Sam Pittman breaks down safety depth for Arkansas in 2025

Arkansas coach Sam Pittman offered a detailed breakdown of his safety room with less than a month before the 2025 season kicks off. Competitions are still ongoing to find the starters, but Pittman named a few players with the best chance to earn those roles.

Returning players Miguel Mitchell and Larry Worth III seem to have a bit of an advantage over a host of transfers who have joined the roster. However, Pittman also mentioned former Auburn player Caleb Wooden as someone who has stood out in fall camp.

“There’s some battles going on,” the coach said. “Obviously, we’ve got Miguel Mitchell and Larry Worth. Those are two guys that certainly will run out there with the ones. We like the addition of Caleb Wooden. I think he could play Hog, boundary or free, strong safety. The Hog position is the one there that we think we’ve got really good talent, but that’s going to be a ‘wait-and-see’ on who’s going to be the starter there with that competition that we talked about with Jordan Young and Shakur Smalls. That’s who we have set right there on our depth chart.

“So I feel really good about five of those guys as far as the battles go for those three positions. Then Ahkhari (Johnson) will be another guy that certainly will hit you and play a lot of special teams. We’ll see where he ends up in that battle.”

Mitchell is getting ready to enter his second season in Fayetteville after transferring from Florida ahead of 2024. Unfortunately, he missed the first half of last year due to injury before returning on Oct. 19 and playing only five games for the season. Now back healthy, he should challenge for a starting role.

Worth, a former Jacksonville State transfer, is also preparing for his second year at Arkansas. He started five of 13 games he appeared in this past year to finish with 54 tackles, two passes defended and a forced fumble.

Wooden is also an intriguing player who compiled nine starts in 28 total games for Auburn over the past three seasons. He ranks as the No. 64 safety in On3’s Transfer Portal Player Rankings. Smalls comes in as the No. 99 safety, while Young is listed as a cornerback but ranks as the No. 429 overall player.

Ultimately, all of those players will have the chance to make an impact at safety for Arkansas this season, whether they end up as starters or not. The Razorbacks kick off the season on Aug. 30 against Alabama A&M.