The Walrus

Boss...if you recall, Thomas was benched the last two games. His teammates and coaches called him out for a lack of effort, he pouted about not being used as he was promised. He was told he wasn't in the plans for next season and the recent court ruling regarding multiple transfers opened the door for him.

KJ was QB1 for three yrs and provided Arkansas fans with many many memorable performances. He owns virtually every QB record in Razorback history. It's sad he had to go out on a sour note. This season was not what he or any of us wanted. That said, his leaving is the best decision he could make for Arkansas and himself. I certainly hope he doesn't land at an SEC school on our schedule next season but wherever he ends up, all Hog fans should wish him good health and a great upcoming season. Most of all, we should say thank you KJ!

A huge get as Carmona fills our biggest position of need - LT! Addison Nichols, a former 4-star C from Tenn is here now for his visit, another position of need and we've got the commit of Keyshawn Blackstock for RT (or LG). O-line is beginning to take shape. Doneiko Slaughter was also a huge get yesterday at DB...now watch what happens with Brylan Lanier and Tyler Woodard, two very good JUCO DBs. We're starting to gain some momentum in the portal.

Rocket was never 100% from the knee injury this season (will it ever be the same as 2022?) and he was one of our two largest NIL recipients. Do we wanna' gamble that $$ on his knee or go with Augustave, Dubinion, and Dom - freeing up big bucks (for OL transfers maybe!). Additionally, SC puts him much closer to his young son and that's a good thing for him and his family. Rocket gave us 3 yrs - mostly good ones - and I certainly wish him a complete recovery and a great season next yr and hopefully, in the NFL as well!

We have Hasz, Washington, Easter, and Gumms right now. All receiving types. Genross, the JUCO TE who committed last week has apparently flipped to Miss St. Easter hasn't indicated he's coming back and our only true blocking TE, Sherman, is a Super Senior who won't be encouraged to come back. So, we need this guy. And if you watch his film, he looks much better at his job that Bax or Sherman. I think it's a good pick up. We've got two big OL visits this week - No Tx St Center Ethan Minter and San Jose St Tackle Fernando Carmona - both highly ranked and sought after.

80085...my bad on the population numbers. Arkansas does indeed have about 200,000 more in population than Mississippi. But, the fact remains we have 10X the number of school districts than MS that dilute the talent in our state which is the point I was trying to make.

wolf...what most don't realize is that not only do we have the smallest population in the SEC, but we dilute that small population with the largest number of school districts in the SEC. This crazy statistic is a political issue that doesn't need addressing here, but what it means for the quality of home grown talent does. Because the small population is divided into so many districts, he talent in the state is spread out - fewer potential D1 athletes play together, play against each other, and no offense intended to any coach - but frankly, many suffer from inferior coaching. Outside our two major metro areas, talent is very hard to evaluate. Recruiting Arkansas kids is hard. That said - indeed, kudos to Coach Drinkwitz for his public support for Coach Pittman. Now, let's play football!

Well said Yankee...this clown doesn't know the first thing about football in general and certainly not Arkansas football. He doesn't have a clue about our NIL, which is middle of the pack in the SEC by the way. Guys like SouthIrish are punks who got cut from their Jr High team (and only tried out because Daddy made him). They get on these boards and spout cr-ap under an assumed name, as a way to make themselves feel important because nobody in the real world gives a flying frick what they think.

Let me 'splain something to you Ethan. There probably are a lot of folks around here who can't spell Arkansas. But I consider them a h e ll of a lot smarter than a News Manager who looked at a photo and decided to write a funny little putdown of a group of cheerleaders. Again...let me 'splain more-on - The cheer works thus: One side of the stadium yells Arkansas (spelled correctly I presude Ehten?) as the cheerleaders turn the cards in their direction and the other side of the stadium yells Razorbacks as the cheerleaders turn the cards in their direction (as pictured). Nice hit piece but it only shows you "fail miserably" intellectually and journalistically.

