Transfer portal set to open Monday, one Razorback set to enter

FAYETTEVILLE — The transfer portal is set to reopen on Monday for 15 days and at least one Razorback will be entering his name in it.

Sophomore running back Isaiah Augustave announced Saturday night he is entering the portal with three years left to play. Click here to see his announcement on X. Unofficially on Saturday during the Red-White Game, Augustave had seven carries for 10 yards. In 2023, Augustave carried 35 times for 202 yards and one touchdown. He also caught three passes for seven yards.

With Kolby Smith taking over for Jimmy Smith it appeared that Augustave had slipped to third on the depth chart behind Ja’Quinden Jackson and Rashod Dubinion. True freshman Braylen Russell also has had a good spring while Dominique Johnson is a steady performer as well.

Sam Pittman had said Saturday he hoped no one off the team entered the transfer portal though he knew that was unlikely.

“That’s a really good question,” Pittman said. “I want to say this first, No. 1 with the portal, we don’t want to lose any of our players. I had a talk with our team, and I said, ‘Hey, if we just don’t lose anybody that we have and don’t add anybody, we’re going to have us a fine football team.’ So the No. 1 thing is, I don’t want to lose anybody we have. … Inevitably, we’re going to [lose some players]. I hope not, but we could.

I don’t know why you’re going to leave this team. We’re a good football team. But I understand the landscape of football.”

Pittman then detailed if players do leave what the needs are with the remaining scholarships.

“Once that happens … If we don’t lose anybody, we have five scholarships available,” Pittman said. “We need to get some more help on the D-line, we need to get some more help on the offensive line, and we need to get maybe another wide receiver.

“If we just have five [scholarships], instead of going to wideout, we would go to linebacker. We need an older linebacker. I’m saying that, I’m answering your question, because it’s a good, fair question. I’m not saying we need that because we don’t have players at those positions, because I think we all believe that we do. It’s just a matter of age, depth, all of those things that go into that.”

As far as linebacker, Travis Williams, who coaches that position and is the defensive coordinator, recently was asked about the need to add another linebacker?

“Right now, I’m just focused on getting those guys better and once the portal opens, we’ll think about that,” Williams said. “See if we go into the portal, do we not go into the portal. What I do think about these guys that were freshmen, there were three freshmen last year that are getting a chance at every snap, you’re getting to see what they can do. Very pleased by where they’re at right now.”

Williams also talked about the need to balance high school and portal recruiting.

“It is different,” Williams said. “I want to recruit the guys; we want to recruit the guys that are here. That we want to keep, we don’t want lose a guy. Obviously, if somebody may leave, that’s just the nature of the beast, but we don’t want to lose a guy. Then, if we’re going to get additions to our roster, we’ve got to get them on. As soon as they hit the portal, we got to try to get them on campus first. You may want to try to go see them because it is a contact period. Then you have to get your schedule for the high school guys as far as going out doing spring recruiting.

“So, it’s a lot of moving parts, it’s a lot of moving parts and you just got to be ready to jump on a flight and do different things, but it’s part of it. You could complain about it and be a dinosaur or you could adjust. So, I plan to adjust to it.”

Williams credited Jovon Hubbard and the recruiting department for helping in this regard.

“So, Jovon Hubbard, he does a really good job with the recruiting department and we rely on them,” Williams said. “Coach Pittman has done a great job of hiring guys in that department and they already have the schedule. It’s very organized, so we know it’s very organized. There’s a lot of last-minute things because things happen at the last minute, but it’s very organized starting with what (Hubbard) does in his department. When it first happened it was like, ‘Oh, it’s a lot of moving parts and it happens fast.’ But now it’s (been) a few years and the department knows exactly what to do. We have a really good department that gets us ready for that.”

Arkansas signed 13 players from the transfer portal at midterm.