Three looming questions about Arkansas football in 2025: Defensive Backs

image-1200x630-2 — (Photo via Arkansas Athletics)

The offseason is in full swing, and there’s a little less than a month before the Arkansas Razorbacks will start fall camp ahead of the 2025 season opener against Alabama A&M on Aug. 30.

HawgBeat is continuing our series asking three looming questions about each position group ahead of next season. Up next in the series is the defensive backs.

The Razorbacks’ secondary showed flashes last season, but it was unpredictable and porous at times. They shut down passing offenses like Tennessee and Texas for the most part, but also allowed 63 points and 515 passing yards to Ole Miss late in the season.

Like the other position groups, the Razorbacks had some departures in the secondary to the transfer portal. Names like T.J. and Tevis Metcalf headline the players who left, but overall there wasn’t much portal attrition. You could say a guy like Jaylon Braxton, who showed a lot of potential as a freshman before he missed most of last season, is a loss, but since he hardly played last year, it is not one to be overly concerned about.

Here’s three questions that are looming about the Razorbacks’ defensive backs in 2025…

Can Razorbacks improve overall pass defense?

There’s no two ways about it, Arkansas’ pass defense was bad last year. The Hogs finished dead last in the SEC with 246.9 yards per game allowed, and the overall scoring defense was No. 13 in the SEC at 22.9 points per game.

The Hogs brought in some decent transfers, with names like Caleb Wooden (Auburn), Jordan Young (Cincinnati) and Kani Walker (Oklahoma) arriving in the winter transfer portal period. The coaches also seem high on Fresno State transfer Julian Neal, who joined the team after spring practices concluded.

But the overall passing defense will need to improve if the Hogs want to be successful in 2025. Arkansas has a new secondary coach in Nick Perry, who arrived in Fayetteville from the NFL ranks with the Seattle Seahawks, and has his work cut out for him to improve his unit.

How will Arkansas’ returners perform?

The most important factor for the Hogs is development of the guys who are returning to the program. Jaheim Singletary and Selman Bridges both saw time last year, and Miguel Mitchell looked good when he was on the field, which wasn’t often. He played in just five games and started two, and had 20 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss and an interception which came in the Liberty Bowl win over Texas Tech.

Perhaps the leader of the secondary is Larry Worth III, who is in his second season at Arkansas after he transferred from Jacksonville State. He played in all 13 games last season and made five starts, registering 54 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss with two pass breakups as well as a forced fumble.

“I would definitely say my leadership has taken another step,” Worth said during spring ball. “That was one thing I wanted to focus on this off-season, which is getting all the guys on the same page, get everybody on the same boat. Now we got this ship just rocking going forward.”

Worth is also a bit of an athletic freak and has the tools to be even better than he was a year ago. He primarily lines up in the “Hog” position, but also has the size to play linebacker as well.

What transfers stick out in defensive back room?

He was mentioned with the transfers above, but Young is one guy we have yet to lay eyes on. He missed the entirety of spring camp with an injury, but played well at Cincinnati last season.

Walker also dealt with an injury during spring ball, but when he got back on the field he quickly started lining up with the first team. The transfer from Oklahoma tallied 24 total tackles and had an interception and six pass breakups with the Sooners last year.

Wooden is also expected to play a role at safety this year after he transferred from Auburn. He didn’t put up gaudy numbers, just 17 tackles and one pass deflection and one interception. It’s worth noting he was just a part-time starter on the Plains, but he has 28 games of SEC experience to bring to the table as well.

The last name that sticks out is JUCO transfer Keshawn Davila. He chose the Hogs out of Northwest Mississippi Community College and was the No. 1 JUCO cornerback according to On3.