And it's not going to happen Gator...Everyone has been pointing to this 4 game nightmare stretch since it was announced. All we heard was "Maybe we could win one and get to the easier/home part of the schedule." But we lost to BYU - a good team by the way - and the fuse for the haters was lit. But Yurachek will not fire Pittman after this season. If the team quits on Pittman and they were to finish 2-10, maybe Pittman walks away (with the door held open by Yurachek). Maybe after all the bull**** heaped his way (and towards the players) from some of the "fans," he walks away in disgust anyway. But Sam will get another yr. His recruiting has improved every yr (good group coming in next yr) and in the age of the portal you can get better fast. Sam is still the man for this job and if he elects to stay, he will right the ship.

Son-O-S...if you watch Kelly's post game press conference you will hear him clearly state they would have refused to score. It was his plan from the start to not let Arkansas have the ball again. Even if our D had stepped aside and offered LSU the endzone, they would have taken a knee. Our problem was we had no TO's left to prevent that strategy.

This is the chicken little of all posts! We lost one game to a pretty good football team (we'll know more about them as they begin Big XII play) and Arkansas social media is blowing up. Hair has spontaneously combusted all over the state. Our offense sux after only 425 yds of total offense. Our D is "turrbull" after giving up 281 yds of total offense (only 77 on the ground!). This entire post is absurd. Look...we've got a killer 4-game stretch ahead of us. No doubt. We could emerge 2-5 but the final 5 games of the season seem to be more manageable and could produce a winning season. Sam Pittman has resurrected this program. He brought in a very good HS recruiting class and an exceptional portal class. His 2024 HS recruiting class has 4 of the Top 100 players in the country (we've never had more than 1) and you can bet he'll hit the portal with the same type results he got this yr. If the clowns who have taken over the message boards manage to run Pittman off, just kick back and watch the players that are here now hit the portal and watch next yr's recruiting class decommit or never sign. This program will be right back where it was in the Age of Chad. Pittman was and is the right man for this job. Don't be surprised if we steal a game (or enen two) out of this 4-game stretch. If he doesn't decide to give the jackals a middle finger and retire to the lake after this season, he will make this program a consistent and winning program in the SEC.

No argument from me re. KJ's drop but it has absolutely nothing to do with "Treylon Burks and Matt Landers not walking through that door, and it’s unclear at this point exactly when Rocket Sanders will be, either. KJ has three very talented receivers he's throwing to - Armstrong, Teslaa, and TE Hasz. Further, AJ Green is doing an excellent job carrying the ball - the problems is he's not getting the carries he should be. For the most part, KJ is getting time to throw (in spite of the 4 sacks vs BYU). KJ is holding ball too long, has not been as accurate with his throws as in the past, and appears to have a reluctance to pull the ball down and run. I don't know if KJ's diminished performance is on him or on the new system and play calling of Enos. We'll see in this next 4 game stretch.

We should be ranked #11 (or lower) but not for the reasons listed here. We gave BYU a short field with two shanked punts, two turnovers, and a failed 4th down attempt. They only scored on one drive over 50 yds. The defense held them to 280 total yds. AJ Green had 86 ys and two TD's on only 9 carries after coming into the game avg over 5 yds per carry (perhaps a question should be why isn't he getting more carries?. BYU played good solid football and took advantage of what we gave them. Our D or a lack of Rocket didn't lose the game. Penalties and offensive mistakes were the culprit.

Agreed DEHog...I believe our D is proving strong enough to help us over the finish line against BYU and keep us in the murderer's row stretch that follows. If we can begin to see some consistency in our offense, we can get one of those four, maybe two as you say. I'd be thrilled with two wins out of that road stretch. 0-4 would hurt...hurt...hurt.

I worry that he may require a scope and miss closer to 4 wks than 2. I love AJ Green, Dubinion, and Dominique and believe they can get the job done. But it sure would be nice to have a healthy Rocket vs. LSU and A&M.

