Talented Arkansas G to enter portal after disappointing season

Following the 2024-25 season, things were looking up for Arkansas Razorbacks guard D.J. Wagner . He was coming off a year in which he averaged 11.2 points, 3.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds with noticeable improvement from his freshman campaign.

But in came five-star Darius Acuff Jr. , who overtook the starting point guard spot from Wagner and never looked back, relegating Wagner to a bench role. He scored just 7.4 points and dished out 2.4 assists in 23.6 minutes per game, nearly 11 less than last season.

With his role diminishing, Wagner is now on the lookout for a new home, with plans to enter the transfer portal. On3's Joe Tipton first reported the news.

Wagner was highly touted coming out of high school, ranking as the No. 1 combo guard and No. 6 player overall in the 2023 class. As a five-star recruit, he committed to head coach John Calipari with the Kentucky Wildcats . He had a strong freshman season, averaging 9.9 points and 3.3 assists.

He then followed Calipari to Arkansas, where he started all 36 games at point guard and helped spearhead a Sweet 16 run. He was widely expected to be one of the top guards in the country as a junior, but things didn't go as planned with Acuff bursting onto the scene and being named the SEC Player of the Year.

Standing 6-foot-4 and 195 pounds with immense talent and three years of experience, Wagner will likely be one of the more sought after guards in the 2026 transfer portal class, with other big name guards such as Jackson Shelstad and Miles Byrd .

Wagner will have one season of eligibility remaining.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Former 5-star G plans to enter transfer portal