National Spotlight Has Found Its Way to Green Quicker Than Expected

Win over No. 16 Oklahoma State would intensify rising fame to even great degree for Arkansas QB

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Taylen Green (10) celebrates with teammates after the game against the Pine Bluff Golden Lions at War Memorial Stadium. Arkansas won 70-0. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — If Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green was hoping for a bigger spotlight by coming to Arkansas from Boise State, he has certainly found it.

Over the past couple of days his name has popped up in every corner of the ESPN Network. It began with Pat McAfee, who has become a huge Arkansas fan since watching the viral video of defensive coordinator Travis Williams rapping to his defensive players.

McAfee was wowed by Green's long, weaving touchdown run against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and couldn't wait to tweet out a reaction from his show's Top Whadd Plays. It becomes clear pretty quick that the view of the Hogs from a distance is different than the region immediately surrounding the state.

"250 combined yards 250 on this one play shall we say," McAfee exclaimed during the highlight. "He went for 317 total and four touchdowns as Arkansas beats the dog **** out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff. This looked like an adult playing against kids."

The ESPN persona, who hosts his own show and has also taken time off from his gig providing color commentary and sometimes wrestling in WWE matches to fill a prominent spot next to Nick Saban on College Game Day, then became quite animated about the pieces he has seen so far from Sam Pittman's reconstruction project.

"We don't know what Arkansas is going to look like by the end of the year," McAfee said. "Let's remember they're investing. They got good new coaches. They got maybe a whole new team. You might have big NIL money."

He then led his on-set team in his own unique cadence of the Hog call. That was only the beginning of the notoriety for Green.

Pat Mcafee on Taylen Green and Company’s performance against UAPB. #WPS @PatMcAfeeShow pic.twitter.com/rWtob3w9co

— KNOXBLOCK (@KNOXBLOCK) September 3, 2024

This time it was SEC Now adding its spotlight to the Hogs' QB. First the crew began by listing Green No. 1 on the list of the SEC's impact newcomers. He topped a group that included South Carolina's Kyle Kennard, Oklahoma's Deion Burks, Vanderbilt media darling Diego Pavia, and a player listed incorrectly as Keon Alabama, who appears to actually be Keon Sabb.

"Obviously, under Bobby Petrino, Taylen Green demonstrated his playmaker ability, not just with his arm, but with his legs as well," co-host Matt Stinchcomb said. "Big body, right? We were talking about this guy's every inch of [six-foot-six], slides through the secondary as a long strider, two rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns on a crazy efficient day for the Razorbacks."

During the same show, the crew stood in front of a giant image of Green, expounding his greatness and how strong of a fit he is for Bobby Petrino's offense. Apparently he showed enough against an overmatched Arkansas-Pine Bluff to make outsiders think there's a chance against No. 16 Oklahoma State this Saturday.

"He seems like 'The Dude' for Bobby Petrino too, right?" co-host Dari Nowkah said. "I mean it's kinda of a perfect fit."

But the face time for Green didn't stop there. Instead, it became even more personal as he jumped onto the Paul Finebaum Show Wednesday afternoon for an eight-minute interview. There he talked about his debut, communicating with Bobby Petrino and how he came to ultimately decide to come play at Arkansas.

"[Petrino's] very, very intense whether it's in the film room or out on the field," Green said. "He demands excellence from the quarterback position. He demands me to be on my P's and Q's every single day and having no excuse. That trickles down to the o-line, to the running backs, to the receivers, just to everybody. Having the mentality that we're going to score every single drive, every single time the ball gets in our hands."

While the time in the spotlight already feels like more than Arkansas quarterbacks have experienced in quite a while, Green is about to step into something even brighter. If he can somehow get people across the country to switch over from the Michigan vs. Texas game, the national hype will become much bigger than has already been seen this week.

"This is one of the reasons why you come to the University of Arkansas is to play is to play on ABC, play in the big games," Green said. "Whether it's at 11 o'clock, it's 3 o'clock, or at night, you know, Coach Pitt says just roll the ball down and play ball. Let our toughness, mental and physical toughness be present. I am excited to be on ABC in primetime against a great opponent."

Excerpts from the Finebaum interview can be seen below.

HOGS FEED:

• Scouting report indicates game against Oklahoma State will be closer than expected

• Hogs' speedy wide receivers come alive in Petrino's offense

• Surprising team tops week 1 SEC power ranking

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