FAYETTEVILLE -- One of the jewels of Arkansas' transfer portal was signing Louisiana offensive tackle Bryant Williams.
Williams, 6-7, 319, will be a senior for the Razorbacks this season. Marcus Johnson and Jeff Myers split duties on the offensive line. On Wednesday, Johnson talked about the recruiting process with Williams.
"Obviously at that time, I think the first thing that comes to everybody's mind was size when it comes to that position," Johnson said. "Obviously Bryant is a big young man, so that was the first thing that took place. Not only that, but his skill set and his ability, his length to play out on the edge was something we took notice to. I think even with him on his side of things, he knew that there was a need at tackle here at that time. He saw an opportunity for him to get out on the field, and not only get out on the field, but to compete in this league, in my opinion the highest level in college football. So I think on both sides, there was a mutual interest amongst each other. I think that was how we got the young man here."
Myers was asked if the staff had any previous history recruiting Williams?
"No," Myers said. "I guess it shocked me when we got him and his old man on campus. He had followed the Razorbacks even as a youngster. He's from Lafayette, Louisiana, and the Hogs are who he watched growing up, it wasn't LSU. So I think there was a real interest from him that went deeper than the opportunity here as well for him. But on top of all of his intangibles, he's played a lot of football too, he's got a lot of experience. I thought that was important with who we brought into that position, the immediate need.
"I think it was easy for us to talk to him on not only coming here and furthering your development at this point in his career, the next step as well, playing in the NFL. Able to show him like I had a 6-8, 6-9 tackle at Memphis last season who we had for one year, and he's looking like a Day 2 pick right now and advanced himself in a really short amount of time. So I think it was more holistic where it's like, ‘Man, you can do this in the weight room, and this fundamentally, if we clean you up, and then in our system, and how it translates to the next level.’ I think those were all big points for him that helped us."
Myers described how the duties are split up for the coaching staff.
"What we do daily is try to split it up so that it's not just me with the interior guys, Coach Johnson, with tackles, etc," Myers said. "So, I think it's important that we're touching the entire room. I think maybe on the field, I'm quicker to notice something happening on the interior. It's just a natural like, I'm focusing in the middle. I think that's where my eyes tend to go. And Coach Johnson, I feel like, just in our interaction, I feel like he notices the stuff on the edges.
"But no, it's not like Coach Johnson has the tackles. I have the interior guys. We flip back and forth. We split individual quite often, and I think for their understanding as well, they can come to both of us with questions. It's not like, 'Hey interior guys, you only go to Coach Myers, etc.' So, we try to divvy that up. Same thing in the meeting room as well."
Arkansas' spring game is set for Saturday, April 25, at 2 p.m.
