FAYETTEVILLE — Comparing football and actors’ pedigrees, it seems Arkansas just replaced Al Pacino with Howie Mandel.
Recruiting safety Jalen Catalon out of Mansfield, Texas, for the 2019 Razorbacks, former Arkansas coach Chad Morris declared Catalon “the best high school player I ever saw.”
For Sam Pittman’s 2020 Razorbacks, Catalon lived up to Morris’ hype. Catalon netted first-team All-SEC, third-team All-America and was a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which is given annually to the nation’s most outstanding defensive back.
Meanwhile, out of Pine Bluff, safety Simeon Blair in 2018 wasn’t offered a scholarship by the Morris regime.