FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Some fans are worried about players leaving Arkansas.
Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn seemed more focused on the incomings Thursday morning.
He doesn’t panic.
“Fall ball is going to be fun this year,” he said in summing up a season that ended in Omaha with a loss to eventual national champion Ole Miss.
Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn on the field before a College World Series game in Omaha against eventual national champion Ole Miss. (Crant Osborne / allHOGS Images)
It will be with many new faces.
“There’s going to be a lot of competition, as there should be when we’re talking about an SEC-type school,” Van Horn said. “You have to have good players on campus, the ones you want to be in SEC games with and the ones who know how to fight and earn a spot.”
Like any other sport, it comes down to recruiting. He doesn’t bring in guys who don’t fit the mindset of what he’s learned over the years it takes to compete for a championship.
“They know they’ve got to come in here and work and beat some guys,” Van Horn said. “The kids who wanted us to tell them, ‘hey, it’s yours. We’re not going after anybody else.’ Maybe we didn’t want that guy. We want guys who want to work and fight.”
The transfer portal, which is apparently here to stay for a while, has taken some hogs. This was no surprise.
“We understand what’s happening now with the portal and playability,” Van Horn said. “These are guys that have been in the program for a few years and haven’t played much.”
He can understand, but some of them don’t necessarily make it any easier.
“The older they get, the harder it gets,” Van Horn said.
As usual, though, there are talented freshmen coming in, at least the ones who make it here. Some may be quite high in project selection.
“If we lose them, we’ll get it,” he said.
But he already has a good idea of who will come, but sometimes there is someone who surprises him.
“They’re trying to figure out, are they really going to get the amount they want?” he said. “If they don’t, we just want them to stay strong.
“If they say they want a million dollars and they’re told we can’t give you more than $500,000, then they should come to the school and triple that.”
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Arkansas pitcher Connor Noland in the Razorbacks’ 7-1 win over Grand Canyon in the first game of the NCAA Regional in Stillwater, Okla. (Walt Beasley/Arkansas Communications)
The biggest question, however, is whether pitcher Connor Noland will return for a fifth season.
“Obviously we’d love to have him back,” Van Horn said. “He has to make the final decision.”
And he knows he has a chance.
“There has to be a situation where he feels really good, the organization is serious and if not, you can see him again,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Which is pretty much Dave’s way of looking at everything this time of year.
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