Sam Pittman provides his thoughts on Arkansas secondary depth

Sam Pittman has a lot of decisions to make in his secondary. Last week, the Arkansas head coach where his team stands in the secondary.

“[Dwight McGlothern] had a good day. Jaheim [Singletary] had a good day. [Kee’yon Stewart] had a good day, and [Jaylon] Braxton. Those are probably our four right now,” Pittman said. “Really what I wanted to see today was 40 to 50 reps of the guys playing their position.

“I didn’t want to play anybody today in two positions. So, when they came to me and they started talking about how we’re going to play with players — because you have to figure that out before you ever go out there because it’s opportunity. You have to give them the opportunity at a position to win the position.”

Arkansas’ defensive back unit is a fierce internal competition. Along with the top four Pittman mentioned, the Razorbacks boast Quincey McAdoo, LaDarrius Bishop, Malik Chavis, Hudson Clark, Jayden Johnson and transfers Alfahiym Walcott and Lorando Johnson.

Although Arkansas returns massive amounts of talent, that talent wasn’t always successful last season. The Razorbacks’ defense gave up 465.2 yards per game in 2022, ranking 124th nationally. Focused on the secondary exclusively, Arkansas allowed 294.7 passing yards per outing, the most in the country.

Pittman isn’t oblivious to the issue, and he’s attempting to fix it one step at a time.

“Today, was about finding them corners,” Pittman said. “For at least a long time in the scrimmage, I think, ‘Yeah, we found them.’ Because there wasn’t a whole lot happening offensively, and that’s including run and pass. Third down was a little bit of a different story.”

Last year, Arkansas’ opponents rarely saw third downs. Thus, it’s an improvement. The forward surge is led by the addition of defensive coordinator Travis Williams. Williams spent the last two seasons running UCF’s defense, which allowed just 23.2 points per game in 2022.

Williams and his co-defensive coordinator Marcus Woodson aren’t worried about Arkansas’ past failures.

“I never look back to last year,” Woodson said. “You obviously want to have an idea of what you’re inheriting, if you will, but at the end of the day, it’s about today and moving forward, not yesterday.”

Today looks bright for Arkansas. The Razorbacks didn’t make the AP Top 25, but they did receive 22 votes. Clearly, the nation is noticing something is brewing in Fayetteville. Fans can enjoy the product on Sept. 2 when Arkansas takes on Western Carolina in its season opener.