SEC Football Preview: Arkansas Razorbacks on the rise

Published: Jul. 30, 2021 at 8:07 PM CDT
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas (KBTX) - The Arkansas Razorbacks football team is entering year two of the Sam Pittman era with optimism. Once the bottom dwellers of the SEC West, the Hogs believe they’re on the rise.

Arkansas is coming off a 3-7 season last year against an all-SEC slate, but even that is a big step forward for a program that before last year had not won a conference game since 2017.

“As a player when you come into a program that’s probably not doing so well, to leave in a better standing than when you found it is a great achievement,” said Arkansas offensive lineman Myron Cunningham.

The biggest improvement the Hogs hope to make this year is on the defensive line, where they added Tre Williams and Markell Utsey from Missouri, and coveted Illinois State lineman John Ridgeway.

“Depth with the D-line,” Arkansas linebacker Grant Morgan explained as a big improvement from last year. “We had to go to the transfer portal and we grabbed some guys who can play immediately, and they’ve done really well. That purely made our other D-linemen a lot better. I haven’t seen a jump like this in our D-line group since I’ve been here,” Morgan added.

“I see great things from the defense,” Cunningham chimed in. “We’ve got a great core of linebackers and DB’s. They come in and work every day. And our D-line just got better from our transfers, so I’m expecting great things from our defense, even better than last year,” Cunningham added.

The culture has seemed to change in Fayetteville with the arrival of head coach Sam Pittman last year. Now entering year two, the team says Pittman’s work ethic is what rubs off on them.

“He’s not telling us he’s superman,” Morgan said. “He doesn’t have a secret sauce waiting for us. The fact that we’re just getting to work and going to work, and we’re working hard and bringing that blue-collar attitude back to Arkansas football. That’s what we need to be. We need to be physical cause honestly that’s what the Arkansas state is. We are a blue-collar state,” Morgan added.

“I just want to play hard and have our players better prepared, bigger, stronger, and faster. And then the results happen on the field,” Arkansas Head Coach Sam Pittman said. “I think anybody admires humility, honesty, and with that a little bit of self-confidence,” Pittman added.

The Razorbacks open their 2021 campaign against Rice, and their series with Texas A&M will resume again in Arlington this year on September 25th.

Copyright 2021 KBTX. All rights reserved.