{"id":62371,"date":"2025-07-13T13:51:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T13:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62371\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T13:51:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T13:51:10","slug":"poaching-of-former-razorback-staffer-shows-lsu-doubling-down-on-hogs-former-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/62371\/","title":{"rendered":"Poaching of Former Razorback Staffer Shows LSU Doubling Down on Hogs\u2019 Former Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chad<\/a>Photo Credit: Arkansas Athletics \/ LSU Athletics<\/p>\n

With revenue sharing essentially adding a salary cap to the NCAA, general managers have been all the rave in college football recently.<\/p>\n

Arkansas was a little late to the party when it tabbed former Boston Celtics executive Remy Cofield as its all-sports GM back in March, but it showed the Razorbacks continuing to adapt to the new landscape in the SEC and the sport as a whole.<\/p>\n

Cofield\u2019s late June press conference, however, raised more questions than it answered. The Razorbacks\u2019 money-man in chief described himself as a middle-man between players and Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman, though his role seems to be a bit of a work in progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cofield admitted that the Hogs are a bit behind schedule<\/a>, as he has yet to make any staff hires. Arkansas\u2019 plan was to hire assistant general managers focused on individual sports, but the former Celtics man said those moves are still \u201cfurther down\u201d the road.<\/p>\n

LSU football, on the other hand, continued its aggressive approach to NIL and revenue sharing earlier this week by poaching away highly-touted front office man Kelvin Bolden from Ole Miss.<\/p>\n

The Perkinston, Miss., native and Southern Miss football alum had spent the last three years as Ole Miss\u2019 director of football recruiting strategy, helping the Rebels reel in some of the best transfer portal classes in the nation.<\/p>\n

In February, On3<\/a> tabbed Bolden as one of college football\u2019s premier \u201coff-field recruiting stars,\u201d and national recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong said he\u2019s \u201cone of the SEC\u2019s best relationship guys.\u201d Ole Miss radio hosts<\/a> Neal McCready and Chase Parham also called LSU poaching Bolden a tough loss for the Rebels.<\/p>\n

Bolden has extensive ties to the Magnolia State, and his hometown is just two hours away from Baton Rouge. But the rising star executive also touts a key connection to Arkansas, as his first D-I coaching job was as a graduate assistant working with the Razorbacks\u2019 wide receivers under \u2013 shield your eyes \u2013 head coach Chad Morris. During that two-year stint, he worked with star wideout and future NFL first-rounder Treylon Burks.<\/p>\n

The Chad Morris Coaching Tree?<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the staff clearout from Morris\u2019 firing, Bolden landed back at his alma mater for a year. He also spent short stints as an assistant under Dan Mullen at Florida and Arkansas native Gus Malzahn at UCF before moving into an administrative role at Ole Miss, where he seems to have found his niche.<\/p>\n

Bolden is the latest example of a former Morris assistant going on to achieve much greater things after a stint in Fayetteville during the worst tenure in Arkansas history.<\/p>\n

Joe Craddock, who was Morris\u2019 offensive coordinator, is currently thriving as the OC at Tulane under promising head coach Jon Sumrall. The Green Wave are one of the best Group of Five teams in the nation, and quarterback Darian Mensah was arguably the best mid-major signal caller last year under Craddock\u2019s tutelage, though he ended up transferring to Duke.<\/p>\n

GJ Kinne, who served as an offensive analyst under Morris, worked as a co-offensive coordinator under Malzahn at UCF before landing his first head coaching gig at Incarnate Word. After crafting one of the best FCS offenses in the country and going 12-2, Kinne moved up to the FBS with Texas State, where he has won eight games in each of his first two seasons with the Bobcats, who had been a dormant program for the last decade. Next year, they will move into the new PAC-12.<\/p>\n

Jeff Traylor has the most impressive resume of any former Morris assistant after serving as Arkansas\u2019 running backs coach for two seasons. The Gilmer, Texas native has guided the Roadrunners to a 46-20 record in five seasons at the helm, with two Conference USA titles.<\/p>\n

Wide receivers coach Justin Stepp, who tutored Burks alongside Bolden, moved to his home-state South Carolina before landing on Bret Bielema\u2019s staff at Illinois. He enters his second season under offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr., another former Arkansas assistant, as the Illini enter 2025 as a legitimate dark horse<\/a> contender in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n

Despite the misery that unfolded in Fayetteville from 2018-19, many assistant coaches have managed to escape the Morris nightmare and land on their feet elsewhere, with Bolden the latest survivor.<\/p>\n

Bolden\u2019s hire reunites him with Austin Thomas, LSU\u2019s senior associate athletic director for football administration and the program\u2019s de-facto GM. Thomas had brought Bolden to Ole Miss while he was working as the football chief of staff.<\/p>\n

Snagging Bolden, one of the key off-field figures in Ole Miss\u2019 recent footballing rise, and promoting him to assistant GM shows LSU football pushing its chips to the center of the table not only in the transfer portal, but especially in high school recruiting.<\/p>\n

The Tigers have already made inroads in the Magnolia State in the Class of 2026, landing five-star wide receiver Tristen Keys and four-star offensive tackle Bryson Cooley. LSU is also in the mix<\/a> for wide receiver Jase Mathews, another Mississippi native and a top-25 national prospect, according to On3.<\/p>\n

On3\u2019s Shea Dixon<\/a> wrote that the number of high school coaches and prospects that congratulated Bolden on social media \u201cspeaks volumes\u201d on his potential impact for LSU. The recent changes to the NIL landscape have the potential to compound Bolden\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n

