Ben Hicks Announces Transfer to Arkansas

Arkansas looks to have their grad transfer for the 2019 season, and it will be a reunion. Former SMU quarterback Ben Hicks announced via Twitter that he will play his final season of college football in Fayetteville, reuniting with his former head coach Chad Morris.

Hicks played under Morris in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, and just finished his redshirt junior campaign under Sonny Dykes. In those three years, SMU went 5-7 and 7-5 in the regular seasons under Morris, and just finished a 5-7 season under Dykes.

2017 was the biggest year for Hicks. He threw for 3,569 yards and 33 touchdowns alongside 12 interceptions. He had three main targets, all of them had over 800 yards on the year and was led by Courtland Sutton, now with the Denver Broncos.

In 2018, he had fewer attempts but the numbers went down across the board. He completed 55% of his passes for 2,582 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions. His 6.9 yards per attempt last season was his lowest in three years at SMU.

Coming out of High School, Hicks was a three-star by 247 Sports and rated as the 28th ranked pro style quarterback, Ty Storey was the ninth ranked Pro-QB in that class. The Waco, TX native chose SMU over Houston and Texas Tech.

Arkansas gets what in all likelihood is their starting QB for the upcoming season. Because the decision was made now he will be able to take part in the spring semester as well as spring practice.

With his current familiarity with Chad Morris and his offense there really doesn’t seem to be much doubt he will start in 2019. Ty Storey is in the transfer portal and exploring his options, Connor Noland will be playing baseball in the spring, and incoming freshman KJ Jefferson was not able to enroll early. That leaves the door wide open for Hicks, who will look to make the most out of his one season in SEC football.