There's a lot of concern being voiced about the O-line and the running game. I don't think there's reason for concern. WCarolina was selling out to stop the run - esp keying on Rocket. When Rocket was in the backfield they were walking their two Safeties up. Their leading tackler was a S with 7 and the next two were DB's with 6 each. What is the scheme for blocking those Safeties and/or DB's? When WCarolina stayed in Cover 2 and LB'ers stayed at home, AJ Green had running room. So did Dubinion and DomJohnson made a couple of punishing runs.Those three had 10 carries and avg. 5 yds per. And KJ was not looking to run the ball (by design). The selling out to stop Rocket is why we had receivers running wide open all day and KJ had plenty of time to find them. Had Enos wanted, he could have run play action with Rocket and we would have scored even more. The good news is that even if better teams sell out to stop the run, we showed that KJ has the receivers to make them pay.

A lot of folks are yawning at "another 3-star" but this kid is the real deal. He's an unknown to recruiting services - hasn't gone to camps, no videos, no interviews - but 21 big time programs know who he is. He's got great size and even better speed. This is a big time get for us!

Thank you Matt Hayes for this touching piece on AC and Bielema. Whether you were a Bielema fan or (most likely) not, he did care about his players. I vividly remember Coach calling out AC running through the end zone to the stands and celebrating with the fans after his first collegiate TD. Bielema said in his press conference Collins wouldn't play again at Arkansas with antics like that. From that moment on, AC handed the ball to the referees after every run and he continued that in the NFL. I remember AC running laps carrying a mattress on his back when he was late for practice. Bielema was old-school in his methods but as he said in the article "...sometimes young guys need totally different to get where they want to be." Alex took his hits from Bielema with that unforgettable smile and racked up three memorable seasons here. I loved watching him and I really believe he is underrated in spite of all he accomplished on the field. But it's good to see his personality and again - that smile - weren't underrated by fans from all over the country. I'm brokenhearted by this one...

Sorry Volbee...I got your post and was agreeing with you. I didn't do a good job of explaining.

Volbee...KJ is a superstar and certainly deserves to be on this list. I won't demean any of the other players from the other schools - all great players - so let me just use the example of Rocket Sanders. Rocket is a superstar without question. But we are blessed with a great RB room. Last yrs Liberty Bowl is the perfect example. Rocket goes down early and AJ Green and Rashod Dubinion both had over 100 yds total offense. On the other hand, with a healthy KJ we never lose to Liberty and with a healthy KJ playing against LSU we likely win that game. It's time KJ got his props!

Give me a break. Ask Charlie Strong about Texas boosters. Red McCombs began the process of firing Charlie Strong the day Strong was hired.

Yep...MU has owned the Hogs and I could go into reasons why but no need. The fact remains Mizzou is 7-2 in the series. And I do view Mizzou as a rival. I don't like them. I root against them. So I'm happy to continue this rivalry and I will close on this. We are a program on the rise approaching Year 4 of Pittman. Mizzou is a program heading to the bottom in Year 4 under Drinkwitz so that 2-7 record will begin to turn for us - this yr. Book it Captain.

I think Pittman and his staff have done an incredible job of working the portal. We had 25 players enter the portal after last season and much of the fan base was in meltdown but only 8 of those who left transferred to Power 5 programs. 7 haven't received any offers. Compare that to who the staff replaced them with. We picked up a major get at QB who will serve as backup this yr and likely start next season. With the commit of Wiggins, we got a much needed backup C/G to go with a starting G (Braun) committed earlier. We added 2 TE's, one who will likely be the go to TE receiver in the Enos system and the other a much needed blocking TE. We got 3 highly recruited WR's - two who will likely start. On defense, with the commit of Keivie Rose, we added an entire front 4, all who could start but certainly add much needed depth, and 2 LB'ers - again, both who could start but will certainly be a part of the LB rotation. Finally, we picked up 6 DB's (obviously our weakest defensive link last season) - at least 3 of whom will start and the other 3 providing much needed depth. After what most considered an underachieving season last yr, with the returning starters, and these players out of the portal, Pittman has put together a formidable team that is going to surprise a lot of teams and pundits this season.

