Tag: Isaac TeSlaa

Arkansas spring football projected depth chart: Wide Recievers

Our spring positional preview for the Arkansas football team continues today with a look at the Razorbacks wide receivers. Everyone – literally – who made a grab for the Hogs last year is back. That should be a good thing, even if Arkansas’ passing …

Our spring positional preview for the Arkansas football team continues today with a look at the Razorbacks wide receivers.

Everyone – literally – who made a grab for the Hogs last year is back. That should be a good thing, even if Arkansas’ passing game struggled. Consistency will go a long way in making the unit better.

It wasn’t as though they were terrible as a group last year. When quarterback KJ Jefferson had time to throw, they made plays, generally. Of course, part of the reason Jefferson took as many sacks as he did was his receivers’ inability to get open often enough, too.

But now that Andrew Armstrong and Isaac TeSlaa have a taste of FBS football and Isaiah Sategna and Tyrone Broden are a year into their Arkansas careers, too, there’s no reason to think of the wide receiving corps as a weakness.

New offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino has no qualms about heaving the football, so regardless of who wins Arkansas’ quarterback job, expect the wideouts’ numbers to go increase.

Here’s a look at how we have the wide receivers stacked heading into the spring.

  • View quarterback preview here
  • View running back preview here

Report: These super seniors are expected to return to Arkansas football in 2024

According to reports, Arkansas football is expected to return these nine super seniors for 2024. Here’s a closer look at each of them.

Arkansas football is expected to return nine super seniors for the 2024 season. Best of Arkansas Sports’ Andrew Hutchinson first broke the news on Thursday Morning.

Of those nine, four are on the offensive side of the ball and five are on the defensive side. For the Razorback offense, wide receivers [autotag]Andrew Armstrong[/autotag], [autotag]Isaac TeSlaa[/autotag] and [autotag]Tyrone Broden[/autotag] are set to return. Offensive lineman [autotag]Ty’Kieast Crawford[/autotag] is also returning to the Hogs.

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive backs [autotag]Hudson Clark[/autotag] and [autotag]Kee’yon Stewart [/autotag]are set to return, as are defensive linemen [autotag]Eric Gregory[/autotag], [autotag]Keivie Rose[/autotag], and [autotag]Jashaud Stewart[/autotag]. It’s worth noting that Stewart is still indefinitely suspended from the program following an arrest in December. Because of this, his status is still technically undecided despite the expectation being that Stewart will return.

There are currently only three super seniors who haven’t announced a decision, but will not be returning to the Hogs in 2024. Offensive lineman Brady Latham has NFL Draft aspirations, while tight end Francis Sherman and defensive tackle Marcus Miller are moving on after each spent one season at Arkansas.

According to Hutchinson, the Razorbacks are at 83 scholarship players for 2024. The roster limit is 85, so there should be more movement as we get closer to spring practices.

For now, let’s take a closer look at the nine super seniors expected to return next season.

Cowboys 7-round mock draft: Replenishing OL, RB among top 2024 priorities

The Cowboys’ roster is one of the best in the league, but they got it that way by continously drafting as good as anyone. Here’s a restock. | From @TimLettiero

Dallas finds themselves in the driver seat of their own destiny and have yet to show any signs of slowing down. This team looks poised for a deep playoff run and is set up for success down the line but, as any of the best football minds would admit, one can never have too much talent in the pipeline.

With 19 pending free agents in 2024, a list that doesn’t include stars who need extensions, Dallas is going to need to once again knock a draft haul out of the park. In this seven-round mock here are seven names that would keep this Cowboys roster as the cream of the crop come the 2024 season.

Ranking Taylen Green and/or KJ Jefferson’s targets for 2024

Nearly everyone will be back for Arkansas at wide receiver and tight end. Is that a good thing for the Hogs?

This list very well could change by fall camp.

But with a majority of Arkansas’ wide receivers and tight ends having already announced their return from 2023 into 2024, the two primary positions that will line up for passes from KJ Jefferson, Taylen Green or Jacolby Criswell next year for the Razorbacks appear to be the most stable in during the crazy season that is transfer portal time.

Arkansas landed Green, a transfer from Boise State, on Monday evening, providing for some competition under center when the spring rolls around. It remains to be seen if Green’s addition is an indicator of Jefferson’s status. Arkansas’ all-time leading passer was not expected to return to the team in 2024 for a super-senior season, but as each day has passed without his official entry to the portal, the question of that status grows.

But whether it’s Jefferson, Green or Criswell, who played well in garbage-time duty for the Hogs in the fall, throwing passes, the corps catching them is almost all set. Or close to it.

The Razorbacks could land another wideout or two via the portal, but as of now, they have a full complement of players at the spot. And, frankly, it doesn’t look much different than last year’s.

Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends on perspective. For now, let’s rank them, regardless of position, when it comes to likelihood they will be big-time targets for whoever is tossing them balls next regular season.

Wide receiver TeSlaa will remain a Razorback for 2024

Isaac TeSlaa said ‘I’ll be back’ Terminator style for his return to Arkansas announcement.

