FAYETTEVILLE — Gone from the 2022 Arkansas Razorback football roster are a pair of linebackers in Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry who accounted for the following: 201 tackles and 25 starts in 2021, 38 career starts, and the 2021 Burlsworth Trophy as the best player in college football who began as a walk on.
Morgan took home the Burlsworth honor, and Henry was a former walk-on himself.
The quick take would be the Razorbacks might be lacking veteran experience and playmakers in the linebacking corps.
That take would be wrong.
Senior Bumper Pool, redshirt freshman Christopher “Pooh” Paul and a fresh crop of newcomers, including a former five-star prospect and Alabama signee in Drew Sanders, have helped the Arkansas linebacking corps look fit and in fine form with a week left in the spring practice sessions.
Second-year linebackers coach Michael Scherer will be working with a talented blend of veterans and newcomers throughout 2022.
As Pool put it following Saturday’s modified scrimmage: “We’re exactly where we need to be.”
Pool started just one game last season, the opener against Rice, as Henry sat out a half due to a carryover targeting penalty from the 2020 regular season finale. Yet the fourth-year senior led the team with 125 tackles and also added 7.5 tackles for loss and 2 passes defended, including a tip on a critical interception by Montaric Brown in a 20-10 win over Texas A&M.
The senior from Lucas, Texas, with Razorback connections all over his family, played what amounted to starter’s reps last year while boosting his career total to 26 starts.
One of the two biggest “keeps” on the current roster along with safety Jalen Catalon, Pool elected to return for his bonus senior season rather than test the NFL waters. He has entered a realm of leadership and veteran status occupied by Henry and Morgan a year ago.
“I’ve played here for quite a bit and I’ve had a lot of guys teach me things,” Pool said, citing ex-Razorback greats Dre Greenlaw and Scoota Harris from early in his career.
“Those guys poured their knowledge into me and it’s only right I came back and am giving as much knowledge as I can to these young guys and hope they have more success than I can do whenever I’m done as a player.”
Pool and Paul opened spring with the starting group as Arkansas first repped a 3-2-6 look on defense. After Paul’s concussion in the first scrimmage, the 6-5 Sanders joined Pool on the top unit. The last couple of weeks, the Razorbacks installed more four-man fronts, and last week Sanders joined Pool and Paul as a stand-up edge defender. After Saturday’s scrimmage, Sanders’ aggression, pass-rush skills and eye-opening pursuit skills were among the hottest topics of conversation.
“Drew Sanders flashed a lot,” third-year Coach Sam Pittman said. “He can run. … I don’t know what his 40 time is or anything like that, but he runs from sideline to sideline.”
Sanders, who 24 tackles in 5 starts at Alabama last season, had a 1-yard “sack” on a Malik Hornsby scramble to the right edge, the kind of play on which Hornsby has typically turned the corner and chewed up yardage.
“Every single rep that he takes, it’s detailed,” Catalon said of Sanders. “And he knows how to hit the hole too. When that hole opens he’s gonna hit it.”
Sanders, the No. 1 prospect in Texas by 247Sports in the 2020 class, said his transition from Alabama, where he often played with his hand on the ground, has benefitted by Pool’s presence.
“He’s helped me a tremendous amount,” Sanders said earlier this spring. “Every day we kind of make it an emphasis to watch film and him kind of telling me what to do. I was really excited to get with a player like him, with as much experience as he has, and learn from him.”
Arkansas was at the top of his transfer destination plan.
“I kind of wanted to make that transition from playing with my hand on the ground to standing up a little bit,” he said. “I thought I could fit in the scheme they’re running so they were first on my list.”
Paul was one of the top signees from the 2021 class, but he wasn’t rushed onto the field after Morgan and Henry returned for their bonus [covid] seasons, and accounted for just one tackle, a stop against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Instead of sulking, Paul capitalized on the redshirt season.
“I was actually very happy they came back that last year,” Paul said. “Learning behind them, especially with Grant, sometimes I would go sit with Grant and learn extra, and even with Hayden.
“We’d take time after practice and stay after and we’ll just learn the scheme. He’ll teach me the scheme. … I was out here and had to put my big boy pants on, so he had to teach me the schemes, how the defensive line maneuvers, how we maneuver, and the DBs. Playing behind those guys was a true blessing, especially Grant Morgan.”
Pittman pointed out repeatedly last year how Paul would factor into the plans in the coming seasons.
The Razorbacks also added a nice crop of freshmen linebackers. Fayetteville High’s Mani Powell has been rehabilitating from knee surgery, but he enrolled early as did Jordan Crook of Duncanville, Texas, and Shiloh Christian standout Kaden Henley.
Pittman cited both Crook and Henley as flashing in Saturday’s live tackling work.
Catalon, asked about Sanders’ potential impact, sized up the linebacking corps as a whole last week.
“He’s a great addition next to Bumper, along with the other guys like Henley, Crook, Jackson Woodard, Chris “Pooh.” I mean, all those guys are making plays, so our linebacker group is deep this year and I credit Coach Scherer for how he’s bringing guys along and everybody playing up to tempo, so it’s gonna be an exciting year, especially for that group, and I’m excited to see what they can do.”
Razorback fans could say the same.