Treylon Burks isn’t walking through that door. Keon Hatcher and Drew Morgan aren’t, either. Not in 2023, anyway.
The Arkansas wide receiving corps may not have a star who can put up the numbers of those three wideouts – the three most productive wideouts in the last decade or so for the Razorbacks – but as a group, they may out-stat any unit that came before.
In Saturday’s season opener against Western Carolina, quarterbacks KJ Jefferson and Jacolby Criswell attempted 25 passes between them. The total number of drops by Arkansas wide receivers? Zero.
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. So obviously we were focused on it and it was cool to see everyone execute at a high level.
That may not seem like a big deal to the casual fan. Consider, though, the group is almost entirely new, either to the roster or to the top of the depth chart. And drops aren’t a product of a defense. They’re the only thing a receiver can actually control: whether he catches the ball or not. Everything else comes after.
Arkansas’ receivers accounted for 258 of the 274 yards passing against the Catamounts, as well. That’s a higher percentage than Arkansas had from wide receivers per game than last year. In other words, it’s a good sign for an offense that wondered how good the wide receivers would be in 2023.
It may be hard to replicate in a few weeks against better opponents, but that the group is doing it now is a good sign.
“As an offense, I think we executed the passing game really well,” TeSlaa said. “We went out there and I feel like 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.”
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