Tag: Ryan Mallett

Athletes and sports figures who have died in 2023

The notable athletes, broadcasters, and sports figures we’ve lost so far in 2023.

Mallett, Hillis, Peters headline 2024 Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame class

Ryan Mallett, Peyton Hillis and Jason Peters headline a 10-member Class of 2024.

Ten icons of sports in the Natural State were announced as the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2024 over the weekend.

Three of the 10 are former Arkansas football players.

Quarterback Ryan Mallett, running back Peyton Hillis and tight end/offensive lineman Jason Peters headlined the class that also includes Carla Crowder, Glen Day, Jeff Glassbrenner, Al Flanigan, Ed Harris and Eric Jackson.

Peters is largely considered the greatest NFL player to come out of Arkansas. He played tight end for the Razorbacks from 2000-2003, but made a major mark in the pros where he has been named a Pro Bowler nine times and an All-Pro seven times. Peters is now in his 19th year in the league, playing tackle for the Seattle Seahawks.

Hillis is a native of Conway and played fullback for Arkansas from 2004-2007. He was drafted in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft, but exceeded expectations by having a seven-year career. His best season was in 2010 when he ran for 1,177 yards and 11 touchdowns, a year good enough to see him named cover athlete for the Madden video game franchise heading into the following year.

Mallett is a Texarkana graduate who also spent a bulk of his childhood in nearby Lincoln. After a season at Michigan, Mallett transferred to Arkansas where in just two years he became the schol’s all-time leading passer before playing in the NFL for six seasons. Tragically, Mallett drowned in the summer of 2023.

The introduction ceremony for the Hall of Fame will take place April 19, 2024.

Auburn and Arkansas has always been a competitive series

Arkansas and Auburn was a highly competitive series before Gus Malzahn took over and the Razorbacks fell on hard times.

Except for the Gus Malzahn years, Arkansas and Auburn was a toss-up game most of the time.

Before Malzahn took over Auburn as the head coach in 2013, the series was 10-10-1.

The two teams tied at 24 on Halloween 1992 in Jordan-Hare Stadium, which was the first year Arkansas was in the SEC.

Since then, the biggest winning streak the Razorbacks have joined over Auburn is just two, under Houston Nutt in 1998 and 1999 along with 2001 and 2002 and then Bobby Petrino in 2008 and 2009 and then 2011 and 2012 with both Petrino and John L. Smith.

Probably the biggest game the two have ever played was in 2010.

Auburn, who was 6-0 and No. 7 in America, was hosting No. 12 Arkansas, who had only lost to Alabama at home three weeks prior.

Cam Newton rushed for 188 yards and threw for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the two teams combined for 1,036 yards of total offense in a 65-43 shootout.

Tyler Wilson came in to relieve the late Ryan Mallett, who went out with a shoulder injury late in the second quarter.

Wilson threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns, but it was not enough. Auburn eventually went undefeated and Newton won the Heisman Trophy and the Tigers defeated Oregon for the BCS national title.

Top 7: Winningest starting QBs in Razorback football history

Bill Montgomery won a school-record 27 games as the Razorbacks’ starting quarterback, from 1968-70.

Despite the team’s overall struggles this season, Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson is in the midst of a record-setting campaign in Fayetteville. The senior preseason All-SEC selection is climbing his way up a number of historical categories to establish himself as one of the greatest Razorbacks of all time.

With the victory over Florida in the Swamp on Saturday, Jefferson earned his 19th career win as a starting quarterback, moving him ahead of the late Ryan Mallett, who finished his career with 18 wins in 2009-10.

Jefferson now sits at seventh on the all-time wins list, approaching Tom Jones, who finished with 21, from 1980-82. This list is compiled solely of starting quarterbacks and does not include games that a player may have come in and played.

Jefferson already holds a number of the program’s all-time records, including a 65.4 completion percentage. He is responsible for 85 total career touchdowns, recently breaking Matt Jones’ previous record of 77, while also moving ahead of Jones with 9,339 combined yards, including 7,618 passing and 1,721 rushing. His 599 pass completions is also the most by a Razorback quarterback. Jefferson’s 64 TD passes is tied atop the list with Brandon Allen, and he is just 148 yards from breaking Tyler Wilson’s record of 7,765 career passing yards.

