FAYETTEVILLE — The coaching staff of new University of Arkansas football Coach Ryan Silverfield began to take shape on a busy Friday.
Silverfield moved to keep some of his offensive staff at Memphis together and targeted a veteran Power Four defensive coach to serve as coordinator, based on national reports.
CBS Sports reporter Matt Zenitz reported Silverfield will bring offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey, receivers coach Larry Smith and offensive analyst Nick Mathews over from Memphis. Meanwhile, outgoing Florida defensive coordinator Ron Roberts emerged as a strong candidate to fill that position for the Razorbacks.
Zenitz also reported Silverfield has honed in on Florida State assistant coach David Johnson to be his running backs coach.
Silverfield is reportedly working with a salary pool for assistant coaches that UA Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek said would push Arkansas into the top half of the SEC.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Silverfield on Thursday, Yurachek said the first indicator of the program’s enhanced financial commitment will come via Silverfield’s staff hirings.
“I think when you look at what the staff looks like, the support staff as well, and then the players that become a part of this program, that will show you the financial commitment we’ve made to our football program,” Yurachek said.
Silverfield, who said he would bring aboard coaches with SEC experience, was asked at the same news conference about the key characteristics he wanted in his assistant coaches.
“I always value experience, and I think that’s important, but most importantly, great coaches and great leaders of men,” Silverfield said.
“We’re going to find coaches that are going to truly pour into these guys. And they may think it’s corny, but I’m going to tell them like, these guys are going to love them. They’re going to hold them accountable, OK, to everything these guys say they want to do, and they’re going to make sure they achieve exactly what we say we’re putting out there.”
Cramsey, 50, played quarterback and long snapper at New Hampshire in the mid-1990s and has been coaching since 2001, the last four years at Memphis. His offenses with the Tigers all ranked in the top 25 in scoring with at least 34 points per game and were between 14th and 38th in total offense since 2022.
Cramsey had previously been offensive coordinator at New Hampshire (2009-11), Florida International (2012), Montana State (2013-15), Nevada (2016), Sam Houston State (2017) and Marshall (2018-21) before joining Silverfield’s staff.
Smith, a former quarterback at Vanderbilt with 27 career starts, joined Silverfield at Memphis in 2023 after seven years as receivers coach at Alabama-Birmingham. He helped develop first-team All-American Conference receiver Cortez Braham Jr. this season.
Mathews, a senior analyst assisting with quarterbacks at Memphis, has previous experience at Arkansas, having served as an assistant defensive backs coach under Sam Pittman.
Roberts was deeply involved in Pittman’s search for a defensive coordinator for the 2023 season, but he joined up with Hugh Freeze at Auburn while the Razorbacks turned to Travis Williams.
Roberts, 58, has spent the last six seasons as a Power Four defensive coordinator at Baylor (2020-22), Auburn (2023) and Florida (2024-25), including the past two seasons as executive head coach with Billy Napier.
Auburn ranked No. 45 in the FBS in total defense in 2023 by allowing 357.2 yards per game, No. 41 in scoring defense (22.6) and No. 76 in rushing defense (155.0).
Florida ranked No. 76 in total defense in 2024, allowing 376.9 yards per game, and No. 66 against the run (149.5). The Gators are No. 69 in total defense this season (376.8), No. 74 against the run (153.9) and No. 73 in passing yards allowed (222.9).
Johnson, 52, has roots in southern Louisiana as a two-time all-conference wide receiver at Nicholls State and a high school head coach who had former LSU All-American running back Leonard Fournette. Johnson has been running backs coach and recruiting coordinator at Florida State since 2020.
Prior to that he worked two seasons at Tennessee as wide receivers coach (2018) and running backs coach (2019), and served two seasons at Memphis (2016-17) as receivers coach and passing game coordinator. His first major college coaching experience came at Tulane from 2012-15 as running backs and tight end coach.
Zenitz had previously reported Silverfield planned to bring General Manager Scott Gasper and strength and conditioning coach Noah Franklin over from his Memphis staff.
