Samuel Mbake has raw talent and athleticism.
And even though the freshman hasn’t found his way up the wide receiver depth chart yet in his first year of college football, a move to the other side of the ball has opened a chance for him.
“We’re beat up a little bit in the secondary, so we looked on our board and tried to find anybody on the team that could possibly help us,” Pittman said. “With Sam doing so well on special teams, he kind of stood out there.”
Mbake is 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds. He was a four-star recruit at wide receiver out of Kennesaw, Georgia, in Arkansas’ most recent recruiting class. That size makes him more than just an intrigue on the defensive side of the ball, where injuries and ineffectiveness have taken a toll on the Hogs’ defensive backfield. The Razorbacks are 124th out of 131 teams in FBS in pass defense.
Arkansas cornerback Hudson Clark was seen practicing safety this week. Nickel Myles Slusher is questionable with a calf injury. Safety Latavious Brini has been nicked up and preseason All-SEC first-teamer Jalen Catalon is out for the year.
Mbake will get a chance to return to wideout in the offseason, Pittman said. But if things go well, he could stick at cornerback.
“We told him he’d be in the two-deep when he ran over and he was,” Pittman said. “So he’s that kind of kid. I think he’s going to be a good player for us, whether it’s over there or wideout eventually, but he’s very talented.”