Sam Pittman addresses how his team fared amid last-second change to spring game
The weather was not on the side of Arkansas Razorbacks fans on Saturday. Thunderstorms in the Fayetteville area forced head coach Sam Pittman to move the spring game inside the practice facility, eliminating the last chance fans had to see the team in person before the fall. It wasn’t the full experience the team was hoping for but the head Hog came away content with the effort.
“I thought it went well for roping off the endzones, getting the ball back in two-minute and turning back around because we couldn’t go into the parents and recruits, but I thought it went well,” Pittman said. “I thought we got accomplished. We had a couple of injuries I think but neither guy had anything to do with the live tackling so, we practice in there quite a bit.
“I think we came out fairly well. I didn’t think we threw the ball particularly well but the kids protected pretty good and our runners ran hard. It’s stud so you don’t have an opportunity to break a tackle or knock the ball out.”
After a 9-4 finish in 2021, the hype is palpable for the Hogs this offseason. Despite losing leading receiver Treylon Burks to the draft, Pittman returns his starting quarterback in KJ Jefferson and a whole supporting cast. On top of that, Arkansas landed some key transfers in OLB Drew Sanders (Alabama), DB Latavious Brini (Georgia), CB Dwight McGlothern (LSU) and EDGE Landon Jackson (LSU). On3’s offseason power rankings have Arkansas fourth in the conference behind Bama, Georgia and Texas A&M.
Pittman comments on latest contract situation
Arkansas is looking to lock down Sam Pittman to a long-term deal and they’ve reportedly done so this week.
Pittman was asked about his contract situation after the spring game and said he has agreed to a new deal with the Hogs. On the flip side, the Razorbacks have also agreed to Pittman’s terms. The two parties have not officially announced the details.
“I’ve agreed to what they’ve offered and they agreed that when I agree,” Pittman said. “I don’t know what that all means. Do you? I agree, they agree. So I guess that means we agreed.”
Laying out a few details of the contract, Pittman said it’s impossible for him to leave for another job. There’s a certain selling point he’s trying to drive home, especially for recruits.
“Awesome,” said Pittman. “Awesome. You know, I will tell you this. It’s going to have a non-compete clause in it and that’s about all I’ll say about it but I am glad it does. It allows us to recruit. There’s a lot of different things in recruiting but one of them happens to be stability. They can fire me whenever they get good and ready to but I can’t leave if that makes sense. Don’t want to anyway but we’re using that.
“We have 130 schools, eight of them have the head coach, their offensive and defensive coordinators still there in the last three years is what I read somewhere. You got eight schools that got the head coach, the OC, the DC of 130 the same ones they had three seasons ago. Or, going into the third season, excuse me. We’re trying to sell this contract as stability.”
On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.