Grit and Experience: Arkansas Defensive Players to Watch vs. Texas A&M

The Aggies head to Arlington to take on an Arkansas defense that is coming off of an impressive turnaround season

Matt Galatzan | Sep 22, 2021

Early in the season, the Texas A&M Aggies will travel to Arlington to face the Arkansas Razorbacks.

The Razorbacks finished last season at 3-7 under head coach Sam Pittman, but are off to an impressive 3-0 start in 2021, thanks in large part to a stingy defensive unit.

Arkansas’s defense last season allowed an unimpressive 452 yards and 35 points per game, however, the team has returned a wealth of experience for defensive coordinator Barry Odom, including 10 of 11 starters.

As a result, the Razorbacks now rank 27th in the country in scoring defense (16 ppg), 18th in total defense (265.7 ypg), 12th in pass defense (142 ypg) and 57th in run defense (123.67 ypg).

Can the Aggies struggling offense find a way to break through the Razorback's defense?

Make sure to stick with AllAggies.com through our season preview series, where we will analyze every opponent on the Aggies schedule in 2021.

Now, onto the Arkansas Razorbacks defense:

LB Bumper Pool

The linebacker duo of Grant Morgan and Bumper Pool has been a consistent tandem in the Razorbacks defense. This season, Pool leads the Razorbacks in tackles with 30 total stops, averaging 10 per game, and has two tackles for loss.

S Jalen Catalon

The young redshirt sophomore safety showed glimpses of greatness this past season, putting up 99 tackles, three interceptions, and seven passes defended.

Catalon earned second-team All-SEC honors, yet has expressed that he still has room for improvement, "I think for me it’s being more consistent and being more vocal.”

This season, he has taken a leap forward and has become one of the best defensive backs in the entire country. Zach Calzada will need to know where Catalon is at all times.

LB Grant Morgan

The other part of the excellent Arkansas linebacker group, Grant Morgan is a heavy hitter for the Razorbacks defense. So far this season, Morgan has accumulated 20 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and .5 sacks.

DE Tre Williams

The leader of the Arkansas defensive front, Tre Williams has a team-high two sacks through the first three games of the season and has also totaled 11 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and a quarterback hurry.

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Published Sep 22, 2021

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.