Arkansas native returns after spending freshman season at Oklahoma

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas continues to get commitments out of the portal on the pitching side. Oklahoma transfer Jackson Kircher announced Saturday on Instagram that he committed to the Razorbacks.

Kircher is a power pitcher with a fastball that can touch up to 98 miles per hour, according to the TV broadcast during the regional final against North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

He seemingly has added velocity throughout his freshman season at Oklahoma. Earlier in the season, his fastball topped out at 94 miles per hour according to the broadcast in an outing on the road at South Carolina.

In 12 2/3 innings, Kircher pitched to a 5.68 ERA with five walks and 17 strikeouts. He appeared in five SEC games, largely against some of the best teams in the conference. He's faced the eventual national champions LSU, the No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt and the SEC Regular Season Champions Texas all as a freshman.

Kircher's best two outings came on the road against Oral Roberts March 25 and at home against Dallas Baptist April 8. In both outings, he pitched two scoreless innings and picked up four strikeouts.

Originally a native of North Little Rock, Kircher is the second pitcher of the portal class to return to his home state, joining Jackson Wells of Arkansas-Little Rock. He is also the second with previous SEC experience, joining Ethan McElvain from Vanderbilt

Kircher was a two-way player as an outfielder and pitcher out of high school and was the No. 4 overall prospect in the class of 2024 from Arkansas and the No. 2 outfield prospect in the state, according to Perfect Game. He did not take an at-bat at Oklahoma and did not see time in the field.

Arkansas only has three commitments out of the Division I portal on the pitching side and one position player. Teams are being forced to adjust to the new roster caps set by the NCAA as part of the House v. NCAA settlement. Arkansas can only carry 34 players starting in the 2025-26 season down from the current limit of 40.

Most programs are seeing this affect their team with a mass exodus in young pitching. Arkansas has already seen a litany of young pitchers who did not see the field leave the team, including Luke Williams, Ross Felder, Tag Andrews, among others.

Teams no longer have the luxury of holding on to young players who do not see the field within their first few years on campus, even though all the players can get scholarships, up from the current limit of 11.7.

Other SEC programs are dealing with the same thing. Tennesssee is down to just four pitchers from its 2025 roster that are set to return

The portal remains open until July 1.

Portal Tracker (D1 Only):

Departures (9):
Tag Andrews & Luke Williams
Gabe Fraser
1B Michael Anderson
C Zane Becker
RHP Lance Davis
LHP Jackson Farrell
RHP Ross Felder
C Elliott Peterson

Incoming Players (4):
Jackson Wells, Little Rock
Ethan McElvain, Vanderbilt
Dylan Grego, Ball State
Jackson Kircher, Oklahoma

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