Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Heavy on the line
Among Arkansas’ 20 early signees announced Wednesday, 13 were linemen — 7 on defense and 6 on offense. “It is a line of scrimmage league,” Arkansas Coach Chad Morris (above) said of the SEC. “I think that’s an area we can have immediate improvements as far as just creating depth and competition.”
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas’ early football signing class was loaded with linemen.
Among the 20 signees announced on Wednesday were 13 linemen — 7 on defense and 6 on offense.
“We had to create some depth on both sides of the ball,” Arkansas Coach Chad Morris said. “It is a line-of-scrimmage league. I think that’s an area we can have immediate improvements as far as just creating depth and competition.”
Two Arkansas’ defensive line signees — Taurean Carter and Enoch Jackson Jr. — played alongside each other at Mansfield (Texas) High School.
“I think it’s really uncommon,” Morris said. “Enoch predominately played more inside and Taurean was more of an outside guy. We anticipate both of these guys being inside guys for us.”
Jackson was rated the No. 28 defensive tackle in the country by Rivals.com and Carter was ranked No. 30.
“Taurean is a big D-lineman that fits the needs and we can play both inside and out,” Morris said. “We anticipate him playing more inside with us. Enoch might be one of the most athletic guys that I’ve been around. To watch this guy move at his size is phenomenal.”
Two of the defensive line signees — Zach Williams and Mataio Soli — are sons of former Razorbacks.
Williams, from Joe T. Robinson and rated the No. 15 weakside defensive end by 247Sports, is the son of Rickey Williams, a first-team All-Southwest Conference linebacker in 1987.
“We had to get some length at the defensive edge to rush the passer,” Morris said. “Zach brings that. A highly recruited guy and grew up wanting to be a Hog. That means so much to us.”
Soli, from Douglasville, Ga., and rated the No. 16 weakside defensive end in the country by 247Sports, is the son of Junior Soli, a second-team All-SEC noseguard in 1995.
“Mataio’s a guy that we would have recruiting regardless if he hadn’t had the Razorback ties,” Morris said. “This guy is absolutely dynamic. He was wanted by everybody in the country.”
The other defensive line signees are Collin Clay from Oklahoma City, Eric Gregory from Memphis and Marcus Miller from Warren.
“He not only fits the bill, but everybody on social media knows he was our recruiting coordinator for the year,” Arkansas defensive ends Coach Steve Caldwell said of Clay on a video posted on the UA’s website. “Collin was on Twitter every day and got it started, ‘The new Arkansas.’
“My wife went with me to his game and she had never seen him play. She said, ‘Well, this is the one we’re looking for.’ When she can pick them out, you know we’re doing the right things.”
Arkansas defensive tackles coach John Scott said on the UA video that Miller moves well to be 6-5 and 300 pounds.
“This will be a guy that will be able to run the ball well, but he’s a sneaky deceptive pass rush about him, too,” Scott said. “He’s got quick feet and I think the sky is the limit to what he’ll be able to do.”
Junior college transfers Myron Cunningham (6-6, 300) from Iowa Central and Chibueze Nwanna (6-7, 315) from Lackawanna (Pa.) College should provide immediate help as offensive tackles.
“Myron is a great pickup for us, a great kid,” Arkansas offensive line coach Dustin Fry said on the UA video. “He’s going to come in and compete right away. We told him, ‘This ain’t a come in and see how you can do. You come ready.’ He’s got that kind of mentality.”
Fry said Nwanna’s arms are so long he can scratch the back of his calves standing up.
“He’s that long. That’s what we really need,” Fry said. “I have some kids with some length, but this is crazy length, this is NFL length. This is the type that he can put his arm out and guys can’t get to him, and that’s huge in this league because you know how long those defensive ends are.”
Freshman offensive line signees are Brady Latham from Jenks, Okla.; Beaux Limmer from Tyler, Texas; Dylan Rathcke from Baton Rouge, La.; and Ricky Stromberg from Tulsa.
“I know talking to Coach Fry, we hope not to sign six [offensive linemen] ever again,” Morris said. “We just felt like with our depth and our numbers, we had to hit some immediate needs.”
Morris said he also hopes Arkansas doesn’t have to sign seven defensive linemen in future classes.
“Somewhere on a top-end year you’re going to look at five, whether it’s three defensive ends and two inside guys, or vice versa,” Morris said. “This year I felt like [signing seven] was what we had to have moving forward to create the competition and the depth.
“When you look at the teams that have been successful in this league, the one thing they did have in common is they have a very, very dominant defensive line.”