Tag: sam pittman

Razorback football sets dates for spring practice, Homecoming

Razorbacks football program announces key dates for the spring and fall.

The Arkansas football team will kick off spring practices on March 7, and are slated to hold the annual Red-White spring game on April 13, the program announced Wednesday.

The Razorbacks will hold the NCAA-allowed 12 practices leading up to the spring finale inside Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium. That weekend will also serve as a memorial for legendary Arkansas athletic trainer Dean Weber, who passed away on Feb. 13.

The A Club will hold its annual spring reunion the day of the Red-White game, which is held to welcome back all former Razorback student-athletes. Following the game, Weber’s celebration of life will take place inside Bud Walton Arena at 4 p.m. For more information on the A Club or the reunion, contact the Razorback Foundation at (479) 443-9000.

With Head Coach Sam Pittman entering his fifth year at the helm, the Razorbacks will open up the regular season against Arkansas-Pine Bluff in Little Rock on Aug. 31. The Fayetteville home-opener will be held on Sept. 14, as Alabama-Birmingham comes to town. The UAB game will also serve as part of the University’s Family Weekend, when this year’s U of A Hall of Honor inductees will also be recognized.

More details about Family Weekend will be updated at family.uark.edu as they are made available.

The Hogs will host LSU for Homecoming on Oct. 19, which will be the earliest the two schools have ever played inside the state of Arkansas. The Arkansas Alumni Association will host a number of Homecoming activities throughout the week, leading up to Saturday’s game. Additional details will be available at homecoming.uark.edu.

Arkansas will honor the United States Armed Services during the home finale on Nov. 23, against Louisiana Tech. It will also be Senior Day to honor the senior class of Hogs.

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.

Way too early 2024 SEC Football Power Rankings

The Sooners and Longhorns are making the jump to the SEC in 2024, so where do they land in our way-too-early power rankings?

In 2024, college football will look like nothing we’ve ever seen. Conference realignment did plastic surgery to the game we’ve grown up with.

The Pac-12 is essentially gone as Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA move to the Big Ten. The Big 12 added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Stanford and Cal are off to the ACC, along with SMU getting a promotion from the AAC. The SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma.

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, coming off its most competitive four-team version.

All of this is happening in 2024.

It’s a new era of college football. For the SEC, the Sooners and Longhorns are coming off of double-digit win seasons and Texas made the playoff. But how do they stack up against their future SEC counterparts?

Here’s a look at our way-too-early SEC power rankings.

Arkansas football officially welcomes Bobby Petrino disciple as wide receivers coach

Arkansas officially welcomed Bobby Petrino disciple, Ronnie Fouch, as the program’s next wide receivers coach on Monday.

[autotag]Arkansas football[/autotag] officially welcomed their new wide receivers coach, Ronnie Fouch, to the coaching staff on Monday evening.

Fouch was announced with a post from the team’s official Twitter (X) account with the caption, “Let’s get to work!!!”

The news comes after reports surfaced last week that Fouch would be in line for the vacant position at Arkansas. While Fouch is a relative unknown on a national level, he previously worked with Razorback offensive coordinator [autotag]Bobby Petrino[/autotag] at Louisville and Missouri State.

Fouch joined Missouri State’s staff in 2020 where he coached running backs. Before that he was a quarterbacks coach in the AAF and quality control assistant at Louisville from 2015-18. During college, he played quarterback at Washington and Indiana State.

The move comes after former Arkansas wide receivers coach Kenny Guiton left to take the same position at Wisconsin under Luke Fickell.

This marks the final hire for [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag]’s staff ahead of a critical 2024 season in which the fifth-year head coach is firmly on the hot seat.

Oklahoma State game next year will be a barometer reading

The Razorbacks’ first trip to Stillwater in over five decades will tell us where the program is heading under Sam Pittman.

With no bowl game to prepare for, the Arkansas football program is stuck to looking towards the future.

2024 is upon us.

A few weeks ago, the schedule was released and of course it was a difficult schedule, because life in the Southeastern Conference always is.

The Arkansas football program, since vaulting back into the top 10 at the beginning of October 2022, has gone 8-14 since.

That includes losses to Liberty and BYU, two programs that are solid but shouldn’t be on par with Arkansas, especially on its home field.

If Arkansas is going to field a competitive team next fall, i.e. win more than 6 games, we will know based on how they do in Week 2.

Oklahoma State, while hardly a national power, has been a consistent Top 25 team over the last decade-plus under Mike Gundy.

They are usually in the mix for a New Year’s Day bowl game and have flirted with the College Football Playoff a couple of times.

The UA-Pine Bluff game the week before the Oklahoma State trip will tell us nothing about Arkansas, just like Western Carolina this past season told us nothing about the Razorbacks in 2023.

Let’s say Arkansas goes into Stillwater and wins by 2-3 touchdowns. That would be a convincing enough victory to convince me (and others) that the program has turned a corner and could compete for a New Year’s Day bowl game.

A loss or even worse, a blowout loss? We’re right back to square one.

Merry Committmas: Four-star linebacker chooses Arkansas over Clemson

Arkansas football gets a Christmas morning surprise with the commitment of one of the top linebackers in the 2024 class.

It was a really good Christmas for the [autotag]Arkansas football[/autotag] program, as [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag] and [autotag]Travis Williams[/autotag] added a top-rated commitment from the 2024 recruiting class.

Four-star linebacker [autotag]Bradley Shaw[/autotag] chose the Hogs over offers from Clemson, Auburn, Notre Dame and others. Shaw uploaded a video to Twitter (X) showing his Christmas-themed commitment with the caption “Merry Committmas.”

