Derrian Ford's Offer List Shaping Up as Razorback Fans' Nightmare

Former Arkansas guard could be major thorn in future SEC games with teams that hate Hogs

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Razorbacks may not have appreciated what Arkansas Gatorade Player of the Year Derrian Ford had to bring to the team, but the rest of the SEC sure appears ready to do so. 

Ford's family put out a graphic showing several of the schools in pursuit of the guard and it has been obvious that his high school tape, performance late in the UConn game, and a never ending stream of video showing Ford working out and draining endless consecutive threes has teams salivating over the chance to bring him in.

Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Missouri, Mississippi State, Florida, Auburn, Vanderbilt and Alabama are all looking to add him to their line-up, along with perennial powers Kansas, Houston and Baylor. Arkansas fans had better hope and pray Ford heads out of conference because the last thing the Hogs need is a Top 100 player with a chip on his shoulder showing up on the schedule twice a year.

The thing is, the list is filled with schools that keep a chip on their shoulders in regard to Arkansas. Missouri has a star of a coach in Dennis Gates who is looking to keep the momentum going in Columbia after potentially losing star Kobe Brown to the NBA Draft. They also have a fan base that appears way more mad at Arkansas than Razorback fans are at them, but continue to get into spirited arguments on social media with one another. A showdown of Trevon Brazile led Razorbacks vs. a Ford led Mizzou team would make for great fodder both on social media and the news.

Vanderbilt is another team on the rise that has little care for the Razorbacks. Not long after the testy 97-84 win over Arkansas in Nashville that allowed the Commodores to blow past the Hogs in the SEC standings and tie for fourth place, Vandy fans voted Arkansas as the team they hate most in athletics. Keep in mind, this is a school whose rivalry with Tennessee is one of the oldest in all of college sports, yet they hate Arkansas. Throwing Ford into that mix would be an interesting dynamic. However, the big issue with the Commodores is the mass exodus of top talent that carried Vanderbilt to success this past year.

Joining Nate Oats at Alabama would certainly get under Musselman's skin and potentially create all kinds of trouble for the Razorbacks. However, if anyone has ever paid attention to Ford or spoken with the people he keeps around him, it would be a shock to see him in Tuscaloosa because the young man has too high of a character standard to ever be a fit in a program like Alabama. Plus, he seems to be the type to want to win national championships and while the Tide are good at squeezing out meaningless regular season conference titles, it's a program that never has been and has shown no indication that it ever will be built for a run at a national championship. Plus, his last name is Ford, and anyone who has ever kept tabs on the Tuscaloosa crime logs know Alabama athletics has a preference for Dodge.

Ole Miss is a college basketball black hole, which is why Chris Beard has been sentenced to do time in Oxford, so the Rebels would be a surprise, and Mississippi State fans aren't aware the Bulldogs have a basketball team as football leads straight into baseball down in Starkville. 

However, the most intriguing school outside of Missouri as a landing spot is Auburn. Much like Florida under previous coaching regimes, Auburn has been kind to Arkansas players. If Ford went down to the plains, he would be one of three players from Arkansas on the team, joining West Memphis product Chris Moore and Parkview's Allen Flanigan. Former Arkansas high school basketball star Wes Flanigan's recruiting as Bruce Pearl's assistant coach has ensured Auburn has had at least two, and often three players from Arkansas on the Tigers' roster since Eric Musselman took over at Arkansas. 

During that time, Arkansas and Auburn have been evenly matched. The Razorbacks' 76-73 win in the SEC Tournament this past season gives the Hogs a 4-3 edge over that time period. Prior to Pearl allowing Flanigan to place a focus on recruiting Arkansas, the Tigers were 3-11 over nine seasons. Having roughly a quarter of the scholarship roster filled with Arkansas high school talent that continues to plague the Razorbacks would be a tough one to swallow, but it would certainly continue to fan the flames of what has become a rather solid rivalry. 

Wherever Ford ends up, there's one thing that's almost a guarantee. His time won't be silent like it was at Arkansas. Anyone who has seen his non-stop workout videos that are flooding social media knows he's a man on a mission. The question simply remains as to whether that mission includes taking down the Razorbacks in conference play.

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