Louisville transfer guard El Ellis commits to Arkansas, still maintains NBA Draft eligibility

At noon today, Joe Tipton of On3 Sports announced that Louisville transfer guard El Ellis has committed to the University of Arkansas. Head Coach Eric Musselman officially lands his fifth player out of the transfer portal.

El Ellis joins Keyon Menifield, a guard transfer from Washington, Khalif Battle, a guard transfer from Temple, Tramon Mark, a guard transfer from Houston, and Jeremiah Davenport, a forward transfer from Cincinnati.

Arkansas currently sits at No.1 in the transfer rankings, according to 247Sports, and they have signed two five-star recruits coming out of high school. 6-foot-10 center Baye Fall has signed his National Letter of Intent with Arkansas, as well as five-star point guard Layden Blocker.

The Razorbacks appear to be gearing up heavily for the gauntlet of the SEC and have done so by successfully recruiting two guards who were also Louisville targets, Khalif Battle and Keyon Menifield. But, it appears Louisville Head Coach Kenny Payne knows what he is doing, and will give the Louisville fanbase more cause to celebrate.

Right now, Louisville sits with the No. 5 recruiting class and Arkansas sits with the No. 8 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. El Ellis is certainly a part of that ranking for the Razorbacks, but according to Stockrisers’ Jake Weingarten, he is still planning to maintain his NBA Draft eligibility.

Ellis is set to graduate from Louisville this May and will test the NBA Draft waters. But, if he doesn’t like what he sees, then he will join Head Coach Eric Musselman at Arkansas. Why you might ask?

He told Stockrisers:

"“I built a really good relationship with the staff. They are losing a lot of key pieces from last year’s roster. I was told they need a veteran guard to come in to run the show, and for what Muss has done with this program it was a no-brainer.”"