Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
New Hogs happy to rep LR district
Wednesday was monumental for Little Rock Parkview quarterback Landon Rogers and tight end Erin Outley as they signed with the University of Arkansas, but it was also a big day for the Little Rock School District.
Outley and Rogers celebrated becoming Razorbacks at a signing ceremony at the Keith Jackson training facility.
“It means more than you know,” Rogers said. “To be able to be able to play at the next level, it’s nothing but God himself.”
Rogers, 6-4, 215 pounds, picked the Hogs over scholarship offers from Kansas, Houston, Louisiana-Lafayette, Coastal Carolina and others.
As a senior, he completed 92 of 150 passes for 1,247 yards, 6 touchdowns and had
“But really, really happy that there was no drama. It seems like every year at this point there’s a lot of leaving and coming and that didn’t happen to us, so really grateful for that.”
Arkansas had two signees among the ESPN 300 in Green of Tulsa Union at No. 188 and Jackson of Royse City, Texas, at No. 219.
The Razorbacks landed their biggest crop of talent in December since the early signing period came into existence four years ago, though Pittman said the staff has four more scholarships available.
The class features 12 offensive players, nine defensive players and Cameron Little, a kicker and punter from Moore, Okla., who is rated as the No. 1 kicker in the nation by 247Sports.
Arkansas ranked eighth in the SEC in the 247Sports composites behind the classes for No. 1 Alabama, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Georgia, No. 8 Florida, No. 14 Texas A&M, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 18 Ole Miss.
Among the high school signees, the class features six from Oklahoma, five from Texas, four from Arkansas, three from Georgia, and one each from Louisiana, Florida and Missouri.
The Arkansas-based signees are tight end Erin Outley and quarterback Landon Rogers of Little Rock Parkview, linebacker Marco Avant of Jonesboro and offensive lineman Terry Wells of Wynne. Outley is the No. 19 rated tight end in the country by ESPN
“I don’t know that we offered a whole lot more than that,” Pittman said. “Certainly you want to get a lot of kids in your own state. I believe that the Razorback means something to them. We did not get every kid in the state that we offered, even though we would have liked to, but we were not able to lock down the state totally.”
The Razorbacks received signing day announcements from 6-3, 310-pound defensive lineman Jalen Williams of Jones County (Miss.) College, the nation’s No. 1 ranked junior-college defensive tackle by ESPN, and Cameron Ball, a 6-5, 300-pounder from Atlanta. The Razorbacks missed out on junior-college linebacker Navonteque Strong, who signed with LSU.
Williams held offers from Georgia, Florida State, Ole Miss and other Power 5 schools.
He is one of 10 signees expected to enroll next semester and be in position to go through spring drills on campus. The others are offensive skill standouts Coley, Hunt, Jackson and Sanders; the kicker Little; linebackers Avant and Chris Paul. of Cordele, Ga.; and defensive backs Jayden Johnson of Cedartown, Ga., and Jermaine Hamilton-Jordan of Kansas City, Mo.
Hamilton- Jordan had a message for Razorback fans on Twitter on Wednesday, writing, “Y’all getting a dog outta me” with a Razorback head included.
In a twist from year’s past, the Arkansas signees recorded short videos that the UA football recruiting team released on social media platforms.
“I’m coming to the Hill,” said Ball, who announced his signing in a streaming news conference on Wednesday morning. “I’ve got a great relationship with the coaching staff. I love how Coach Pittman has turned this program around, and I want to be a part of that. I’m excited to get onto the Hill, and I’m excited just to be a Razorback.”
Said Sanders: “I’m ready to become a Hog. I’m ready to put that work in. My goal is to win the national championship when I get there.”
Green posted this message to his Twitter account: “For my Hog Nation… you’re about to witness everything I have in me being put into this program and family. #PittCrew21 #WPS”
He also said on his signing day video, “To all the other commits, we already know what we’re coming here for. We’re not trying to disappoint, trying to put this work in, trying to get to the top.”
Pittman and his staff decided to sign two quarterbacks, as nine-game starter Feleipe Franks and reserve Jack Lindsey are both seniors, though either could return in 2021 after the NCAA allowed an extra year of eligibility to all players based on the coronavirus pandemic.
Pittman said he likes both dual-threat quarterback signees in the 6-4, 215-pound Rogers and the 6-2, 207-pound Coley.
“Landon Rogers, obviously here in the state, very big, very athletic,” Pittman said. “I think he’s a guy that would really fit into what we’re doing offensively. He has a very strong arm. I think he’s still developing. I think he can become much better than he is right now. But he can run. He’s got really good speed, and he’s a physical guy.
“Lucas Coley is certainly a guy that’s a run and pass threat as well. Not quite as big as Landon. But he’s played good ball there in Texas and had a lot of success. Very smart.
“We felt like we needed two quarterbacks in this class. That was one of the things we started the whole needs with a long time ago. And Coach [Kendal] Briles was able to get those guys to come here.”
The Razorbacks added five defensive backs, several of them versatile enough to play any of the positions in the defensive backfield.
Joining Johnson and Hamilton-Jordan are Chase Lowrey of Frisco, Texas, and Keuan Parker of Tulsa.
“You look at the DBs, we signed [four] of them,” Pittman said. “So obviously, with Barry, our system runs three safeties back there, two corners. So we wanted to go heavy at that position. We got some really good safeties in that group.
“And then Keuan Parker has great speed, the kid out of Booker T., and Chase Lowery is an athletic guy that can help us in punt returning as well as at corner or possibly safety. Then Jermaine Hamilton-Jordan is a guy that can play a nickel all the way back to a safety position for us.”
The Razorbacks signed three offensive linemen and three defensive linemen, but the Razorbacks don’t intend to hold pat at those positions.
“We still have some scholarships available, and I think we still need at least one more D-lineman, preferably maybe a pass-rushing defensive end,” Pittman said. “And at least one more offensive lineman. If I had my druthers, I’d like to go two and two on both sides.
“As of right now, the thoughts are going big and going on both sides of the ball. But obviously we would take other positions of need if somebody gets in the transfer portal that we think could help us.”