Silverfield Signs Staff Into Place In Fayetteville 

The start of the Ryan Silverfield tenure in Fayetteville has been interesting. From the initial reaction from fans to flipping multiple in-state recruits, Silverfield understands fully what he has signed up for. In his opening press conference, the former Memphis coach gloated about how his staff would “wow” the fans. With this, Silverfield has begun to sign staff, and now, we will take an overview of the hires. 

Silverfield Signs Staff Into Place In Fayetteville 

Who Is Coming With Me?

Whenever there is a transition in coaches, we always look to the new coach and what was successful at his previous stop. With Ryan Silverfield and Memphis, the begins with offense. In his tenure at Memphis, Silverfield kept his same staff for a large portion of his six seasons. At the helm of his offense for his final four seasons was Tim Cramsey. Cramsey, formerly of Marshall, before joining Memphis in 2020.

 In what was surprising news to some, we learned from 4 Star Sports Media that the day before Silverfeld was introduced, Cramsey would join Silverfeld in Fayetteville. In addition to Cramsey from Memphis, Silverfield has also snagged Jeff Myers to be a co-offensive line coach and Larry Smith to lead the wide receivers, as he did for the Tigers. As with any successful program, the support team is vital. For Silverfield, he also brought his General Manager, Scott Gaspar, and Strength and Conditioning coach Noah Franklin to help lead the Razorbacks into the new era. 

Who Is New?

Some fans saw the above hires and immediately questioned the new hire and Hunter Yurachek, and how these are “wow” staff members. Additionally, Silverfield gloated about bringing “SEC-Caliber” coaches to his staff in Fayetteville. On the offense, Silverfield added another line coach as he brings in Marcus Johnson from “THE” Ohio State. Also, Silverfield solidified the running backs coach position as he recruited David Johnson, formerly of Florida State, to the same position for Arkansas. 

On defense, Silverfield had a high turnover from Memphis to Arkansas. In reality, this was needed as the Arkansas defense struggled. As coaching changes happened across the nation, Silverfield snagged Ron Roberts from fellow SEC foe, the Florida Gators. Additionally, from Gainesville to Fayetteville, we saw Deron Wilson return to Arkansas to coach the Hogs’ secondary. 

Also, in the back end of the Razorbacks’ defense, we saw a new safeties coach acquired. Leading this unit will be CJ Wiliford, from Georgia State. Wiliford and Wilson have both worked under Roberts previously and will continue to bring continuity to both the offense and defensive units. We also saw changes in the special teams. Yet another SEC flavor comes to the staff as former Auburn Tiger coach Chad Lunsford will lead the special teams unit for Arkansas. 

Did These “WOW”?

While this question is really all based on your opinion, this is a legitimate one as much as this staff was heralded. Despite not speaking on these hires in his opening press conference, the smirks from Silverfield and Yurachek gave the optics of an all-legend staff that would cost an enormous amount of money. While these staffers will not garner these contracts, the fits may be what hold more value. 

Continuity within a staff can breathe success into a program. As we have followed college football on a national level here at Last Word, we have learned this to be something Silverfield has understood and succeeded in. After all, he has said many times that “Relationships matter the most”, and with these hires, he continues to show he has created quite the rolodex of coaches.  As Silverfield signs staff in Fayetteville, the wins will need to follow in the future. We will see in time if these are dud hires or not. Until then, we will have much time to see any action on the field.