By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas added Ashdown four-star tight end Shamar Easter to its Class of 2023 on Wednesday.

Arkansas' Sam Pittman was pleased with the class with 20 from high school and 10 from the transfer portal.

"Of that group, we signed a total of four wideouts, two tight ends, two quarterbacks, a running back and four o-linemen, and that makes us 13 on offense," Pittman said. "Seventeen on defense with five d-linemen, four linebackers and eight DB's. Twelve high school kids are here, eight of them are going to graduate in May and be here in June, of those 20. Ten transfers and they're all here.

"Portal-wise, to this point we've gone three wide receivers, a running back, a linebacker, two DBs and two d-linemen. So, really excited about where we are. Change certainly can be looked at however you like, but I like to look at it as we tried to change getting better. I believe that's what we've done."

Inside the state, Arkansas signed just four recruits if one counts former Morrilton quarterback Jacolby Criswell an in-state recruit. He transferred to Arkansas from North Carolina. Arkansas also added Easter, North Little Rock edge Quincy Rhodes Jr., 6-7, 263, and Bentonville offensive lineman Joey Su'a. The Hogs got every in-state recruit they offered.

"Well, our number one goal each year is to keep everyone that we've offered in the state," Pittman said. "We've done that pretty well. I think we lost one maybe a year ago or two years ago, but our high school coaches in the state are tremendous to us.

"We want to be good to them, as well, but guys, I just feel like when the fourth quarter comes, I think it means a lot to everybody, maybe a little bit more to a guy that's maybe been born and raised a Hog fan. We certainly have a lot in next year's class that we're looking at. It seems to be a pretty good class in the state. It means everything to us. There's a lot of people that help us. That's parents, that's public, that's coaches."

Easter had been committed to Arkansas since Aug. 13, 2021. However, when Dowell Loggains, his lead recruiter at Arkansas, left to take the offensive coordinator job at South Carolina then Easter took a visit to Columbia in mid-December. However, he solidified his pledge to Arkansas on an unofficial visit Jan. 14 when he got to spend time with Morgan Turner, the new tight ends coach. Sam Pittman talked about Easter’s signing on Wednesday.

“Well, Coach Turner did a great job — I mean, he really did — of building a relationship,” Pittman said. “I think Shamar wanted to come to Arkansas. You’d have to ask him, (but) I think he wanted to come to Arkansas for a long, long time. Any time there’s change, sometimes there becomes panic in it. Obviously recruiters will tell you, ‘You need to go visit here, you need to visit there.’ If you trust those people, then you do.

“But certainly Arkansas and Coach Turner… Coach Turner’s got a way about him. Obviously he’s got a lot of guys that went to the NFL, so he had that, but as a person, knowledge, coach, he’s really, really good and I think Shamar thought once he went and visited another school and came back, I think he thought he could benefit staying at home a little bit more.”

The Hogs now have 76 scholarship players leaving nine open spots under the 85 limit. The transfer portal will open again April 15-30. Pittman talked about remaining needs.

 "Well, as you know, there's 85 scholarships and we're at 76," Pittman said. "Once you get to 76, if you look at it as an NFL pattern, they're at 53 and they seem to be able to get pretty good players out there. So, I think right now would be the best players available. I'm talking about scholarship-wise, in other words, I'm not saying necessarily the necessity at the position; I'm talking about the number of people at the position.

"We could use another bigger guy inside on the d-line. We did, because of numbers. Linebacker, might need another one because of numbers. Secondary, we've signed eight to this point and we certainly would entertain others there. I'd like to look at another guy that can snap the ball, offensively. We've got to find maybe one more. In losing guys last year, a bunch of those guys could snap. Obviously Ricky (Stromberg) played center, but Jones could snap. And so, we've got to continue to look at that on offense. I think we've probably got enough running backs. Wide receivers, we may be full there as well, but we'd certainly take a dynamic one. Tight end, we might need an older tight end. I don't know number-wise that we do. And then quarterbacks, we've got enough quarterbacks at this point. So I think that's where we'd go. I don't know if that answered your question, but that's where we'd look at."

Overall, Pittman likes how the class came together for him and the staff.

"I really do," Pittman said. "I really like this class. Now eight of them are not here. And I’m talking about the high school guys. And I like the college guys too. But the high school kids, this is as good of a … I’m talking about work ethic, non-needy, class. It’s only 12 now. You’ll have to ask me again when the other eight get here. But just a group that wants to work. I really really like this. They’re a mature group of guys."

Arkansas' High School Signees

*Malachi Singleton, QB, 6-1, 225, Kennesaw (Ga.) North Cobb

Isaiah Augustave, RB, 6-2, 195, Naples (Fla.)

Davion Dozier, WR, 6-4, 195, Moody (Ala.)

*Luke Hasz, TE, 6-3, 245, Bixby (Okla.)

Shamar Easter, TE, 6-5, 225, Ashdown

*Luke Brown, OL, 6-5, 315, Paris (Tenn.) Henry County

*Paris Patterson, OL, 6-6, 345, East St. Louis (Ill.)

*Joey Su'a, OL, 6-4, 320, Bentonville

Ian Geffrard, DL, 6-6, 350, Mableton (Ga.) Whitefield Academy

Kaleb James, DL, 6-4, 265, Mansfield (Texas)

Quincy Rhodes, Edge, 6-7, 263, North Little Rock

Alex Sanford, LB, 6-3, 240, Oxford (Miss.)

*Carson Dean, LB, 6-4, 235, Carrollton (Texas) Hebron

*Brad Spence, LB, 6-2, 228, Houston (Texas) Klein Forest

*RJ Johnson, CB, 6-3, 180, McDonough (Ga.) Eagles Landing Christian Academy

*Jaylon Braxton, CB, 6-0, 170, Frisco (Texas) Lone Star

*Dallas Young, CB, 6-0, 185, Gardendale (Ala.)

*TJ Metcalf, S, 6-1, 185, Pinson (Ala.) Pinson Valley

Christian Ford, S, 6-0, 185, McKinney (Texas)

*Dylan Hasz, 5-11, 180, Bixby (Okla.)

*Enrolled at midterm.

Arkansas’ Recruits From Portal Enrolled Now

Jacolby Criswell, QB, 6-1, 205, North Carolina

Andrew Armstrong, WR, 6-5, 189, Texas A&M-Commerce

Isaac TeSlaa, WR, 6-4, 210, Hillsdale College

Tyrone Broden, WR, 6-7, 210, Bowling Green

Joshua Braun, OL, 6-6, 335, Florida

John Morgan III, Edge, 6-2, 265, Pitt

Trajan Jeffcoat, DE, 6-4, 269, Missouri

Antonio Grier, LB, 6-1, 223, South Florida

Lorando Johnson, CB, 6-0, 193, Baylor

Alfahiym Walcott, S, 6-2, 220, Baylor