Receiver Room Could Have Huge Day Against Kent State

The Hogs' WR room was thought to be one of worst going into 2023 season but may not finish at bottom of SEC

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — One of the fun things to pass time on the old bird app is listing position group rankings during the offseason. Random fans ranking KJ Jefferson outside the top quarterbacks in the SEC or resorting the Hogs' wide receivers room at the bottom or worst in conference.

They all had a point coming into the season due to the unknown that this group had bringing in two transfer receivers from the FCS/DII level. How were Isaac TeSlaa and Andrew Armstrong going to adapt moving up in talent level? Would they be able to create separation once they stepped foot onto the field for Arkansas?

As one of my wife's co-workers used to say, "So far, so good, so far."

There's no fault in waiting until at least the BYU or LSU games before accessing them. Kent State may not be a slobber-knocker but we should at least know more about how good these two are playing up a level in competition. Teslaa and Armstrong did show out against FCS Western Carolina on Saturday by catching a combined 8 balls for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

Teslaa, the Hillsdale College transfer, showed off quite a few "team player" attributes to go along with his physical ones. First, the block he made on a bubble screen for fellow wideout Jaedon Wilson to race 65 yards on the second play of the game was beautiful. Second, being a supportive teammate is admirable as well. TeSlaa is not always quick to brag on his game but will others especially when the Hogs' avoided dropping a single pass on Saturday.

"Yeah, we did have a total of zero drops on Saturday, which we were extremely happy with," TeSlaa said. "We've had drops here and there in practice obviously, but I felt like when we got to the game it was time to execute and everyone was locked in and making sure it was eyes on the ball to the hands."

The 6-foot-4, 215 pounder displayed great speed no matter where he was on the field. Whether TeSlaa was lined up in the slot and motioned over or route-running in general it was done full-speed and without hesitation. The impressive speed should be noted as one of his three receptions was a 31-yarder where he ran behind the Catamounts secondary hauling in a terrific pass from KJ Jefferson.

While Western Carolina took away the Hogs run game it gave the wide receivers and tight ends as a whole to shine. They certainly took advantage of it with 20 passes were completed to nine different players.

"As an offense, we executed the passing game really well," TeSlaa said. "We went out there and we prepared really well. We knew what they were going to give us and we just took advantage of what they were giving us as a defense. On that touchdown play, [Hudson Clark] set me up with the interception. We had short field position and had a play call that I knew I'd be able to score on if we executed it well."

How will the Hogs' receivers fair this week after a surprising performance on Saturday? There's a chance it could be duplicated against Kent State. The Golden Flashes were dominated by a final score of 56-6 while giving up 723 total offensive yards to UCF. 10 different Knights' caught passes. While no one eclipsed 100-yards receiving they did average 13.4 yards per catch with five players having a reception of 22 yards or longer.

The Razorbacks have their home opener in Razorback Stadium against Western Carolina at 3 p.m. on the SEC Network and fuboTV.

HOGS FEED:

ARKANSAS STILL PRODUCING AT LEAST TWO TOP RECRUITS NATIONALLY

OVER-REACTIONS GOOD AND BAD AFTER OPENING WEEKEND OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL, INCLUDING HOG FANS

WHY RAZORBACKS' SOCIAL MEDIA MIGHT WANT TO BE A LITTLE CAREFUL THIS WEEK WITH KENT STATE AND THE PAST

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