HawgBeat - Arkansas reloaded at linebacker for 2023 season
The Arkansas linebacker room is as strong as ever entering the 2023 season.
arkansas.rivals.com
Arkansas football has seen plenty of success at the linebacker position in recent years and the Razorbacks are shaping up to have a strong group at the position this year as well.
Under the leadership of new defensive coordinator Travis Williams, who also coaches the linebacker position, the Arkansas defense is sure to look different than it has the past three seasons under former defensive coordinator Barry Odom.
Last season, Drew Sanders was an AP First Team All-American as a transfer from Alabama. Bumper Pool played alongside Sanders and he was an All-SEC Second Team in 2021. Grant Morgan was also a First Team All-SEC selection as a redshirt senior in 2021.
When Pool battled through injuries late in the 2022 season, redshirt freshman Chris Paul Jr. stepped up and played more snaps. Pool had hip surgery before the season finale at Missouri, which resulted in Paul starting the game against the Tigers and the Liberty Bowl against Kansas.
Paul ended his season earning Freshman All-SEC honors after racking up 62 tackles, four sacks, eight tackles for loss and a forced fumble. With that valuable playing time and another offseason under his belt, Paul seems primed to make a big jump as a starter in his redshirt sophomore season.
"I feel like my leadership role is going to take a huge step this year," Paul said on March 10. "I feel like I’m that guy, one of the older guys on the defense. From the two practices that we’ve had, the defense has had a lot of energy, flying around to the ball and things like that. Coach Williams has done a great job of establishing those rules and things like that and I feel extra confident in my defense."
Paul has been at Arkansas longer than any other scholarship linebacker, so he is sure to be a strong voice in that room.
Arkansas added a pair of transfer linebackers in South Florida's Antonio Grier Jr. and Cincinnati's Jaheim Thomas. Grier was able to participate in spring practice, but Thomas didn't commit until May 1.
A 6-foot-1, 228 pound linebacker, Grier was a second team All-American Athletic Conference selection for USF in 2022, when he led the team with 92 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. He also tied for the team-lead with two interceptions and two forced fumbles.
Grier told reporters in the spring that he committed to Arkansas because of how good the offense was, but his addition to the defense is going to be valuable given his experience at the position.
"He’s a high energetic guy that just loves football," Paul said after the Red-White spring scrimmage. "That’s the type of guy that you can go to and just watch film for hours. As far as how he worked this spring, he worked his tail off, man. And it shows. He picked up on the defense pretty well.
"He flies to the run and he communicates. That’s the biggest thing with a linebacker. We’ve got to communicate because we are the quarterback of the defense. So we’ve got to communicate like that and he picked up like that. And just having him in the linebacker room has been great."
While Paul has been around for a bit, Grier is a vocal guy that will be a veteran voice for an otherwise fairly young linebacker room.
"I’ve played a lot of ball," Grier said in the spring. "There’s no on-the-field or off-the-field stuff. I’ve played a lot of ball. I’ve seen a lot of things, a lot of schemes, been in a lot of schemes, so I’ve been around college football for a while. It’s my leadership skills."
Thomas spent three seasons with the Bearcats and racked up 95 tackles and 2.5 sacks. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound linebacker graded out with a career-best 74.7 overall grade in 2022, according to Pro Football Focus. He added an 80.6 grade in run defense and an 84.1 pass rush grade on the season.
Sophomore Jordan Crook is an intriguing option at linebacker and he started next to Paul in the Liberty Bowl win over Kansas. Crook posted a career-best seven tackles and he added a half tackle for loss.
"Crook has came in working harder than he did last year, and I like that about him," Paul said after the Red-White spring scrimmage. "Crook is a hard worker anyway. So for him to pick up where he left off last year and continue that progress is great."
While he might not start, Crook should play more snaps than the 122 he logged in 2022.
Another interesting sophomore is Mani Powell, a native of Fayetteville. At 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, Powell is a big, strong second year player.
"Mani, Pooh, Crook, all of us," Grier said. "I just appreciate so much how they just accepted me to the room. Not only that, just the defense, the guys that’s here that have been here for a while just accepted me as who I am for who I am. That's all I can be grateful for. I'm just grateful to be here."
Arkansas also has a pair of freshmen in three-stars Brad Spence (6'2", 240 pounds) and Carson Dean (6'4", 232 pounds), who both participated in the spring. The pair of Texas natives are both talented, and head coach Sam Pittman even said in the spring that Dean could play some as a freshman.
"He’s smart and he can run," Pittman said. "I mean, he’s faster than what I thought he was when he came in and he’s really picked it up. He’s played with the 1s some. And certainly is a guy that, like you said, has the size.
"Either they don’t know the defense or they’re not strong enough or big enough to play early in their career. And none of those is necessarily a detriment to him. He can do all of those things. I just feel like if he continues to improve, I feel like he’ll be in that rotation of guys."
Another three-star freshman is Alex Sanford out of Oxford, Mississippi. Sanford did not participate in the spring, but he posted 104 total tackles, 18.0 tackles for loss and 9.0 sacks as a senior in high school.
Arkansas' season will begin on Saturday, Sept. 2 against Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.
