Razorbacks Football: Three Things to Watch Against UAPB

Entering year five of Sam Pittman's tenure there are a multitude of issues that'll contribute to successful season

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman at practice indoors on Aug. 17, 2024, in Fayetteville, Ark. / Andy Hodges-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Thursday marks a point in Arkansas coach Sam PIttman's fifth season that will define how the year goes.

Many questions surround the team whether it be the heat of Pittman's seat, how his team will respond after a disappointing season and the impact of Bobby Petrino's return. There's a couple of All-American caliber athletes on this team but there isn't enough depth all the way around this roster to feel like this team has a chance to make a run at a conference title.

The stars will need to align appropriately and many breaks will have to go the way of Arkansas in nearly every conceivable way possible for a revival on The Hill. Fan support isn't down necessarily with 50,000 season tickets sold, mostly due to Petrino being hired as offensive coordinator.

In order to feel any positivity following a matchup with an in-state FCS foe like Pine Bluff there's three, maybe more, things we must see Thursday to feel like the Razorbacks will turn a corner in 2024.

Effort, Energy and Enthusiasm

Pointing to issues the Razorbacks brought to home games last season would be a mouthful. The three items listed above were seemingly absent each time Arkansas took the field last seaon and that falls on the head coach.

Pittman shared many a time last season that his team owed fans a team they could cheer for. However, each home game was met with flat performances with lack of effort, energy and enthusiasm. Even Arkansas' season opener against Western Carolina in Little Rock felt uninspired in a dominant victory.

Arkansas' coach knows his team played better on the road than at home last season. Change is a must as Arkansas faces the likes of Tennessee, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas in a six week span midseason with all being played inside Razorback Stadium.

Eyes at Linebacker

Distinguishing coach speak and confidence in a position group is hard when listening to defensive coordinator Travis Williams speak. The Razorbacks must replace Chris Paul, Jordan Crook and Jaheim Thomas quickly or it'll be a long season in the middle of Arkansas' defense.

Georgia transfer Xavian Sorey is a former 5-star but never quite cracked the Bulldogs' loaded rotation. He's been active this offseason proving himself to be an active piece to the linebacker puzzle, according to Williams. He'll join sophomore Brad Spence as the second starter against the Golden Lions.

"He's so, so humble," Willams said. "He says all the time, like, 'Man, I'm so happy to be here.' Like, he's happy. But watching him progress from the spring to now, he's taken another step, another leap because now he's understanding the defense. In the spring, he was just running around playing football. Now, he's understanding why we're calling different things. He's been a good get for us."

Jacksonville State transfer Larry Worth gives the Razorbacks defense some versatility being able to play multiple positions. After his arrival, Worth's athleticism stood out which will provide opposing offenses with several different looks.

"When guys are throwing just just having that length is it really throws offenses at when you have a 6-foot-5 five guy that's 225 pounds out there," Williams said Wednesday about Worth. "[Worth] has a 41 inch vertical and a 10-foot-9 inch broad jump, that's just some freakish numbers. So, he gives us that flexibility out there, and he can do some different things for us. He's another one. It's like that, that Swiss Army knife. We got to figure out where he's at and what role he's going to play, but he's been a really good addition for us as well."

Marshall transfer Stephen Dix has plenty of FBS experience playing with the Herd and beginning his career as a starter at Florida State before injuries caused him to miss time. True freshman Brad Shaw will be the fifth linebacker in Arkansas' rotation who will see playing time Thursday night.

"I would like to play all of them," Williams said after Wednesday's practice. "I've got a lot of them in there. If we could get four to five that we could just be rotating, just being able to sub and being able to keep the guys fresh. Now, they've got to earn the right to be out there. If we can get four or five of them out there and just continue to rotate."

'Spurtablity' of Petrino's Offense

It's the second go-around for the Razorbacks' offensive coordinator who can focus only on the potency of Arkansas' offense. Keeping it simple here but he knows there are some studs offensively and fans should expect to see them fed plenty in the first half.

"I don’t think it’s about plays,” Petrino said during his introductory press conference in November. “I don’t think it’s about what you do. I think it’s about how you use the players you have," Petrino said. "How you get the ball to a Jarius Wright? Joe Adams? How you get the ball to Dennis Johnson and how you work the different situations of the game? What I love to do is utilize players, then be good at the situations of the game.”

All these "studs" are great, but Boise State transfer quarterback Taylen Green is Petrino's handpicked man to lead the offense. Green had his moments for the Broncos over his past two seasons but will need more consistency from him in order to threaten SEC defenses this season.

“Yeah I think he’s made tremendous strides,” Petrino said after last Tuesday's practice. “He did a really nice job in the summer on working on his technique, of his drops, his sets, keeping his front shoulder where it needs to be.

“And we’ve worked really hard on getting him to have more of an over-the-top release. He’s 6-6, he’s an outlier, so his advantage is to be at 6-6. When he first got here he was dropping down and sometimes making himself 6 foot. So I think that’s been tremendous improvement, just his technique and his release and his accuracy have went way up.”

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