After the recent House settlement, NIL deals must go through a clearinghouse and be approved by new regulatory agencies such as NIL Go and the College Sports Commission (CSC). Yahoo\u2019s Ross Dellenger<\/a> and the Associated Press<\/a> both reported this week that a majority of deals sent to the CSC, especially those backed by NIL collectives, have been rejected for having \u201cno valid business purpose\u201d and \u201cundermining\u201d the settlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can no longer just pay a backup quarterback half a million dollars because you need a backup quarterback. The deliverables have to match that payment,\u201d Locked on LSU\u2019s Matt Moscano said Thursday<\/a>. \u201cThis is where someone like Kelvin Bolden comes into his role under Austin Thomas. The fact is that now so much of that emphasis shifts to high school NIL.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember, high schoolers can do NIL deals and they are not subject to the clearinghouse because they are not yet student athletes,\u201d Moscano pointed out. \u201cThe NCAA has no jurisdiction whatsoever over a high school athlete doing an NIL deal in Baton Rouge or anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

LSU has a leg up on Arkansas on these high school NIL deals thanks to the differing regulations of state law. These endorsement deals are permitted in both states, but Arkansas laws require that all promotions are kept unaffiliated with the athlete\u2019s high school team. Louisiana does not have that same restriction.<\/p>\n

Missouri had a brief advantage over Arkansas in this department after becoming one of the first states in the country to legalize NIL for high schoolers back in June 2022<\/a>. That was part of how the Tigers landed five-star edge rusher Williams Nwaneri in the 2024 class, though he transferred to Nebraska after one season with his home-state school.<\/p>\n

Arkansas\u2019 congress greenlit amateur NIL deals<\/a> two summers ago. Last month, Texas governor Greg Abbott signed into law a bill legalizing high school NIL deals. That leaves Mississippi as the only southern state<\/a> where these endorsements are prohibited. Alabama\u2019s bill is still pending legislative action.<\/p>\n

So while LSU has an advantage on the Razorbacks, especially after the Bolden hire, Arkansas at least holds a carrot on the stick that both of its Mississippi SEC rivals can\u2019t reach.<\/p>\n

LSU Beefs Up Where Hogs Have Been Lacking<\/strong><\/p>\n

While NIL deals were prohibited until a few years ago, investing time on the local high school front used to be a key strategy for Arkansas football coaches. Former Head Hog Houston Nutt once said he\u2019d often rather than a lower-rated Arkansas kid over a slightly higher rated out-of-stater because they brought an extra edge in practice \u2013 wearing a jersey with the state\u2019s name on the front used to mean something.<\/p>\n

For all of Morris\u2019 faults \u2013 and there are so, so many \u2013 one thing he did really well was recruit locally. He sealed the deal with Burks and fellow four-star in-state pass catcher Hudson Henry in the Class of 2019. In 2018, Morris inked four-star quarterback Connor Noland and in 2017, he kept four-star Ashdown defensive back Montaric Brown on board after Bielema\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n

Fueled by his \u201cproud damn state\u201d mantra, Pittman was also a solid in-state recruiter during his first few years as the Head Hog. The 2022 class is the best example of this, as each of the top six Arkansan prospects signed with the Razorbacks, four of them being four-stars.<\/p>\n

Recently, however, Arkansas has seemed to shift gears dramatically. Blue-chip in-staters like edge rusher Charlie Collins and running back Braylen Russell stayed home, and Pittman got wide receiver Courtney Crutchfield back on board after he spent one season at Missouri, but that trio is an exception to an emerging trend.<\/p>\n

Five Arkansas prospects considered a four-star by at least one recruiting service have already committed elsewhere. Defensive linemen Danny Beale (Oklahoma State) and linebacker Jakore Smith (Oklahoma) are headed to the Sooner State, and offensive tackle Evan Goodwin (SMU) and defensive tackle Anthony Kennedy Jr. (Miami) are off to the ACC. Rogers linebacker Braxton Lindsey pulled the trigger on a commitment to BYU recently.<\/p>\n

Four-star wide receiver Dequane Prevo is technically an in-state prospect after moving from the Texas side of Texarkana to Bentonville for his senior season, and the Hogs are currently in a battle with Missouri<\/a> for running back Terry Hodges. Other than that, it\u2019s been rough sledding for Arkansas.<\/p>\n

In the 2025 class, four-star lineman Carius Curne was the top prospect in the state but decided to sign with LSU. Entering his freshman season with the Tigers, he\u2019s caught a lot of eyes for his impressive work in the weight room:<\/p>\n

\n

#LSU<\/a> signed the No. 1 prospect in Arkansas last December: Carius Curne.<\/p>\n

The five-star offensive lineman has generated significant buzz since arriving in Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n

Now, Curne comes in at 6\u20195, 335 pounds heading into Year 1 with the program.<\/p>\n

Here he is benching 425 pounds: pic.twitter.com\/8GRc9d8mXd<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Zack Nagy (@znagy20) July 9, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Marion native has already worked his way into the two-deep as the backup left tackle, and is considered a dark horse to break into a starting role<\/a> in his first year, which is no small feat for an SEC lineman.<\/p>\n

A one-time Arkansas commit, Curne is exactly the type of player the Razorbacks need to keep at home. LSU adding Bolden into the fold will help bolster the Tigers\u2019 already strong recruiting efforts in-state and in adjoining states. In the new NIL landscape, Cofield must follow suit for Arkansas and make that top priority moving forward.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s hard to do when nobody has joined his staff yet.<\/p>\n

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