Arkansas found something it liked in Brian Alston, and defensive coordinator Ron Roberts thinks the East Tennessee State transfer might be the kind of player who can hold up in the SEC.
Alston arrived in Fayetteville this summer after entering the transfer portal, choosing the Razorbacks over conference rivals like Florida, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, among others. He’s now in line for his redshirt junior season, and Roberts is eager to see how the EDGE rusher looks once the full-contact work ramps up.
“We just had a new guy, Brian Alston, he he just got here in the summertime, but he's shown flashes. I'm excited to see what he does when the pads come on.”
The path to Arkansas has been a winding one. Alston was heavily recruited out of high school by Auburn, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi State, West Virginia and Arkansas.
He started his college career at Arkansas State, where he spent his first two seasons before transferring after the 2024 season and landing at ETSU. There, he played in all 12 games with one start, finished with 29 tackles, had eight tackles for loss and ranked second on the team with four sacks.
For Roberts, the appeal started with the tape. He said Alston’s athleticism and football instincts were the first things that jumped off the screen, and those traits made him think the transfer could fit what Arkansas wanted at the JACK spot.
“Thought it was film [that interested me],” Roberts said. “We were looking for an athletic kid that was athletic enough to play in SEC, and move around.
Didn't know he's going to have all the intangibles he had. Kind of got idea through recruiting, but the transfer portal is such a fast process.
“You don't know. You're shooting dice.
We knew the the skillset, and the athletic ability we were looking for. Yep, he answered all those questions.
He's just he's intelligent kid, extremely hard worker, high character kid, and those just could put the icing on top of the cake.”
Roberts also made clear that Alston has handled the coaching well since arriving. He called him “a pleasure to be around” and “a pleasure to coach,” while saying, “I'm glad he's here.”
“Obviously, one thing about recruiting, it's not a science. It's really not,” Roberts said on Wednesday.
“You know, guys miss all the time. That's why you got Division III guys going to NFL.
You've got Division II guys going to NFL.
One thing about the portal is it's harder for guys to fall through the cracks because they don't get recruited coming out of high school and they go step on a field and everybody's gonna pick them up now. Division II, FCS or Division III.
You find now that now they're not staying there for four years anymore. But [Alston] is a pleasure to be around.
He's a pleasure to coach. I'm glad he's here.”
Arkansas brought Alston in with a clear role in mind: another athletic hybrid linebacker who can rush the passer and drop into coverage. That also says something about where the depth chart stood when the Razorbacks went looking for help.
Roberts said Steven Soles, Charlie Collins and Jamonta Waller are names to watch as rotational pieces at JACK, and Trent Sellers and Donovan Whitten have also been getting reps there. Alston may still be learning the scheme, but the staff clearly saw enough in his game to bring him in.
At Spain Park in Hoover, Alston made a strong impression as well. He was an Alabama All-Star performer as a senior, and while his senior-year numbers weren’t available, his junior season gave a good snapshot of the player Arkansas is betting on: 61 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, 21 quarterback pressures and 4.5 sacks. That production drew major attention from Power Four programs, and now he’s trying to turn that profile into something bigger in Fayetteville.
In Other News...
Arkansas Has A Malique Ewin Twist Fans Need To Watch
A late twist in the NCAA eligibility fight could matter for Arkansas because it reaches beyond roster-building and into where players are even allowed to land. A Colorado judge ordered the NCAA to grant an extra year to Class of 2022 athletes who used up their four seasons, adding another layer of uncertainty to a market that already has players like Villanova forward Duke Brennan exploring a fifth year and former Oregon guard Takai Simpkins moving toward one through a preliminary injunction.
For the Razorbacks, the headline name is Malique Ewin, who announced his intent to transfer to Oregon while waiting on the final ruling. The catch is where this gets tricky, since the court also clarified the extra year is tied to players who remain at the same school, a detail that could complicate plans across the sport and leave Arkansas watching closely as the legal side of the story keeps unfolding. [Read more 🡒]
These Razorbacks Could Decide How Fast Arkansas Turns Things Around
A lot of Arkansas hopes for a quicker turnaround will come down to whether a group of young, rising pieces can turn potential into production. Among the names drawing the most attention are linebacker Bradley Shaw, running back Braylen Russell, quarterback KJ Jackson, wide receiver Chris Marshall, safety Wyatt Simmons and cornerback Jahiem Johnson, all of whom have paths to meaningful roles if they can build on what they have shown so far.
There is also a quieter but important layer to the offseason: transfer defensive tackle Hunter Osborne and how quickly he settles into the kind of leadership presence the Razorbacks need up front. For a program looking to speed up its rise, those kinds of internal jumps can matter as much as any headline addition, and Arkansas will be watching closely to see which of these players is ready to make that leap first. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Has The Talent But One Freshman May Decide Everything
Arkansas has spent the summer looking every bit like a program with big March ambitions. The Razorbacks went 4-0 at the Baha Mar Summer League and enter the next NCAA season with the No. 1 overall recruiting class, a blend of roster talent and star power that has already drawn plenty of attention around John Caliparis group.
Jeff Teague was among the latest to take notice, praising the way Arkansas is built and pointing to freshman Jordan Smith Jr. as a particularly intriguing piece. The buzz is real enough to put Final Four talk on the table, but the larger question still hangs over this roster: whether all the parts, all the freshmen and all the expectations can line up when the games start mattering the most. [Read more 🡒]