Arkansas has its starting quarterback for the 2026 season, with the Razorbacks naming KJ Jackson as the man behind center for the Week 1 home matchup against North Alabama.
Jackson officially won the job on Sunday after a fierce fall camp battle with Memphis transfer AJ Hill. The winner of this particular quarterback battle doesn’t just get to start the Razorbacks’ new season, he would get the chance to start a new era of Arkansas football with Ryan Silverfield taking over as head coach this fall.
Silverfield has a mammoth rebuild on his hands, as the Hogs try to recover from last season’s 2-10 disaster that included an 0-8 SEC record. It was a season that included the firing of Sam Pittman midway through the campaign, and so it was crucial for Silverfield that he find the right guy to lead his offense in Year 1.
That guy will be Jackson, who has just 6 career appearances to his credit going into the 2026 season. This will be Jackson’s 3rd season in the program, and he’ll have an opportunity to make it a breakout campaign after beating out Hill this fall.
What makes Jackson’s emergence as the starting QB even more interesting is the guy he beat out for the job. Hill spent the first season of his collegiate career at Memphis, the program where Silverfield arrived to Fayetteville from after spending 6 seasons as the Tigers’ head coach.
Despite following Silverfield from Memphis to Arkansas, it will be Jackson who gets the nod to try to lead the Hogs back toward respectability in 2026.
With Jackson now confirmed as the starting QB, Arkansas will try to make itself relevant in the SEC under a new coaching regime. Here is what the Kalshi market is currently saying about how many victories Silverfield’s Hogs could rack up in his first season in Fayetteville:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