And that's the point isn't it Irish. We've brought in 10 new defensive additions through the portal. All of them will contribute - several will start, all will be in the rotation and provide much needed depth. Pittman and the coaching staff have done a great job in bringing in new talent (including Frosh) to compliment an already improved defense.

Nice job of cherry picking stats Irish. I like his size and especially the 64 tackles he recorded in '21 when he was healthy the entire season. He's going to be a good special teams pickup as well as added depth at S and Nickel.

I know writers on SDS often (deservedly) get called out...gotta give credit where credit is due. This piece by Connor O'Gara is spot on! Absolutely spot on! KJ will prosper under Enos and as KJ goes - so goes the Hogs. Bravo Connor!

I didn't find it boring it all. I loved seeing the Enos offense again with throws across the middle and plenty of TE. AJ Green ran like he wants more carries this season. Ty Washington looked like he's going to be a fine pass catching TE. Sam Mbake made some tough catches and had a great TD catch from Jacolby Criswell that was called back by an early "touch" whistle. And Sategna certainly did "come up with a few catches!" He blew past a LB for a beautiful catch and run 65-yd TD and made a great catch in the back corner of the end zone for another TD. And the biggest surprise to me was the play of QB Cade Fortin. He looked like much more comfortable in the pro set offense of Enos than he did last season. The defense looked good and more aggressive under the direction of new coaches Williams and Woodson. Landon Jackson and Niko Davillier caused the QB's problems all day and the interior line and LB'ers did a good job against the run. Most impressive was the improved secondary play. I liked the play of Jaylen Lewis and Jayden Johnson. So, no...it wasn't boring at all. It was good physical football with solid play from the guys you expect to perform week in and week out and some very pleasant surprises on both sides of the ball.

Let's look at facts. We had 25 players enter the portal after last season. Only 8 of them transferred to Power 5 programs. 7 haven't received any offers. Zero! Out of the 25 who left, we probably would have liked for 4 or 5 to stay with Catalon being the biggest loss. So far we have 12 transfers from the portal. Each one of them will contribute to this years team compared to the players we lost where again, maybe 5 would have contributed. Coach Pittman signed the 21st ranked recruiting class in the country - not the best in the SEC but matches the highest in several yrs. All the moaning and groaning about last season and trying to blame a 7-6 season on the fact that "we sucked" or "underachieved" fails to look at the facts. We lost KJ for 2 games and he played in 2 more at less than 50% and our defensive secondary, while not the best in the league to begin with, was decimated by injury starting in the first game when Catalon and Slusher went down followed by 5 more by midseason. Injuries are part of the game and not an excuse but Pittman has shored up our depth in every area with good recruiting. You don't take a team like Arkansas from 2017-2020 and restock it overnight. Pittman has done an outstanding job in recruiting and next yrs class is already shaping up to be better than the last. Those of you who think this program is on a downhill trajectory simply ignore the numbers. We are a hell of lot closer to that 9 win season in 2021 than the 7 win season last yr and with a healthy KJ and our stable of RB's, we might even qualify as a surprise team in the West.

Enos has a track record of taking good QB's and making them better. He certainly did that here in 2015 with Brandon Allen. I think Enos will make KJ an even better QB and that should be a scary thought for most SEC defenses. As for the portal losses, Yankeepig is spot on. The vast majority of those who left would never have seen playing time...I would suggest that the 10-11 players we have brought in thus far are significant upgrades over the entire group of 25 or so we lost. And we will sign 8-10 more! My only fear for this team is who we might lose to the portal after Spring Practice. We have a full RB room, some very good young receivers, and a lot of potential on the OL that we just can't afford to lose.