FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman hopes have the Razorbacks’ starting quarterback decided before the end of spring practices.
There are four scholarship quarterbacks on the roster — Taylen Green, Jacolby Criswell, KJ Jackson and Malachi Singleton — vying to start, but most eyes are on the more older Green and Criswell.
Arkansas will devote some practice time to 7-on-7 drills with each quarterback to get the receivers used to playing with each of them as Pittman and new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino look to make a decision.
Green, a redshirt junior who transferred from Boise State, finished last season with 1,752 passing yards, 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions while completing 57% of his passes. He split time with another quarterback for part of the season but ultimately led the Broncos to the Mountain West championship and defeated UNLV in the title game.
“He might have a little advantage on all the guys because he ran a team,” Pittman said. “It may come a little bit more natural right now for him than everybody else at this point.”
Criswell was on Arkansas’ roster as KJ Jefferson's backup last season after transferring from North Carolina. He played in four games and completed 17 of 27 (63%) of his passes. Most of his action came against Missouri when he completed 12 of 20 passes for 96 yards in a loss.
“He’s got a strong arm, that’s the thing,” Pittman said. “He’s a guy you can count on work ethic-wise.”
The other two scholarship players, Singleton and Jackson, are in the mix but lack experience.
Singleton, a redshirt freshman, was a consensus 4-star recruit out of North Cobb High School in Georgia.
Jackson, a freshman, was a 4-star high school recruit out of St. James School in Alabama. He finished his high school career with 130 touchdown passes.
“I think we’ve got something special in KJ Jackson for our future,” Pittman said.
There will be three Saturday scrimmages that will be open to the public, in part to get the younger players accustomed to playing in front of crowds. The Razorbacks begin practices Thursday.