Tag: Jaedon Wilson

Arkansas wideouts dealing with injury woes heading into Saturday’s spring game

Arkansas’ wide receivers won’t be in full health for the spring game Saturday.

Better now than in September, anyway.

Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman detailed a number of injuries bothering his Razorbacks this week ahead of the team’s spring game on Saturday inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.

Arkansas is especially thin at wide receiver, Pittman said, though the bumps and bruises at that position have given the inexperienced players – the Hogs returned every wideout who had a catch last year – some opportunity to make a dent in the depth chart.

“I think maybe the biggest question mark right now is where we’re at wide receiver-wise because we’ve had several injuries,” Pittman said. “We know who we have, we just haven’t seen them I guess in the last couple of days. But some younger guys are moving up the depth chart. It’s given them some opportunities.”

Andrew Armstrong, Arkansas’ leading receiver last year, has been dealing with a hamstring injury since late March. Tyrone Broden, the team’s third-leading receiver, has been out because of family reasons. Jaedon Wilson, who is battling Broden and Isaiah Sategna for the No. 3 receiver spot, is also trying to fight off a hamstring injury. And Davion Dozier, whose spring has impressed, has an injury Pittman thinks is Dozier’s hand.

“He didn’t come back so a lot of times if it’s a hand, that’s not great news but we’ll figure it out,” the Arkansas coach said.

The Razorbacks will play their spring game Saturday with two 15-minute quarters and a normal clock in the first half, have a 10-minute halftime and finish with a running clock for two 10-minute quarters in the second half. Kickoff is a noon and the game will air on SEC Network+.

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

Watch: KJ Jefferson finds Jaedon Wilson to open scoring against FIU

Jefferson set the Arkansas all-time passing touchdown record (65) with the score.

If Florida International is just going to give Arkansas a chance, the Razorbacks will sure enough take it.

Jaedon Wilson opened the scoring Saturday night against FIU when he hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from KJ Jefferson on Arkansas’ first drive of the game.

The drive was only five plays long and went just 32 yards after the Panthers inexplicably went for it on 4th-and-3 in their own territory. An incomplete pass was the result and Arkansas took over in easy position.

Jefferson went 2 for 3 passing on the drive with completions to Wilson and Isaac TeSlaa and Rocket Sanders rushed twice for 15 yards, as well.

The Razorbacks have not won at home since Week 2 against Kent State and have just three wins total on the season.

Watch: Arkansas needs just two plays to open season with a touchdown

Jaedon Wilson went 65 yards on a pass from KJ Jefferson after a dynamite block by Isaac TeSlaa.

Arkansas scored just one touchdown in 13 games last year on its opening drive.

The 1 for 1 start the Razorbacks have in 2023 is a dynamite sign.

Arkansas needed just two offensive plays to open the 2023 season with a touchdown. Jaedon Wilson took a short KJ Jefferson pass out wide around the corner and was untouched down the sideline for a 65-yard score.

The touchdown was the first of Wilson’s career. He caught three passes in eight games last year, but established himself as a top target out of the slot in the spring and in fall camp.

On the play before, Jefferson rolled to his right and zipped a 13-yard pass to freshman tight end Luke Hasz to start the drive. That came after Arkansas’ defense forced a three-and-out to Western Carolina on the game’s opening drive.

Wide receiver room is hungry to prove a point

Arkansas’ wide receiver room is full of talent, it’s just unproven. Luckily they have a veteran quarterback getting them the ball.

It’s arguable, but probably the most unproven position group going into Arkansas’ fall camp are the wide receivers.

Matt Landers? Gone.

Jadon Haselwood? Gone.

Ketron Jackson? Gone.

Warren Thompson? Gone.

Only Jaedon Wilson, Bryce Stephens, Isaiah Sategna and Sam Mbake return from last year’s crew, and got minimal snaps, mainly in blowouts and the bowl game.

Arkansas did reload with talent there, however. They added Andrew Armstrong and Isaac TeSlaa from Division II schools and also added Davion Dozier as a true freshman along with a few portal guys like Tyrone Broden from Bowling Green and Marlon Crockett from Memphis.

“It’s kind of neat to bring a couple of guys from DII ball,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said. “Here comes Armstrong, he’s fast and big. He had made a catch from KJ in the two-minute drill and KJ really believes in him and those things. You’ve got him and TeSlaa.”

Sategna was also impressive to Pittman on day one.

“Today I was excited about (him),” Pittman said. “He did some things today, part of it was his blocking. But with Wilson, Mbake, and those guys, I feel like we’re going to have a nice receiving corps.”

Wilson understands the system, especially with the reps he got in bowl preparation and in the Liberty Bowl itself.

But other guys weren’t so lucky.

“I wasn’t too concerned about (Wilson),” Pittman said. “He showed up today, he showed up all summer. (Tyrone) Broden was the one where he doesn’t understand our system, doesn’t understand the offensive system, that I felt like got hurt in the spring because of that. As far as I know watching the tape, I know he made a few catches today and did some good things.”

Razorbacks need more from passing game in 2022 and Friday was a good start

Arkansas’ running game is a given. The passing game will be of interest at Razorbacks’ fall practices.

KJ Jefferson was not named a preseason All-SEC selection for the 2022 season. Much to the annoyance, obviously, of many Arkansas football fans and followers.

Part of the reason, perhaps, was Jefferson’s modest passing numbers in 2022. He had just better than a 5-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio. But his 21 touchdown passes were seventh in the SEC and his 2,676 yards passing were ninth. Those numbers came with Treylon Burks at his disposal, too.

So when Jefferson – and reserve Malik Hornsby – looked sharp for a bulk of Arkansas’ first practice Friday, positive signs for the future were apparent.

“To start off, I thought we threw and caught the ball really well for the first day,” Pittman said. “Not a lot of errors. Not a lot of balls on the ground. Snaps from center to quarterback seemed to be good.”

If the praise sounds faint, remember it was only the first practice of the season.

Hornsby, who will also see time at wide receiver, had an especially nice pass to Jaedon Wilson for a score midway through camp. Wilson is seeking to establish himself as one of the top six in the Razorbacks hierarchy at wide receiver.

“I told him, ‘Nobody knows who you are, bro,'” Pittman said. “If you want them to know who you are, you have to do what he did in practice today.”

Arkansas’ first unit of wideouts were as expected: Jadon Haselwood, Ketron Jackson Jr. and Warren Thompson.