FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas has one member of the 2025 secondary returning while everyone else is from the transfer portal or high school.

The Razorbacks have three secondary coaches in Deron Wilson, Eddie Hicks and CJ Wilford. Wilson and Hicks met with the media on Monday and talked about how the coaches have broken up the duties.

"Initially, I think when you talk about the secondary, I believe it has to be one like, you know what I mean?," Wilson said. "Because the biggest thing from a secondary standpoint, is you don't want to have DBs going palms up. Typically, palms up equals busted coverages. So, as a secondary, we're one, and initially we meet together, from an install standpoint, make sure we get everything be on the same page, in the same book. And then from there, they have certain things that safeties need to hear, and Coach Wilford would meet with the safeties, and they think there are certain things that corners need to hear, like that makes sense for the safeties to listen to Coach Hicks talk about press, and they may be in press maybe 2% of the time."

Hicks was asked what it was like putting together a new unit?

"Yeah, it was very unique," Hicks said. "It was an interesting time, it was a challenge for us, which was good. We enjoy those, but just going through watching the film with the player personnel, and watching the film from the coaching staff as well, like I thought, we did a great job of evaluating the guys. First off, once they got in the portal is just getting in contact with them, and making sure they understood our vision, and educating them on the type of system we were— our defense, and how fun it'd be to play in the secondary, and how successful that they can be. So, it was a great, fun time. So, it was good."

Wilson also went into more detail on recruiting an entire new secondary.

"When you talk about evaluation, I think it's really important in a portal, in a short stint, that you're trying to figure out just not athletically, right?," Wilson said. "You're trying to figure out how their mental makeup is. Do they fit who we are as a program? And do they fit what Coach (Ryan) Silverfield's vision is, right? So, a lot of these guys, it's like forming relationships, whether it's Christian Harrison that played for Coach Hicks at Cincinnati, whether it was Ian Williams that played for Coach at Memphis, whether it's Carter Stoutmire, who initially coming out of high school, I was recruiting them, right? And the same with Braydon Lee, he was initially the first, in the past I was recruiting here. So it’s prior relationships that you already have. You take those relationships and you cultivate them. And they respect you from the past, even though they may not have picked you the first time, right? But when they get back in the portal you have that opportunity and there’s some familiarity there."

Hicks brought Harrison to Arkansas with him from Cincinnati. Harrison,6-0, 201, is a redshirt senior who also has played at Tennessee.

"Christian, even when Christian was in high school, Christian played corner in high school," Hick said. "At his first college stop he played nickel and then he played safety at the last spot. So, very smart young man and very athletic. So we knew that he could fill several roles on the team because he’s done it in the past. His film was really good in high school and at both spots in college. So he’s a great addition to us and we’re happy to have him."

Khmori House led North Carolina in tackles from his linebacker spot in 2025. He's playing some nickel as well with the Razorbacks.

"Khmori House is what we consider a jack of all trades," Wilson said. "Right? Extremely active on the football field. Great blitzer. He was playing ‘backer last year, but when you watch him cover in man-to-man situations, you would have never knew he played ‘backer. He’s a really, really good football player. A smart, instinctive. The best way I could describe him is active. You know what I mean? You could see it on film at the last place he was at. And when he blitzes how instinctive and natural he was at using his hands, defeating blocks, whether the ball is in phase or out of phase, what tool he would use. He has ‘it.’"

The one returning player in the secondary is safety Miguel Mitchell. Wilson had previously coached Mitchell at Florida.

"Yeah, Miguel played as a true freshman," Wilson said. "He was in some packages at Florida when I was there with them, which a young player, green, just kind of running around. Know your job, right? He was a one position player at that time. Now, you could take Miguel and you can put him in at all three positions. At safety, right? He could play weak safety. He could play star. He could play free, right? So the growth of Miguel has been a lot, but you could always see that he was extremely intelligent right through conversation, the questions he asked, like, this dude, he's going to be alright. But he was probably 205, at the time. He's probably like 215, 220 now. That’s another change."

Wilson also was asked how he got Mitchell to return from the transfer portal?

"System familiarity, that was one of the main things," Wilson said. "Like, you know the defense already. You played in it as a freshman and as a sophomore. You had a pretty good freshman year, being coached by Coach Wilford again, and you don't have to relearn right? When you have one year and you’re getting into the portal, like bro, you have the ability, I already know that. He knows all of the checks, like he's so far ahead of everyone else because he's been in the system, and that's one of the reasons you want them to come back. So it's like, ‘Hey, you could help us teach the rest of the room’, right? Because you have a lot of familiarity."

Arkansas will hold its fourth spring practice on Tuesday afternoon. They will hold the spring game on Saturday, April 25, at 2 p.m.