Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
WR Pettway latest Razorback to leave
Top University of Arkansas wide receiver La’Michael Pettway announced Tuesday his plan to leave the Razorbacks and play his senior season elsewhere as a graduate transfer.
“After close evaluation of my goals as an athlete & scholar I have decided not to play receiver at the University of Arkansas in the future,” Pettway wrote, in part, on his Twitter account.
“I’ll continue my pursuit of my bachelors degree here at The University & graduate-transfer out to continue my athletic career elsewhere. Nothing personal, I just have to do what’s best for my family and I. Thanks and God bless.”
Pettway, an Alabama native who played his prep ball at Nashville in Arkansas, tied tight end Cheyenne O’Grady for the team lead with 30 catches and led the Razorbacks with 499 receiving yards in 2018. Pettway caught
A second anonymous source confirmed the changes.
Three of Coach Blake Anderson’s primary offensive assistants from 2018 — offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, offensive line coach Allen Rudolph and outside wide receivers coach Chris Buckner — were fired shortly after ASU’s 16-13 loss to Nevada. ASU announced last week it refilled all three positions.
Cauthen and Early were hired by the University of Houston for the same positions Monday. Their tenures at Houston began Tuesday, Early confirmed.
ASU announced Tuesday afternoon that it has hired David Duggan as defensive coordinator. Duggan, a former Western Michigan linebackers coach and special teams coordinator from 2016-18, worked with Anderson at the University of Southern Mississippi as a linebackers coach from 2008-11, and he added the title of co-defensive coordinator in 2011.
Brandon Joiner — ASU’s first-year defensive graduate assistant and former two-year ASU defensive lineman from 2010-2011 who was named Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2011 — was elevated to defensive ends coach, which will become a new addition to ASU’s defensive coaching staff, a source confirmed.
The Red Wolves are expected to name a defensive tackles coach soon to work beside Joiner.
Trooper Taylor, a five-year defensive backs coach at ASU who was elevated to become Anderson’s assistant head coach three seasons ago, was confirmed to have accepted a job at Duke University on Tuesday.
Taylor did not immediately respond to the Democrat-Gazette’s attempts to reach him to confirm his move to become Duke’s wide receivers coach, which was first reported by FootballScoop and Fox Sports on Tuesday.
Taylor’s son, Blaise Taylor,
is a current defensive graduate assistant at Duke and was coached by his father as an ASU defensive back from 2014-2017.
Allen Johnson, the lone survivor from Anderson’s original coaching staff prior to the 2014 season, will move from safeties coach to defensive backs coach, which includes cornerbacks as he will become Taylor’s replacement.
The University of Louisville announced Tuesday it has officially hired McKenzie to become the Cardinals’ new running backs coach under Coach Scott Satterfield, who was hired away from Appalachian State University to become Louisville’s head coach in December.
ASU announced the hirings of offensive coordinator Keith Heckendorf, offensive
line coach Sean Coughlin and outside wide receivers coach Malcolm Kelly on Jan. 9, the same time the school officially announced the firings of Faulkner, Rudolph and Buckner.
All three of ASU’s new offensive assistants reported to the school Sunday. It is unclear when Duggan will report to ASU.
In December, Duggan was hired as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach by University of Massachusetts Coach Walt Bell, who was a former offensive coordinator at ASU in 2014-2015 and worked with Anderson and Duggan at Southern Miss from 2010-2011.
It is unclear who the Red Wolves will appoint as special teams coordinator or running backs coach.