Sam Pittman admits mistake made with transfers, depth chart last season

Expect quite a bit of depth chart maneuvering from the beginning of spring practice to the end at Arkansas. Coach Sam Pittman admitted he made a mistake with transfers last season, one he doesn’t intend to repeat this year.

Spots on the depth chart will be earned, not given away.

“To be perfectly honest with you, I made a mistake last year,” Pittman explained. “I believe that anybody that’s new, they need to earn the spot, even if the whole team knows that they’re going to be the starter. You’ve got to put them on the second, third team, somewhere in there.”

Though Pittman didn’t allude to any team chemistry issues, one of the concerns when new players come in are that the players already on the depth chart at that spot get disillusioned.

That can obviously happen more quickly if the player transferring in doesn’t have to earn his spot with a few practices.

“Last year we did not do that with (Jadon) Haselwood,” Pittman said. “Haselwood came in, he was the only one. He came in and he was the starter. And you know what? If we’d have waited a practice or two he’d have been the starter anyway. But we didn’t.”

Arkansas’ depth chart likely to shift

Given that Arkansas took a hefty amount of transfers this offseason, there will probably be several position groups this spring that will see some shifting and moving as the transfers assert themselves.

In total Arkansas snagged 12 newcomers: four receivers, three cornerbacks, two edge rushers, a quarterback, an offensive lineman and a linebacker.

“Yes, your depth chart will, hopefully, look very different from the beginning of spring ball to the end, or the spring game,” Pittman said.

And hopefully for Arkansas’ sake there will be no hurt feelings as a result of Pittman’s new policy for transfers working their way into and up the depth chart.