ADVERTISEMENT

Hoops Complete coverage of Arkansas' 85-72 win over Abilene Christian

I know some of y'all have complained about all of the sticky threads. I do my best to try to clear them out every day or so, but sometimes there are really heavy news days and there's a lot of stuff that needs to be up there. However, I figured I could also maybe try to condense some of the stuff into one thread.

So here is all of my coverage from the Hogs' 85-72 win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday. I gave it football treatment, meaning I wrote more than 3,000 words across several stories. The links are below...

Pregame story - COVID-19 protocols force Musselman to miss Abilene Christian game
Recap w/ full box score, postgame interviews and highlights - No Muss, No Problem: Hogs cap non-conference play with win over ACU
More insight on how it all went down with Patrick/Muss + a timeline for Muss' return - Patrick fills in for Musselman against Abilene Christian
Notebook w/ a ton of tidbits/stats/info - Notebook: Tate's injury, the team 'anchor', Christmas break, more

(I also saw where a lot of you say you don't click on links or read stories. That saddens me. I promise y'all will enjoy the content if you just read it. There's a good chance you'll even learn something. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm pretty good at this. Lol. So I do sincerely hope y'all take the time to read all of the coverage linked above.)

Baseball Diamond Hogs sign another top 10 class

From the UA:
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas coaching staff, led by head coach Dave Van Horn, has signed another Top 10 recruiting class, inking 19 student-athletes to National Letters of Intent or as committed walk-ons.

Hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Nate Thompson led the assembly of the Razorbacks’ class that ranked inside Perfect Game’s Top 10 classes for the sixth straight year at No. 3 and checks in at No. 8 among Baseball America’s best classes. The Hogs recruiting class is comprised of 11 position players and eight pitchers hailing from 10 different states, including six from Arkansas.

Head Coach Dave Van Horn enters his 19th season at the helm for the Razorbacks in 2021 having won 700 games since his return to The Hill as the Head Hog in 2003. The Razorbacks went 11-5 in shortened 2020 season, claiming Van Horn’s 700th victory at Arkansas with a win over Grand Canyon in the team’s final game of the year.

“Our staff has put together a very athletic class with this group,” Head Coach Dave Van Horn said of the 19-man class. “Coach Thompson and Coach Hobbs went coast-to-coast to build this class, it’s a nice mixture of position players and pitchers. We signed a good combination of right-handed and left-handed hitters that can play all over the field. Adding this class to our roster will create lots of competition within our program so we’re excited to get them here.”

Brandon Arledge – LHP – 6-1 – 190 – L/L – Sheridan HS/Sheridan, Ark.

A Top 500 player nationally by Perfect Game… Tabbed as the top lefty in the state of Arkansas and 18th overall prospect in Arkansas according to Perfect Game… Prep Baseball Report ranks him as the eighth-best prospect in Arkansas and No. 1 left-handed pitcher… 2020 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American.

Braylon Bishop – OF – 6-1 – 196 – L/L – Arkansas HS/Texarkana, Ark.

Prep Baseball Report ranks him as the eighth-best recruit and second-best outfielder in the nation… Ranked as the 40th overall prospect in the nation and 10th outfielder overall by Perfect Game… The top prospect and outfielder in Arkansas according to PG and PBR… Selected to play in the 2020 Perfect Game All-American Classic and the 2020 National Showcase… 2020 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team – Southeast All-Region First Team… 2019 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team First Team… The No. 18 high school prospect in the nation according to Baseball America.

Dylan Carter – RHP – 6-2 – 195 – R/R – Crowder College/Bentonville, Ark.

Made three appearances, two starts, for Crowder College in 2020… Struck out seven in eight innings for the Roughriders… Ranked as the No. 24 player in the Class of 2019 by Prep Baseball Report coming out of Bentonville West HS… Ninth-best right-hander in the state of Arkansas in his recruiting class according to PBR… 2019 PG Preseason All-American and All-Region Team – Southeast Region Honorable Mention.

Gabe D'Arcy – OF – 6-3 – 220 – R/R – JSerra Catholic HS/San Clemente, Calif.

The 19th overall prospect from California and second-best outfielder in the Golden State according to Perfect Game… The seventh-best outfielder and No. 47 overall prospect by Prep Baseball Report… A national PG Top 500 player ranking 179th overall and 29th outfielder overall… PBR ranks him as the No. 56 outfielder prospect in the nation and 360th overall… 2020 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team – California All-Region First Team.

Kendall Diggs – IF – 6-0 – 180 – L/R – St. Thomas Aquinas HS/Olathe, Kan.

The top third baseman from Kansas and second-best prospect in the state according to Perfect Game and Prep Baseball Report… PBR ranks him the fifth-best third baseman nationally and 66th overall… A national Top 500 prospect, ranking 144th overall and the seventh-best third baseman in the nation… Selected to play in 2020 Perfect Game National Showcase… 2020 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team – Central All-Region First Team… 2019 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team – High Honorable Mention… 2018 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team – Honorable Mention.

Drew Gray – LHP/OF – 6-3 – 180 – L/L – IMG Academy/Swansea, Ill.

The top prospect in the class according to Perfect Game ranking 36th nationally and No. 1 overall in Illinois… The No. 1 outfield recruit in the state of Florida according to Prep Baseball Report… No. 4 outfielder in the nation and 14th overall recruit according to PBR… The top outfield prospect in Illinois and the ninth overall nationally on Perfect Game’s list… Selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic and 2020 National Showcase… 2020 PG Preseason Underclassmen All-American Team – Central All-Region First Team… 2019 PG Preseason Underclassmen All American Team – High Honorable Mention… 2018 PG Preseason Underclassmen All American Team – Honorable Mention… Teammate of fellow Arkansas signee Drake Varnado at IMG Academy.

Pipedream Portal Pickups

List any longshot pickups that you wish Pitt and crew would try to make. For me one would be former 5star and #1 LB recruit from the 2018 class Palaie Gaoteote who is leaving USC. 6'2 and now weighing 250lb. kid with unique athleticism. Kid has a 40-inch vertical and can do a 360 windmill dunk at 250lb. Has shown the nimbleness and change-of-direction necessary to consistently tackle quality Power-5 RBs in space. Played Will LB but I would talk to him about being an A-to-A Mike and helping off the edge also. Again, I know it is the longest of longshots but just dreaming out loud. His younger brother who is a 4star in the 2020 class just flipped from USC to Michigan State, signing with the Spartans. So I assume that is a possible landing spot for Palaie.

Login to view embedded media
Login to view embedded media

Hoops No Muss, No Problem: Hogs cap non-conference play with win over ACU (includes full box score)

Here's my recap of Arkansas' win over Abilene Christian, complete with quotes and stats + a full box score, postgame interviews and even @WarMachine2013's highlights...

Baseball 2021 SEC baseball schedule

Just heard this from our Georgia Rivals guy, who also does a great job covering baseball: "Understand still no final decisions on the 2021 baseball schedule by the SEC. Conference is taking its time, but options include having 12 SEC weekends or possibly 10 SEC weekends with four game series. Still looking for season to begin on Feb. 19 with non conference games."

Football ULM OL Samuel Williams

I posted about him in my big board notebook thread but I'm hearing the ULM OL is just waiting to get accepted to grad school here and will likely walk-on. He's an Arkansas kid and he wants to play for Sam so I think that's why the scholarship isn't very important to him. Not sure he'd be a big contributor given his PFF grades versus P5 competition but it'd be some nice experienced depth (over 1,000 snaps taken, mostly at RT). He'd have just one year to play.

ADVERTISEMENT

Filter

ADVERTISEMENT