Arkansas Razorbacks News - As the Coaching Carousel Spins

Nothing is official as of right now, but there is an awful lot of smoke that Robb Smith is heading to Minnesota to help row the boat with P.J. Fleck. So where does that leave Arkansas? Rumor is that the position could be filled internally by promoting Paul Rhoads from the secondary coach spot. Rhoads did a solid job with his group last year, especially with the emergence of guys like Ryan Pulley and Santos Ramirez so the move makes sense. The link also names Maurice Linguist as a possible new defensive backs coach. Linguist is a young guy, only 32, who coached at Mississippi State last year.

Coaching changes can always have an impact on recruiting, but it seems like the departure of Smith won’t have a big recruiting impact on the Hogs. A handful of commits including Montaric Brown all said that the departure doesn’t affect their status with the Razorbacks.

Less than 24 hours after the National Championship game and we already have power rankings for next year. That’s just how life in the offseason works these days. ESPN hasn’t shaken up the SEC very much, and the Razorbacks fall in the middle of the pack just like they did at the end of the 2016 campaign.

If that wasn’t enough to get you thinking about 2017 then here is a preview solely Arkansas related. If you agree with these picks then 2017 is going to be close to an exact copy of this season, just without the second half collapse to Missouri. The first 11 games in this prediction mirror what the Hogs did in 2016.

Basketball is back in Bud Walton tonight to get the taste of the Kentucky game out. Arkansas starts a much more forgiving stretch of their schedule with a home game with Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are improved from their last couple of very forgettable seasons but are very young, with eight freshman on the team. Their last game was their first true road game of the year, and was also their most impressive, a 17 point win over LSU.