Granted, there are a number of other outstanding achievements by former Arkansas quarterbacks that have also personified greatness. Such as Fred Marshall being the only Razorback starter to win a national championship, in 1964, while Quinn Grovey remains the only QB to lead the program to two conference championships, winning back-to-back Southwest Conference titles in 1988 and 1989.

Joe Ferguson is still the highest drafted Hog to play quarterback in the NFL, selected by Buffalo with the 57th overall pick in 1973 – Matt Jones was drafted as a wide receiver in the first round (21st overall) by Jacksonville in 2005. Greg Thomas also blazed a new trail in 1985, when Head Coach Ken Hatfield named him the first black starting quarterback at Arkansas.

There were many other great individual achievements, as well, including Mallett’s school-record 3,869 passing yards in 2010. That was followed the next season by Tyler Wilson’s 510-yard single-game performance in a win over Texas A&M. Brandon Allen threw for a school-record 7 touchdown passes against Mississippi State in 2015, and was also the first quarterback to win consecutive bowl games – which Jefferson could still break this season with his third bowl victory in a row.

Here is a list of the Top 7 winningest starting quarterbacks in Razorback history:

Arkansas football announces plans to honor Chris Smith, Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins

Hunter Yurachek shared how Arkansas plans to honor Chris Smith, Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins this season.

After the tragic passings of Chris Smith, Ryan Mallett and Alex Collins over the summer, Arkansas fans have shared numerous tributes for the three legendary players.

Fans have also offered countless ideas for how the football team could honor each this season. Today, Hunter Yurachek shared one way the school plans to remember Mallett and Collins, and how Smith will be honored later this year.

In a tweet, Yurachek shared that Collins and Mallett’s initials will be painted on the sidelines for every home game this year. The initials “AC” will be featured on the 3-yard line at each end of the field and the initials “RM” will be on the 15-yard line. The yard line coinciding with the jersey number that each player wore while at Arkansas.

Following the tweet, many fans asked what the school planned to do to honor Chris Smith. Yurachek announced shortly after that Smith’s family will serve as honorary captains later this November when the Razorbacks host Auburn in Fayetteville.

Saturday will mark Arkansas’ first true home game of the season. The Razorbacks will kickoff against Kent State at 3:00 p.m. and it will be televised on SEC Network.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=128]

Petrino’s recent availability with Aggies sheds some light on past

Bobby Petrino alluded to his time coaching both Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson in a recent press availability in College Station.

Bobby Petrino has never been one to mince words.

“We didn’t come to paint.”

“There was a lady there…”

On Sunday, Petrino met with the assembled media in College Station and was quizzed on a variety of topics, the majority of them reserved for his relationship with Jimbo Fisher and who’s going to call plays, along with where he’s going to be on game days.

But one question late in the presser stood out.

It was about the quarterback competition between Max Johnson and Conner Weigman.

Petrino acknowledged that the competition is healthy and is making both players better, especially Weigman, and then added some of his own recollection.

“He (Weigman) really reminds me of the backup quarterback I had at Arkansas, Tyler Wilson,” Petrino said. “Ryan Mallett was the starter and he could do everything. He had such a great understanding of the game. Tyler wasn’t quite there mentally, so we just put these 25 plays together in a package and we knew if he had to come in, these were the plays we were running.”

“That gave him a chance to understand what he was and what he could do, and it gave us a chance to move the football.”

Not sure if that is a shot at Wilson’s intelligence or if he just wasn’t as much of a ‘football guy’ as the late Mallett was, being the son of a coach.

By the way, that strategy worked in 2010 against Auburn when Mallett went down with a shoulder injury and Wilson came in and lit up the eventual national champions in Jordan-Hare Stadium even in defeat.

Either way, it was eye-opening that Petrino went back that far in the memory bank to the Aggie media to expound on the quarterback situation.

Arkansas Football: The All-2010s Team

Arkansas football produced a lot of talent in the 2010s despite the program’s turmoil. Here’s the best players from that decade by position.

