Now Spotlight Turns on Razorback Football After NBA Draft

NBA Draft out the way means all eyes can focus strictly on what Sam Pittman building

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman watches drills during practice Thursday on the outdoor field at the football center in Fayetteville, Ark. (Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The annual mid-July week of vacation for a lot of media is now less than a month away, which means we can all start making the crazy summer predictions (although we call them projections now). Get ready Sam Pittman, it's the silly season.

Pittman and nearly everybody else with the football program are focused on recruiting for the 2024 class. Don't look at the rankings because they are going to be flying up and down constantly because commits now are only verbal assurances. Nobody can sign until December and the word commitment doesn't mean what it used to mean.

Right now, everybody is all positives. None of the people on campus visits or at camps will have anything negative to say publicly. Commitments can change suddenly because the pressure turn up when a player posts on social media he's headed somewhere. There isn't a lot of honor in that part of the game.

The Razorbacks on campus are going through summer workouts. None of that involves a ball, but the skill players still get together regularly to toss the ball around. It's an underrated part of team building because that's when the personal relationships are made that can pay huge dividends in the fall. Simply boiled down, chemistry equals wins.

For Pittman, though, it's year four of a massive overhaul of what was left behind by a destructive Chad Morris. He needs more patience from fans, though. The Razorbacks are putting together a signing class that probably isn't going to launch them into the Top 10 immediately. There's always that never-ending revolving door coming and going called the transfer portal.

Usually this fourth year is when the patience of a lot of fans craving wins starts to run thin. Coaches putting together a team may get four years or more to compete for championships, but not wins.

Don't throw reasonable into this conversation, especially with the Lunatic Fringe of the Hogs' fan base. It's hard to find someone projecting less than seven or eight wins for this team. A lot of that is because of a non-conference schedule where BYU might be the biggest opponent.

Of course, that's looking at everybody last season and projecting forward. That may be a useless exercise considering how much turnover took place. Pretty much any expectation can be considered unrealistic given the circumstances. Until this team is on the field, no one knows how all the parts will fit together and perform.

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LIVE BLOG OF NBA DRAFT THURSDAY NIGHT

WHICH TEAMS LOSE SEC SPORTS IN THESE SIX SCENARIOS?

VOLS' EXIT AT COLLEGE WORLD SERIES MAKES DAY BRIGHTER FOR A LOT OF RAZORBACK FANS

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RAZORBACK BREAKDOWN: KALEB JAMES, DEFENSIVE LINEMAN

ANTHONY BLACK ZOOMING PAST NICK SMITH IN DRAFT STATUS GOOD SIGN FOR RAZORBACKS

RAZORBACK BREAKDOWN: ANTONIO GRIER, JR, LINEBACKER

RECENT TRENDS AGAINST NEW SEC TEAMS FROM BIG 12 INDICATES ARKANSAS MAY STRUGGLE

WHY THIS NBA DRAFT MEANS MUCH MORE THAN TRIP TO NEW YORK FOR ERIC MUSSELMAN

INTERVIEW SHOWS ERIC MUSSELMAN'S VALUE GOES DEEPER THAN PLAYERS, FANS CAN REALLY IMAGINE

OVER THIRD OF CENTURY OF FOOTBALL HISTORY SHOWS TEXAS HUGE UNDERDOGS AGAINST ARKANSAS IN 2024

HOGS VIEWED AS 2024 SEC SCHEDULE WINNERS FOR NOW

DO RAZORBACK BASKETBALL FANS NEED HUMBLING? SOCIAL MEDIA CERTAINLY THINKS THEY SHOULD BE

OKLAHOMA APPEARS TO REPLACE ARKANSAS AS SEC OFFICE WHIPPING BOY

FANS, MEDIA EXCITED FOR 2024 RAZORBACK SCHEDULE, BUT TRANSFER PORTAL WILL DETERMINE HOW TOUGH IT WILL BE

HOGS GOT SOME BIG NAMES AT HOME FOR 2024, BUT WAIT A YEAR BEFORE DECIDING IF IT IS GOOD ON FIELD

JOHN BOLTON'S FINAL MOMENTS AS RAZORBACK DISPLAY WHY PLAYERS HOLD OFF ON GOOD PROGRAMS TO SEE IF THEY CAN COME TO ARKANSAS

ARKANSAS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

FAYETTEVILLE WEATHER UPDATE

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