Arkansas expected to hire former Alabama WR Derek Kief as analyst

A recent Arkansas Razorbacks rival is now joining the team’s staff. According to On3’s Matt Zenitz, the Hogs are hiring former Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Derek Kief to their staff as an analyst. Here was the report from Zenitz:

“Arkansas is expected to hire former Alabama wide receiver Derek Kief as an analyst, sources tell @On3sports. Kief was Towson’s wide receivers coach last season after working as a graduate assistant at Maryland.”

Kief is a young gun in the coaching world after only having graduated from Alabama in 2018, where, afterwards, he immediately began coaching and has already held some impressive positions, including serving as the wideouts coach for Towson in 2022. Now, he’ll join the Razorbacks as an “analyst,” where one would assume he’ll be working most closely with the Arkansas receiving corps.

As a player himself, Kief played high school football at Cincinnati (OH) LaSalle, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 205 overall recruit in the 2014 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

After graduating and going to Alabama, Kief happened to run into one of the great receiver groupings in college football history, as Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Jaylen Waddle and Devonta Smith arrived in the next couple of class; meanwhile, Calvin Ridley was already established as the lead target.

Unfortunately, Kief never could find the field much and never amassed more than 40 yards in a single season. Give him credit, though, because he never transferred and stayed the course under Nick Saban despite always sitting way down the pecking order at his position. Clearly, he still got plenty out of his experience with the Tide, as he jumped pretty quickly into the coaching world after finishing his playing career.