Easter the Hogs’ lone signee today

(Photo courtesy of the University of Arkansas)
(Photo courtesy of the University of Arkansas)

When the NCAA football December early signing period started in 2017, the traditional signing day on the first Wednesday of February became pretty non-eventful.

While the University of Arkansas does expect to sign consensus 4-star tight end Shamar Easter today, the Hogs inked 19 high school prospects during early signing on Dec. 21-23. Easter will send in his national letter of intent to Arkansas this morning. He was to hold a signing ceremony at the school today but has pushed it back to Thursday due to inclement weather.

The vast majority of prospects nationally have been choosing to sign in December. Only four of on3.com's top 150 national prospects have yet to sign.

Arkansas enrolled 10 scholarship mid-term transfers and one walk-on transfer in early January.

Easter, 6-5, 225 pounds, was the first pledge for the Hogs in the Class of 2023 when he committed on Aug. 23, 2021, to the Razorbacks over offers from Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Florida State, Michigan State, Arizona State, Kansas and others.

He was set to sign with the Razorbacks during the early signing period, but his lead recruiter, former Arkansas tight ends coach Dowell Loggains, was named the offensive coordinator at South Carolina on Dec. 13.

Easter made an official visit to the Gamecocks on Dec. 17-18 and announced later that he planned to sign today after he made an unofficial visit to Fayetteville on Jan. 15. He announced after his Arkansas trip that he was "100% locked in" with the Hogs.

Prior to the early signing period, the February signing day was action packed and often highly suspenseful with recruits making last-minute commitments, while others flipped their commitments and signed with another school.

The early signing period has made the February signing day almost an afterthought with the vast majority of prospects choosing to ink in December.

Arkansas' signing class ranks No. 21 nationally, according to Rivals.com, while the other three major services have the class at No. 22. All of the recruiting services have the class No. 9 in the SEC.


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