It’s positive to improve by 3 wins. Period.
Arkansas did that in what was a job-saving season for Sam Pittman. It included a win against a Playoff-bound Tennessee team, and perhaps even more impressively, that game was closed out with backup quarterback Malachi Singleton after Taylen Green was hurt in the second half. Singleton is now gone (Purdue), but Green and Pittman are both back for an Arkansas team that’s vying for its second top-25 finish of the Playoff era, as well as its first winning record in SEC play in a decade.
Later in the summer, we’ll map out how realistic that is with our Crystal Ball Series. For now, we’ll keep it strictly positive with the Hogs.
There’s no better time to be positive than talkin’ season. That’s what I always say. Each of the next 16 days, we’ll look at the best things about each SEC team. This daily series will align with the SEC Network Takeover, which runs from Saturday, June 28, until July 13, AKA just before talkin’ season officially kicks off at SEC Media Days on July 14.
For those keeping track at home, that’s alphabetical order.
So far, here are the teams that we’ve done:
Today, we’ll continue with the best things about Arkansas in 2025:
Best offensive player: Taylen Green, QB
Look. Arkansas had massive, massive roster turnover for a team that didn’t endure a change at head coach, or with one of its coordinators. Losing 40 players via the portal and bringing in 31 is staggering. A new group of wideouts isn’t usually a quarterback’s best friend, either. But the good news is that Green can be the steadying force amid all that change, much like he was in the bowl game.
Green has to improve his ball security (his 12 fumbles were the most among Power Conference quarterbacks) and he needs to improve against quality competition, but there was a lot to like with what he did in Year 1 with Bobby Petrino.
The only FBS quarterback with more big-time throws under pressure than Green (11) was Cade Klubnik, and no returning Power Conference quarterback had more dropbacks under pressure than Green (via PFF). He won’t be fazed if Arkansas’s new-look offensive line isn’t a world-beater in pass protection. The 6-6 signal-caller can make plays that few SEC quarterbacks can make, and against defenses that lack game-wreckers on the defensive line, Green’s mobility is a major weapon. Only 3 returning Power Conference quarterbacks forced more missed tackles than Green (41), who racked up 823 rushing yards if you remove sack yardage (14th among FBS quarterbacks).
Green was hurt for, as Pittman said, “about half the year.” His style to extend plays will always leave him more susceptible than most to those types of hits, but “he’s unlimited in what he can do,” according to Pittman. It’ll take an unlimited version of Green in order for Arkansas to put together a 2021-like season.
Best defensive player: Xavian Sorey, LB
The former Georgia transfer will have a role that’s similar to Green. Amid significant turnover, he’s the returner who has to be the steadying force. Again, the bowl game performance — he was named Liberty Bowl Defensive MVP — was a promising sign. Sorey was asked to do a lot in his first year in Fayetteville, which was why playing in the middle of Travis Williams’ defense appealed to him. Last year was his first as a starter and the run-game instincts were on full display. At that middle linebacker spot, Sorey racked up a team-high 99 tackles, he was tied for the team-high with 9.5 tackles for loss and he added 14 quarterback pressures on 67 pass-rushing snaps.
Sorey is still growing into his 6-3, 231-pound frame, which means that he’s far from a finished product even though this will be his 5th season in the SEC (3 at Georgia, 2 at Arkansas) after he was a decorated recruit out of IMG Academy (Bradenton, Fla.). Sorey becoming an All-SEC caliber linebacker — something that’s been tough to come by since Drew Sanders and Bumper Pool left after 2022 — would be a monumental development for the Hogs.
Best freshman: Antonio Jordan, WR
Think about what Green likes to do and then tell me if this aligns with it. We know that Green loves to extend plays and force secondaries to cover for longer than they’d like to. Who is the type of guy that Green could gravitate to in those scenarios? How about … a 6-6, 230-pound receiver with a basketball background? Sounds good to me.
Jordan is that guy, and while he didn’t get the benefit of spring practices with Green as a summer enrollee, something tells me that those 2 will get on the same page in a hurry. Jordan averaged 24 yards per catch as a big-play threat at Warren High School, which produced elite Arkansas receivers like Treylon Burks, Jarius Wright and Greg Childs. Could Jordan be next to emerge from the talent-rich program? He’ll certainly have an opportunity to emerge with last year’s top 9 leaders in receiving yards all gone. Shoot, Arkansas’ leading returning receiver is running back Rodney Hill, who had 8 catches for 68 yards in 2024.
Jordan and Green forming a 6-6 connection might come out of necessity, but it could become a major weapon by season’s end.
Best game: Week 5, Notre Dame at Arkansas
I know, I know. It’s a bummer that it’s not a night game. I feel you, Arkansas fans. You want the vibes that yielded last year’s Tennessee win, or even better, the vibes that yielded the 2021 Texas win. The latter was the biggest statement win of Pittman’s tenure in Fayetteville. You can bet that the Fayetteville faithful will be amped up for the 2024 runner-up to roll into town, especially after the first matchup was postponed back in 2020. Go figure that it’ll only be Arkansas’s second game of the season at Razorback Stadium and first against FBS competition (the Arkansas State game is in Little Rock).
But this will be a key opportunity for Pittman to feed off that home crowd and beat a respected foe like Notre Dame, who has a new-look offense. Could the Irish still be figuring things out like Tennessee was at that point of last season? It’s possible. An upset of a top-15 team would be the best way for Pittman to fend off the hot-seat discussion.
Best reason for improvement: Coordinator continuity
As challenging as it’ll be to deal with that aforementioned roster turnover, a great equalizer is having both coordinators back. That’s something that elevated Arkansas’s floor early in the Pittman era, and it could prove to be a floor-raiser again in Year 6. Travis Williams doesn’t get enough credit as one of the up-and-coming defensive minds in the sport, and it feels like a matter of time before he gets his first opportunity to become a head coach. Petrino is a household name, but it’s easy to forget that in consecutive years, he improved SEC offenses by 4-10 points/game in Year 1.
Does that guarantee that Arkansas will improve on a 7-win season? Of course not. Depending on which metrics you follow, Arkansas might be facing the toughest schedule in America (via Kelley Ford). After all, half of Arkansas’s schedule is against teams who won double-digit games in 2024. Mind you, that’s not even including a trip to 9-win LSU, nor is it including a matchup vs. Texas A&M, who beat Arkansas 12 out of 13 times since joining the SEC. That schedule doesn’t scream “improvement” by any stretch of the imagination.
But having the right leaders on both sides of the ball — along with captains returning to lead both of those units — could be the foundation of a doubt-quieting year for Pittman and the Hogs.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
