FAYETTEVILLE — The route back to normalcy for college football will likely have to be measured in small increments with covid-19 and its variants still causing trouble.
Therefore, Thursday’s “media day” at the Broyles Athletic Center press room, with masked-up reporters asking questions of socially distanced Coach Sam Pittman and players Treylon Burks and Jalen Catalon was a step in the right direction.
The University of Arkansas will enter Year 2 of the Pittman regime trying to stay out in front of covid-19 developments that are trending in the wrong direction in the state and also aiming to improve on last year’s 3-7 mark.
Pittman said the Razorbacks have reached the 90% vaccination rate mark and that the winter and summer conditioning was also a big success under strength coach Jamil Walker and his staff.
“I was telling Coach Walker this was as big a gain in the summer as I’ve ever seen,” Pittman said. “It’s pretty much all around. … I don’t know the marks that we set, but there was a significant gain in strength, and weights where we needed it.”
Pittman said the staff worked out target weights for every player on the roster and that 90% of the team reported within 5 pounds of that weight.
If Burks and Catalon, team leaders on each side of the ball, are examples, the Hogs will look more buff all around.
“You can see we put our trust in the nutritionists and strength staff,” said the receiver Burks, who is gaining mention this summer as potentially the best wideout in the SEC. “And as you all can see it shows a bunch.
“We came in the offseason and we worked hard running, lifting weights. It didn’t matter, bench press, squats, all that went up, and we just can’t thank the strength staff enough.”
Catalon said the strength staff earned its pay.
“They tried to push us to our limit and see who would give out and see who would step up to the challenge,” Catalon said. “I think everybody did. For the most part everybody was attentive and ready to go and they were just ready for whatever came to them.”
The Razorbacks will open 25 practices of training camp with a closed 2:30 p.m. workout today at the Walker Pavilion and practice fields. The team’s two scrimmages on Aug. 14 and Aug. 21 will be closed to the media and the public.
Two weeks after the final scrimmage, Arkansas will open its 128th football season on Sept. 4 versus former Southwest Conference rival Rice at Reynolds Razorback Stadium. Another former SWC rival, Texas, will be in town the following week.
“We have a lot of respect for the Texas program,” Pittman said. “I know everybody is excited to get them in here in our stadium, including us. But that’s certainly Week 2. The Texas game won’t be near as significant if we don’t beat Rice and that’s the objective right now.”
Arkansas welcomes back 23 players who are either seniors or “super” seniors, who took advantage of the NCAA’s offer of an extra year of eligibility due to covid-19. Additionally, the Razorbacks have 19 starters back, an almost unheard of total that includes the entire offensive line and every member of the back seven or eight on defense.
“There’s not many teams in the country that ever bring back 19 starters, I wouldn’t imagine,” Pittman said.
Two spots on offense with new starters are quarterback — where KJ Jefferson will enter camp as the clear No. 1 like the number on his back — and the second wide receiver spot opposite Burks after Mike Woods left as a gradate transfer.
“Just the way he came in last year … when Feleipe [Franks] came in, it was like anybody could have been down and thought, ‘Oh, this was my year,’ but he never had that attitude,” Catalon said of Jefferson. “He just came in ready to work and was a sponge.”
Added Burks, “I’m 100% confident in KJ. That’s my boy. We’re basically like blood. For him to come in to the Missouri game and show us what we could do, that showed a lot to us. I know it showed the defense and the offense that he’s capable of leading this team.”
In his lone start last year, Jefferson completed 18 of 33 passes for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed 13 times for 32 yards and a touchdown at Missouri. He directed a last-minute touchdown drive that gave Arkansas a 48-47 lead after his two-point conversion pass to Woods before the Tigers rallied for a game-winning field goal.”
Pittman said senior De’Vion Warren, who has recovered from knee surgery, as well as Trey Knox, Tyson Morris and others, such as newcomer Warren Thompson, will team with Burks to provide depth at wideout.
Pittman said the coaching staff would need to quickly access who earns the No. 3 quarterback role between John Stephen Jones, Lucas Coley and Cade Renfro to match that person up with Malik Hornsby as the top backup.
“We’ve got to find who is our solid 3 first, and then we’ll let them go attack the 2 spot as well,” he said.
Pittman said developing leaders on the defensive line who can lift the play of that unit is critical in camp.
Otherwise, watching the team take more ownership in practices and the locker room is a must.
“I want to see the team push each other,” he said. “The more the team can control the tempo, the strain of practice, the better football team you’re going to have.
“We’ll certainly have our expectations, but you’d like for the expectations to be met by the players. That’s when you have a pretty good football team, and they feel like they own the team. That’s probably the No. 1 deal, because coming out of the spring and coming out of the summer, you felt like the team was about to take ownership of themselves. Then that becomes belief and certainly confidence comes out of that.”