Shaw is a 6-1, 216-pound linebacker from Hoover, Ala. and is the eighth-ranked linebacker prospect in the country, according to 247Sports.com. That puts him as the 101st best overall prospect in the country by 247Sports.

Nationally recruiting analyst Cooper Petagna had really high praise for Shaw in his scouting report saying, “(Shaw) has a knack for being around the football and sniffing out opposing plays before they develop. A true three down linebacker, Shaw is more of a traditional inside backer with excellent feel and instincts in the tackle box.”

“He projects as a multi-year Power Five starter at the next level,” Petagna continues. “With the ability to contribute immediately on defense and special teams.”

Shaw is the 18th high school commit for the Razorbacks, who currently hold the 27th and 26th-ranked class according to 247Sports and Rivals.com respectively. Of those 18 commits, only Shaw and his fellow Hoover High School teammate, Jeremy Cook, have yet to sign their letters of intent.

Georgia transfer linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. commits to Arkansas

Arkansas lands former five-star recruit and Georgia transfer linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr., a major addition to the Razorback defense next season.

In what seems like is becoming a tradition for [autotag]Arkansas football[/autotag], the Hogs have landed commitment from one of the most highly-regarded transfer linebackers currently in the portal.

Georgia redshirt sophomore linebacker [autotag]Xavian Sorey Jr.[/autotag] announced his commitment to the Razorbacks on Tuesday evening, shortly after taking an official visit to Fayetteville.

Sorey was a composite five-star recruit as part of the 2021 recruiting class, and rated as the No. 26 overall prospect in the country according to 247Sports.com’s rankings. He initially chose the Bulldogs over Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, LSU and many others.

This past season, Sorey saw the most playing time of his short career in Athens, albeit most came on special teams. He appeared in 12 games for Georgia, where he totaled 19 tackles (15 solo), 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack. In 2022, Sorey appeared in 11 games, again mostly on special teams, where he recorded three tackles and a fumble recovery. In 2021, Sorey would redshirt after appearing in just four games and recording two tackles, one tackle for loss and an interception.

Sorey’s addition makes it three straight seasons where the Hogs have landed a big-time linebacker via the portal. Drew Sanders transferred from Alabama ahead of the 2022 season and last offseason the Hogs added Jaheim Thomas from Cincinnati.

There is time until the transfer portal closes at the end of December, and [autotag]Sam Pittman[/autotag]’s staff seem to be far from finished.

Arkansas Football: 2024 football schedule revealed

Arkansas’ completed 2024 football schedule was unveiled on the SEC Network during a special on Wednesday night.

Arkansas already knew the opponents it would be facing during the 2024 season, but Wednesday night’s SEC Network special just gave us the dates so that way things can be planned for and trips can be set up.

The Razorbacks, per usual, have a tough schedule, but for the first time since 1991, will not be facing the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Nor will Sam Pittman be facing his old team in the Georgia Bulldogs, who have appeared in the last three SEC Championship games and won two of the last three national titles.

The non-conference slate includes UA-Pine Bluff, at Oklahoma State, UAB and Louisiana Tech.

A trip to Auburn is Arkansas’ first SEC game, and the Razorbacks will host four SEC home games in Fayetteville. It would be five if Texas A&M was coming to town, but that game is in its final year of the contract in Jerry World.

Here is a look at the schedule, game-by-game.

Arkansas freshman lineman Su’a opts to enter transfer portal

Former Bentonville offensive lineman Joey Su’a has decided to leave Arkansas and enter the transfer portal.

After redshirting at Arkansas this past season, without seeing any time on the field, former Bentonville offensive lineman Joey Su’a has decided to enter the transfer portal.

Su’a is the 13th Razorback to enter the portal since it opened on Dec. 4.

The 6-foot-4, 346-pounder enrolled early last spring, after being a consensus 3-Star prospect. He was rated the No. 3 player in Arkansas for the Class of 2023, and the No. 22 offensive guard nationally, by Rivals.

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman entered the offseason committed to shoring up an offensive line that proved ineffective for most of the year.

Su’a’s departure drops the Razorbacks’ offensive line scholarship total to 16, and drops the overall scholarship number to 81. That does clear the way for four more additions, from either the portal, or the high school or junior college ranks. The Razorbacks are expected to host several transfer offensive linemen in the coming days.

The early signing period for college football is Dec. 20-22, with the regular signing period to begin Feb. 7, and continue through April 1.

Devon Manuel already entered the portal on Dec. 4. Ty’Kieast Crawford has announced that he plans to be back for a super senior season. Rising senior Joshua Braun is still on the roster, and Brady Latham could opt to return for his super senior season.

Arkansas has already added 6-foot-5, 315-pound Keyshawn Blackstock, a portal find from Michigan State.

Su’a, who did not allow a sack during his senior year at Bentonville, and registered 56 pancake blocks, chose Arkansas over BYU, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan State, Oregon and others.

Arkansas football schedule for 2024 to be released Wednesday

Want to know Arkansas’ 2024 football schedule? Tune in to ESPN or SEC Network at 6 p.m.

If you’re wondering when to plan that guy’s trip, or if you’re fearful that your buddy’s wedding is going to interfere with a football game next year, you’ll find out what’s in store tonight.

SEC Network is having a special schedule release at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Some games have already been shared through the grapevine, or could be assumed based on past trends.

For instance, Arkansas will play Texas A&M on the last Saturday in September, in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

They will host Ole Miss on November 2 and Texas on November 16, along with the non-conference dates that were already set.

Arkansas is coming off a 4-8 season that saw it win only one conference game, a 39-36 victory at Florida in overtime which was the first time it had won in Gainesville in school history.

Sam Pittman hired former head coach Bobby Petrino in the offseason, and made other staff changes as well, including hiring Eric Mateos as the offensive line coach.