Hogs Fans Must Fully Grasp Transfer Portal Process

Razorbacks faithful freak out, but Arkansas always wins revolving door system under Pittman

Arkansas Razorbacks tight end Luke Hasz (9) during the fourth quarter against the Western Carolina Catamounts at War Memorial Stadium. Arkansas won 56-13. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas fans are all bent out of shape about the transfer portal this week, just like they are at this point every year.

They like to pretend players aren't transferring at every school. They also ignore the fact that in a lot of cases, Sam Pittman and his staff aren't exactly begging these athletes to please not go.

The transfer portal first popped up at the end of the 2020 season. In that time, while there have been floods of transfers who left Fayetteville, only four come to mind as having done much of anything at the equivalent of an SEC school — Joe Foucha, Greg Brooks, Chris Paul and Raheim Sanders.

That's one player per season who amounted to anything that would suggest the Hogs actually lost something. Even KJ Jefferson, a record setting quarterback who floundered his final season at Arkansas, crashed and burned so bad that UCF coach Gus Malzahn found himself demoted to Florida State offensive coordinator less than a year after bringing Jefferson on board and benching him a few games in.

Meanwhile, name every impact transfer Pittman brought in over the years. The list is long.

John Ridgeway, Drew Sanders, Dwight McGlothern, Landon Jackson, Matt Landers, Xavian Sorey, Trajan Jeffcoat. Fernando Carmona, Ja'Quinden Jackson and SEC leading receiver Andrew Armstrong just to name a few. There's little reason to believe that list isn't going to keep growing with the 2025 roster.

Outside of Luke Hasz, who struggled much of the year with back issues, which player who is leaving isn't likely to be replaced by someone as good or better? The door swings both ways and the in door has brought in way more than the out door has let escape.

Sure, when the portal opens Monday, several Razorbacks are going to depart. However, like most years, Hogs fans won't even be able to remember who departed.

Instead, as has been the case literally every year, they will instead remember the steady stream of impact players Arkansas receives in return. So, instead of thinking of it as losing players, it's best to equate it to post Christmas cleaning.

Some of the old clutter has to be moved out each year to make room for all the new stuff coming in. Rarely does someone regret what got tossed in this process.

And it's unlikely Razorbacks fans will have many regrets this time around either once the roster rounds out with more shiny new toys. Just be patient for once.

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