Sign up for an annual HawgBeat subscription and get $50 for Arkansas gear on the Rivals Fan Shop ––> details

College Students, get a year of HawgBeat coverage for just $11.95. Request details via email from your school account (.edu) to nchavanelle@yahoo.com.

It will look a little different because it’s being done virtually, but sports fans will get a taste of normalcy over the next few days as the next wave of professional football players realize their dreams in the NFL Draft.

Despite winning just eight total games and one SEC game over the last three years, Arkansas is expected to extend its streak to 25 years with at least one player drafted. Since none were selected in 1995, there have been 71 Razorbacks picked.

The NFL Draft gets underway with the first round at 7 p.m. CT Thursday. It continues with the second and third rounds Friday beginning at 6 p.m. and concludes with Rounds 4-7 on Saturday beginning at 11 a.m. Each day will be televised on ABC, ESPN and the NFL Network.

According to many experts, defensive lineman McTelvin Agim is expected to be the first Arkansas player off the board and the only one considered a lock to get drafted. There’s a chance he could sneak into Day 2 and get picked in the third round, but it’s more likely he hears his name Saturday.

A former 6.0 four-star recruit by Rivals - and a five-star prospect by some services - Agim bounced back and forth between defensive end and defensive tackle during his time in Fayetteville, likely preventing him from reaching his full potential. He still managed to rack up 31.5 tackles for loss and 14.5 sacks over the last four years.

The Razorbacks had three other players - defensive back Kamren Curl, linebacker De’Jon Harris and tight end Cheyenne O’Grady - invited to the NFL combine and all three could potentially get drafted on Day 3.

Curl is the lone early entrant from Arkansas this year, as he opted to skip his senior season after starting in the secondary since he was a freshman. He began his career at cornerback, but moved to safety as a sophomore and junior.

Harris was a three-time second-team All-SEC selection for the Razorbacks after earning a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team in 2016.. He racked up 371 career tackles, which ranks fifth in UA history.

O’Grady is arguably one of the most talented tight ends in the country, but off-the-field issues have hurt his chances of getting drafted. He butted heads with both of the head coaches he played for at Arkansas and received multiple suspensions, including being dismissed from the team with four games remaining his senior year. When he was on the field, O’Grady was great, even breaking the UA record for career touchdown receptions by a tight end with 12.

If all four get drafted, it would be the most Arkansas players taken in NFL Draft since 2016. That year, five were selected. If only Agim is drafted, it would be the fewest taken in a decade and the eighth time the Razorbacks’ 25-year streak was kept alive by just one player (1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2010).