FAYETTEVILLE -- Chad Morris will be able to hire nine full-time assistant coaches between now and Jan. 9, when on that day all FBS programs can hire a 10th assistant coach.
Assistants who have signed short-term agreements with the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville to carry through the end of the year were former SMU assistants offensive coordinator Joe Craddock, offensive line coach Dustin Fry, receivers coach Justin Stepp and running backs coach Jeff Traylor. Recruiting coordinator Mark Smith and director of football operations Randy Ross also came over from SMU.
Former Arkansas quarterback Barry Lunney Jr., who had been the tight ends coach all five seasons under Bret Bielema, was asked to recruit for the Hogs after Morris' arrival. Former long-time assistant coach Bobby Allen, who had been director of high school and NFL relations under Bielema, also was involved in recruiting.
Morris has not announced any specific positions for his first Arkansas staff.
Former Arkansas defensive line coach John Scott Jr., who had been on Bielema's staff for one season, is thought to be in the mix of being retained by Morris. Scott was one of eight on-field assistant coaches whose contracts were terminated shortly after Morris was hired earlier this month, but that would not preclude him from being rehired.
SMU strength and conditioning coach Trumain Carroll, an Oklahoma State graduate, is a candidate to take over the same position with the Hogs.
Also, Morris is known to have discussed the vacant defensive coordinator's post with Texas A&M's John Chavis as well as other candidates.
Sleeping giant
A favored reference to Arkansas football in recent days for new Coach Chad Morris has been as a sleeping giant.
"You get the right fit at the right time and recruits in the right areas and the sky's the limit here," Morris told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "It's a beautiful campus. Obviously it's on the up and up and the facilities are incredible. It's now just relentless recruiting and that's how we're going to get this thing built."
Changes ahead
The current Arkansas Razorbacks have been issued three-week conditioning plans to carry through the Christmas holiday and into early January before the team's winter program kicks in.
The Razorbacks finished 4-8 and will not play in a bowl game for the third time in the last six years.
Morris said Wednesday that he has started conducting one-on-one meetings with players to get a feel for the roster and how the program will move forward into spring drills.
"There will be meetings along the way of where do they fit and how does it fit the new system?" Morris said. "The new challenges that will come with a new coaching staff. The demands, the differences, and the way we do our strength and conditioning, the way we'll do our summer work as far as ... I'm really big on conditioning. Obviously, I know that we've got be strong and we are going to be strong. But we put a huge emphasis on bar speed movement. It's about how can I get from Point A to Point B as fast as I possibly can and do it in a football movement."
Morris said he expects a certain amount of attrition as the transition takes place.
"Some will see where they're at on the depth chart and usually you have some attrition," he said. "We're coming in here and everybody's on a level playing field. Everybody's got to prove the same thing, whether you're a senior or a freshman. Just as every coach who walks in here has got to prove themselves, so does every player. I think that's only fair."
Title game
Chad Morris and his wife Paula will be at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, tonight to watch their son Chandler play for Highland Park in the Class 5A Division I state championship game.
Highland Park (14-1) will play unbeaten Manvel in the title game. Highland Park located in Dallas near the SMU campus, are led by quarterback John Stephen Jones, son of former Razorback linebacker Stephen Jones and grandson of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
"I'm gonna head down there for a break," Morris said earlier this week. "They play Friday night at 7 o'clock in AT&T Stadium and I'm excited to watch those guys."
Manvel High is a Houston suburb that produced former Razorbacks defensive lineman Taiwan Johnson.
The other side
Chad Morris sent out a series of texts to his former players and staff at SMU on national signing day on Wednesday, the same day the Mustangs played Louisiana Tech in the inaugural Frisco Bowl in suburban Dallas.
"I did that first thing this morning when I got up and wished them the best," Morris said. "I told them I was thinking of them and I loved them and to go represent. Go be the standard. They all hit me back. They know I'll be watching and I'll be pulling for them. I'm very excited for these young men and the opportunity they have tonight."
The Mustangs did not fare well under new Coach Sonny Dykes, losing five first-half turnovers and falling 51-10 to the Bulldogs of Conference USA to finish 7-6.
Reflected glory
Arkansas' Chad Morris moved on from his job as offensive coordinator at Clemson after the Tigers went 10-3 in the 2014 season to take his first head coaching collegiate job at SMU. Morris had been in the college ranks just five years at that point, having served as offensive coordinator at Tulsa in 2010, then at Clemson for the next four years.
The Tigers would go on to finish 14-1 the following year, defeating North Carolina 45-37 in the ACC Championship Game and Oklahoma 37-17 in a College Football Playoff semifinal before falling to Alabama 45-40 in the championship game.
Clemson went 14-1 again in 2016, this time edging Virgnia Tech 42-35 for the ACC championship, crushing Ohio State 31-0 in a CFP semifinal and then gaining revenge on Alabama with a 35-31 victory in the CFP Championship Game.
The No. 1 Tigers are right back in the playoff for the third consecutive year with a 12-1 record, a 38-3 rout of Miami, Fla., in the ACC championship game and a postseason matchup with Alabama in the Sugar Bowl looming Jan. 1.
"I'm so excited," Morris said of the Tigers and Coach Dabo Swinney. "Being a part of that staff for basically five years and four seasons and recruiting a lot of those guys and helping build the vision of that program from where it was at 6-7 to where it is now.
"I'm still in touch with these guys, calling them. Matter of fact, the night when Arkansas was sitting in my living room, the night they officially hired me, Coach Swinney called me. Of course he was on speaker phone and he had a chance to talk to everybody, so it was a great night. Some very, very dear genuine people to Paula and I in the state of South Carolina. And we love them to death."
Matt Jones of WholeHogSports.com contributed to this report.
Sports on 12/22/2017