Sam Pittman talks LSU transfer Dwight McGlothern, impact on Arkansas secondary

Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman made a splash in the NCAA Transfer Portal this offseason, addressing a need in the secondary by landing a commitment from former LSU cornerback Dwight McGlothern.

McGlothern, a native of Spring, Texas, was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. The No. 24-ranked cornerback in his class, McGlothern spent two years at LSU, before entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and landing at a rival, of all places, working under Pittman at Arkansas. And Pittman has high hopes for McGlothern heading into his first season with the Razorbacks.

“We feel pretty good about our corners, how they’re playing right now. We needed a little bit of help back to the middle safety, so we moved Kyrie back there. McGlothern has played well. He’s long, very confident guy,” Pittman said. “He’s played well, along with what happened — and you guys know (Malik) Chavis to corner, as well.”

McGlothern played in ten games for LSU last season, totaling 32 tackles, two tackles for loss, one forced fumble, six passes defended, one interception, and one touchdown. In 16 career games, he had 41 tackles and eight passes defended. He ended up entering the NCAA Transfer Portal following Ed Orgeron’s firing, but before Orgeron’s departure, he sang high praise for McGlothern, who was well on his way to putting together a breakout campaign, following a true freshman 2020 season in which he hardly appeared.

“I think Dwight is going to be one of the outstanding cornerbacks at LSU,” Orgeron said previously. “I think he has a chance to be a high draft pick.”

McGlothern originally chose LSU over offers from Georgia, Alabama, Ohio State, Texas A&M and many others, but after two seasons — only one of which spent as a starter — he moved onto Arkansas with a renewed sense of hope. After entering his name in the NCAA Transfer Portal, McGlothern ranked as the No. 2 cornerback in the NCAA Transfer Portal, trailing only former LSU teammate Eli Ricks, who committed to Alabama.

For a full list of NCAA Transfer Portal rankings, click here.

Sam Pittman explains deal Malik Hornsby made out of transfer portal

All rules are meant to be broken, and that is exactly what happened when Arkansas and Sam Pittman learned he could get quarterback Malik Hornsby back out of the transfer portal this offseason. Despite coming out previously with the stance no entry would be allowed back on campus, the former four-star recruit withdrew his name and reported to practice.

During a press conference, Sam Pittman addressed why he allowed Malik Hornsby to break the rules and come back to Arkansas.

“To be perfectly honest – when he went in the portal over Christmas – I want to explain that to, sometimes you say things that aren’t true,” said Pittman. “I want you to know that I’m not saying things that I believe is not going to be true. I don’t know if that makes sense. But Malik didn’t miss any practice, didn’t miss anything, he got in the portal over – the thing that bothers me if we’ve got guys working for three weeks and a guy goes in the portal, he doesn’t like what’s coming back on the portal then he says, ‘can I come back to the team?’ ‘No, you missed three weeks of ball and work.’

“Malik didn’t do that. In that conversation, I said, ‘we’re going to give you every bit of opportunity to win the starting quarterback job, but also, if you come back I need you to be open to playing wide receiver.’ So we’re doing it at a slow pace, we certainly want to give him every opportunity to win the starting quarterback job. But I think you’ve seen it and we’ve certainly seen that he could help us tremendously as a wide receiver. To his credit, he’s doing a really good job with it and he’s having to play extra reps and those things.”