Arkansas Recruiting News and Notes - Razorbacks Hoping To Land More Top Recruits This Summer

The Razorbacks picked up a slew of commitments in June, and that’s naturally slowed down over the last couple of weeks, but that doesn’t mean recruiting has slowed down. There still is, however, plenty of recruiting news going on.

Arkansas is still looking to add some headliners to its current class. There are 16 commitments but only one is considered a blue chip prospect, and he’s a juco tight end.

One of the nation’s top juco cornerbacks is Keisean Nixon, and he announced Sunday Arkansas was in his final four schools, along with Cal, Iowa State, and Colorado State. He’ll announce his decision August 1st.

Arkansas’ top in-state prospect is Ashdown 4-star safety Montaric Brown, and he created a bit of recruiting drama this week. Brown has offers from Alabama, LSU, Auburn and several others, and he has long planned on announcing his decision on his birthday, August 24th.

However, out of the blue on Tuesday announced on Twitter he’d be committing on Wednesday, then soon after the initial announcement on Tuesday, tweeted he would not be committing on Wednesday because he wanted his family to be more included in the process.

He says he’ll commit “at the end of the month.” Most seem to believe it will be between Arkansas and Alabama.

Chase Hayden is a big name to keep an eye on. The running back from Collierville, Tennessee recently named Arkansas his leader and just finished what recruiting reporters are calling an impressive performance at The Opening, the nation’s premier football camp held each summer in Oregon.

Hayden has a great relationship with Coach Bielema and new running back coach Reggie Mitchell, and his father - a former NFL player - is impressed with strength coach Ben Herbert. His father was also recruited by Reggie Mitchell back when he was going through the process. He ultimately chose Tennessee, and the Vols did offer Chase, but he seems to still be more interested in Arkansas.

On the basketball front, the big uncommitted in-state prospect to watch in the 2017 class is 4-star guard Khalil Garland from Little Rock. He was initially committed to Memphis but decommitted and has named Arkansas in his top 5, along with LSU, Alabama, Oregon, and Little Rock.

Arkansas has been active trying to fill the 2017 basketball class with top prospects, recently offering 4-star point guard Jay Jay Chandler and just this weekend offering 4-star power forward Garrison Brooks.

Arkansas still has two definite openings in the 2017 class. There are two commitments, but with three seniors on the roster and one open scholarship going into the season, there’s still room for two, and possibly more if any players leave early after the season.

This has nothing to do with the current recruiting class, but this is a nice feature on incoming true freshman quarterback Cole Kelley by new Arkansas beat writer Jason Kersey.