Sam Pittman is relatively new to being a head coach, even more so when you realize the first-year Arkansas coach lost out on the chance to lead the Razorbacks into their first spring camp under his guidance.

The relationships that would have been formed during Pittman’s first camp as head coach in Fayetteville have been delayed for the time being but with players set to return to Fayetteville in the coming days, the biggest question is for the coaching staff is what shape will those players arrive in?

While Arkansas was permitted to send equipment to players that did not have access to any, the program was not permitted to monitor the workouts the players did, or did not do, while away from campus.

According to Pittman, there were several different workout plans sent out to the Razorbacks while they were away from campus.

“Well, you give them three different options,” Pittman shared in the video below. “You give them an option with weights, an option without weights and then we send them stretch bands, resistant bands. So, we’ve given them three different workouts as far as the strength part goes. One as far as the running part goes.”

How will Pittman and his staff know if the players have been making the most of their time away from campus? The reality is they won’t know until the Razorbacks return to campus but Pittman says he trusts his players to put in the work, even when they aren’t being monitored.

“The key word here is trust. I mean, you have to trust that your players are doing what you’re asking them to do,” Pittman added. “And if they’re coming from an environment that they’re proud of, an environment they like, I think they’re going to work out, and you’re not going to have to micromanage them.

“We trust our players. We can’t get video back from them or anything like that. Are you working out? We can’t do that. So we choose to trust, and we think, you know, our big thing is, why can’t you come back in better shape than if you were here? If you’re really driven. If you’re a self-motivator, you’re going to come back in his quality of shape as you possibly can. We choose to trust that our players are going to do that.”

When Pittman was hired in Fayetteville, he asked the players to trust in him and his process. The coaching staff will soon find out which players they can count on to do just that as the Arkansas facility is set to reopen on June 8.

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