Isaac TeSlaa made sure to remind Razorback Nation that he wasn’t going anywhere on Saturday night.

The transfer from Division II Hillsdale (Mich.) College had 34 receptions for 351 yards and two touchdowns in 2023.

TeSlaa will most likely have a much more active role in the offense in Bobby Petrino’s scheme, which involves more crossing routes and quick passes than was used in Dan Enos’ system.

Other offensive players who have announced their intentions to return to Arkansas include tight ends Ty Washington and Luke Hasz and wide receiver Andrew Armstrong along with running backs Rashod Dubinion and Isaiah Augustave.

TeSlaa is electing to use the bonus year that all players who were on a collegiate roster during COVID received.

Cowboys 2024 7-round mock draft: 5 prospects who could help

A look at the Cowboys’ current five picks and a few ideal prospects to fill current needs. | From @TimLettiero

The Dallas Cowboys find themselves in a groove as they move past the halfway portion of the season. With eyes on taking the division back, head coach Mike McCarthy and company look to finish the home stretch as well as they’ve started it.

Now sitting at 6-3 on the season, Dallas once again has their sights set on double-digit wins and hopefully a more fruitful journey into the playoffs. However, whenever and wherever the season ends, the draft will arrive and give the club a chance to enhance their roster for future seasons.

While players and coaches alike focus on each week as it comes, background work from the likes of VP of Player personnel Will McClay keeps tabs on the upcoming offseason. The Cowboys currently own five picks, and they are slated to receive two more compensatory picks once those are assigned. Here, we’ll look at the birds in hand and which prospects could fit based on projected team needs.

Receiving corps was a bright spot in Baton Rouge

Arkansas caught nearly everything KJ Jefferson threw on Saturday night against No. 12 LSU. It just wasn’t quite enough to pull off the upset.

Arkansas couldn’t have asked much more from its pass catchers on Saturday night in Death Valley.

KJ Jefferson threw the ball 31 times and completed 21 of those passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns.

He was picked off twice (the second was a desperation pass downfield as time expired) but all in all, his receivers did their job.

Andrew Armstrong was targeted by Jefferson six times. He caught all six for 76 yards. Isaac Teslaa was targeted five times and he caught three balls for 31 yards.

Tyrone Broden was targeted six times. He caught three passes for 31 yards and the impressive touchdown in the back of the end zone near the end of the first half.

Luke Hasz and Rashad Dubinion, despite being a tight end and running back, respectively, were targeted by Jefferson ten times and they caught nine of those for 151 yards and Hasz scored twice.

“I think we’re doing a really good job with our wideouts,” Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said. “There was a time KJ had already decided to throw the ball away, but Andrew Armstrong did a nice job in the end zone getting open. I think we’re doing a really good job with the scramble drill. Luke himself catches the ball incredible and he can run. We continue to work on his blocking, but he’s a big-time weapon running routes and we’re adding stuff for him each week.”

Arkansas at No. 13 LSU: Players to watch on Saturday

Arkansas will try to bounce back from a heart-breaking loss to BYU, while LSU tries to keep rolling for its third straight victory.

Arkansas (2-1) will go into Saturday’s SEC conference opener against LSU in Death Valley as enormous underdogs, having just gotten beat at home by BYU.

But quarterback KJ Jefferson and crew will try to rebound on the road and get the train headed back in the right direction.

No. 13 LSU (2-1) has rebounded impressively with two breezy wins, after a season-opening loss to No. 3 Florida State. The Tigers walloped host Mississippi State 41-14 last Saturday, in their conference opener.

The game will also feature players on both teams, who used to play at the other school. Junior Landon Jackson and Dwight McGlothern jumped ship from LSU to Arkansas prior to last season. Senior Greg Brooks Jr. left the Razorbacks to join the Tigers last season, but Head Coach Brian Kelley has announced that Brooks will not be available for the Arkansas game.

Here are 12 players to watch in Saturday’s showdown:

 

New Hogs wide receiver group has something previous ones don’t: extreme reliability

Arkansas doesn’t appear to have a star wide receiver. They just have a stable of good, realiable ones.

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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Check it out! Isaac TeSlaa’s athleticism supplies his first TD, Arkansas’ third

TeSlaa scored his first touchdown as a Razorbacks and KJ Jefferson stayed a perfect 9 for 9.

Isaac TeSlaa had plenty of reasons to grin.

His second catch as a Razorbacks wide receiver, with 3:03 left in the first quarter, went for a touchdown to provie Arkansas a 21-0 lead after Cam Little’s point-after.

TeSlaa jumped to make the grab of KJ Jefferson’s 31-yard pass on the first play of Arkansas’ fourth drive after Hudson Clark’s interception provided the Hogs excellent field position. TeSlaa tried to spring off his back without touching the ground with his hand after the score, but with a Western Carolina player still lingering, he stumbled and fell backward, laughing the whole way.

That touchdown provided Arkansas three scores on four drives while Jefferson was a perfect 9 for 9 passing for 165 yards and two touchdowns. The nine completions were spread among seven different receivers.