FAYETTEVILLE — Eight more Arkansas football staffers were learned Friday through official press releases and contracts uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Razorbacks announced the hiring of Kynjee’ Cotton as defensive line coach and defensive run game coordinator, Deron Wilson as co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach, Clint Trickett as quarterbacks coach, Marcus Johnson as an offensive line coach and Morgan Turner as tight ends coach.
Arkansas has also hired Scott Gasper as senior director of football personnel, CJ Wilford as an assistant coach and quality control analyst, and Nick Mathews as an offensive quality control analyst. In social media bios, Wilford identifies himself as a safeties coach and Mathews as an assistant quarterbacks coach.
It is unclear which of the 13 assistant coaches announced this week will fill the 10 roles that can serve as off-campus recruiters. There is no cap on the number of on-field coaches a team can have.
Cotton, whose age was not available, most recently worked as an assistant defensive line coach for the Miami Dolphins in the NFL, was the only coach announced Friday who had not been previously reported. He has previously coached defensive ends at Samford (2019-21) and Kennesaw State (2022), and worked as a defensive analyst at LSU in 2023.
Cotton played at Alabama State and began his coaching career as a student assistant there in 2012. He worked for a season as a strength and conditioning intern at Alabama in 2013, then worked his way up the ladder through stops at UAB, Birmingham Southern, North Carolina and West Georgia.
Trickett, 34, spent the past season at Jacksonville State as quarterbacks coach. He has past Division I coaching experience at Georgia Southern, Marshall — where he spent one season working new Arkansas offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey — and Florida Atlantic.
Turner, 40, has spent the past three seasons as tight ends coach under former Arkansas coach Sam Pittman.
Wilson, 35, returns to Arkansas where he coached from 2023-24 under Pittman. He left the Razorbacks to become defensive coordinator at Georgia State, then left that position without coaching a game to become defensive backs coach at Florida this year.
At Florida, Wilson coached with Ron Roberts, who is Arkansas’ new defensive coordinator.
Johnson, 44, is an assistant offensive line coach this season at Ohio State. He played for the Minnesota Vikings during a time when Silverfield was an assistant offensive line coach for the team.
A former player at Ole Miss, Johnson in his 15th season as a college coach and previously served as offensive line coach at Duke (2016-17), Mississippi State (2018-19), Missouri (2020-22) and Purdue (2023-24).
Wilson, Cotton, Johnson and Trickett signed contracts through February 2028 that include no-compete clauses with SEC teams through the 2026 season. Wilson will be paid $700,000, Johnson $500,000 Cotton $400,000 and Trickett $275,000, according to their contracts.
Turner has yet to sign a new contract. He is working under a $325,000 per year agreement that runs through February.
Wilford spent this season as the safeties coach at Georgia State. He previously was a quality control coach at Florida from 2022-24 and a defensive backs analyst at Louisiana from 2019-21, and worked with Roberts in both stops.
Mathews was listed as a research analyst at Memphis this season. He previously served in a support staff role for Pittman at Arkansas.
Gasper was the general manager at Memphis and arrived in Fayetteville on Nov. 30, the day Silverfield was officially announced.
