former Arkansas cornerbacks coach Taver Johnson. Johnson of course left the Arkansas coaching staff after Signing Day.
Murphy is from Kennesaw, Georgia and was relatively highly recruited, holding 19 offers from several Big 5 Conference schools. It's certainly a loss the coaches don't want to suffer.
