Kelly Bryant set to visit Arkansas on transfer tour

Kelly Bryant is going to be highly sought after heading into 2019, and Arkansas is his first official visit.

After being replaced by highly touted true freshman Trevor Lawrence, Kelly Bryant announced he would transfer from Clemson as a graduate transfer. That means he’ll be immediately eligible to play next year, and according to Rivals.com Bryant will visit Arkansas on Oct. 20 when the Razorbacks play Tulsa.

Any team with a quarterback question for 2019 stands to have interest in Bryant. He’s visiting North Carolina this weekend, but the visit to Arkansas will be his first official visit. Rivals also reported Bryant wants to set up visits with Louisville and Missouri, and more than 15 Power 5 schools have shown some level of interest.

Bryant seems intent to move pretty quickly, wrapping up his semester at Clemson before signing early with his new school of choice in early January. So if he surveys more than a few options, his weekends stand to be taken up by visits for a while.

Arkansas looks like a nice fit for Bryant, as head coach Chad Morris was the offensive coordinator at Clemson from 2011-2014 and has carried a similar offensive system with him to SMU as head coach (2015-2017) and now to Fayetteville as Razorbacks’ coach. Morris was also Bryant’s primary recruiter at Clemson, even though he never coached him, and the two worked closely after Bryant committed.

Arkansas is having a rough season in Morris’ first year at the helm, at 1-5 (0-3 in the SEC) heading into Saturday’s game against Ole Miss. It will take a little time to undo what Bret Bielema left behind, but Bryant would step right in next year as a serious upgrade over this year’s combination of Ty Storey and Cole Kelley.

Bryant’s past relationship with Morris makes Arkansas a natural for his first official visit as he gets ready to transfer. His tour may all but end at that point, but it seems Bryant has not yet closed the door on the other options he’ll have.