[autotag]Arkansas football[/autotag] entered the 2010s looking for more consistent success than they had enjoyed in the previous decade. Entering 2010, [autotag]Bobby Petrino[/autotag] would be in his third season as head coach and had built an extremely solid foundation.

That foundation would take Arkansas football to heights they had never experienced before, but it would only last two short years. After a fateful motorcycle accident in early April of 2012, Petrino’s tenure at Arkansas came to a highly publicized and controversial end.

After John L. Smith’s infamous season as interim head coach, [autotag]Bret Bielema[/autotag] was tabbed as the man to right the ship and get Arkansas football back to prominence in 2013. Under Bielema, Arkansas was able to get back into the postseason and win two bowl games, but were never able to take the next step into championship contention.

Bielema’s reign ended in 2017 and coincided with Jeff Long’s end as athletic director. That led to the controversial hire of first-time head coach Chad Morris in December of 2017. Morris would fail to win a single conference game in either of his first two seasons and was fired by Hunter Yurachek with two games left in the 2019 season.

We end the decade with Sam Pittman being hired in December 2019 to bring the program back to its’ winning ways.

Despite the turmoil and chaos that encapsulated this decade of Arkansas football, the program was able to produce a lot of talented players. Here’s a look at the best players from this decade across each position.

Ryan Mallett’s girlfriend posts poignant Facebook message

Madison Carter, the girlfriend of Ryan Mallett, posted a message on her Facebook account memorializing both Mallett himself and their relationship.

Ahead of Ryan Mallett’s memorial service which took place Thursday afternoon at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville, his girlfriend Madison Carter published a memoir of her own on her Facebook account over the weekend.

Carter and Mallett had a budding romance that looked to be heading for marriage, which makes his unfortunate demise in the Gulf of Mexico last Tuesday even more gut-wrenching.

There is also a memorial service planned at Tiger Stadium in Grim Park tomorrow evening in Texarkana, Texas, where Mallett played high school football for the Tigers.

Here is the post in its entirety.

Mallett was a 5-star quarterback while playing there and then went to Michigan for his freshman season, playing sparingly as Chad Henne was injured before electing to transfer after Lloyd Carr was dismissed and landed with the Razorbacks.

He had followed in his father’s footsteps and became a high school football coach, as he was heading the White Hall Bulldogs and was looking forward to a great 2023 season.

Former quarterback Ryan Mallett has died at just 35

Far too soon – RIP.

Former Michigan and Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett has died at the age of 35 years old.  Mallett, who played in the NFL with the Patriots, Texans, and Ravens from 2011-2017, drowned in Florida.

Mallett was a former top ranked recruit as a quarterback who stood 6-6 and played at a weight of roughly 240-pounds.

Mallett originally signed his letter of intent to play at Michigan and spent 2007 with the Wolverines.  Due to an injury to starting quarterback Chad Henne, Mallett started Michigan’s 38-0 trouncing of Notre Dame that fall.

He’d eventually transfer to Arkansas as Rich Rodriguez’s offense didn’t fit him at Michigan.  While at Arkansas he’d be a second-team All-SEC selection twice.

Most recently, Mallett was the head coach at White Hall High School in Arkansas.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who knew him.

Florida sheriff says Ryan Mallett’s drowning was not from riptide

Riptides were not a factor in the death of Ryan Mallett, according to local law enforcement.

Former Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett’s drowning this week in Florida was not the result of riptides, the Okaloosa County sheriff’s department said.

“It just seems to be just a tragic accident and not something to do with the conditions of the surf or tides or currents,” said sheriff Eric Aden said in a video statement released this week.

Destin beaches, which is where the drowning occurred, were under yellow flag warnings at the time. Yellow flags denote beach-goers to swim with caution.

Destin Beach safety responded after being informed that one of six swimmers struggling to get back to shore had submerged and did not resurface. Lifeguards entered the water, found Mallett and brought him ashore. Destin Fire Paramedics began measures there and transported him to the hospital where he died.

Mallett, 35, played two seasons for the Razorbacks and is the school’s single-season leader in yards passing and passing touchdowns.

[lawrence-auto-related count=1]