Ahead of Arkansas football's first fall camp practice on Wednesday, head coach Sam Pittman spoke to the media and previewed what fans should expect over the 29-day long venture.
Pittman touched on a myriad of topics, including the Razorbacks' team physicality, culture, position battles, and his self-improvement as a coach.
Another area that Pittman covered was team injuries, as he listed three freshmen who probably won't play during the upcoming 2024-25 season in linebacker Justin Logan (shoulder), cornerback Jaden Allen (knee) and offensive lineman Zuri Madison (ACL). Pittman also said freshman linebacker JuJu Pope will be limited through the first week or two of practice due to a hamstring injury.
Below are the main highlights from everything Pittman said during his fall camp preview on Tuesday:
Razorbacks getting back to physical football
Smashmouth football has gone by the wayside in recent years across college football, but Pittman and the Razorbacks want to maintain the same level of physicality and toughness often associated with the now old-fashioned style of play.
"We’re doing a lot of different — other than just running full zone-type schemes, we’re doing a lot of different pin and kickoff and pin and pulls," Pittman said. "And off of that, if we can run the football and we felt like we had a good spring of physicality on both sides of the ball, then I think we can do the play-action as well."
After an offseason that Strength Coach Ben Sowders labeled as the toughest summer the Razorbacks have had under his leadership, Pittman noted that the team was the strongest and leanest he's had by far.
"So we want to get back to that physical football," Pittman said. "It’s hard to do if you don’t practice that way and you don’t have quite the kids ready at their position to do that. But I feel really good in our two deep in all our areas that we have. We’re a little thin in some places after that."
Team culture thriving for Hogs
A common theme across Pittman's and Strenth Coach Ben Sowders' press conferences on Tuesday was moving on from last season and focusing on the future. After finishing 4-8 last year, the Hogs needed to fix the culture within the program and, at least so far, things seem to be on the right track."I think all the culture, we start that," Pittman said. "But it really happens by the kids. I mean it really does because if you look at it, we might be with them two and a half hours out of the day and there’s 24 in a day. Whether they hang out with each other, how they are in the locker room, how they are in their lounge. Do they hang out together? I think that happens with people.
"I can say a whole bunch of them. Cam Ball is one of them. Landon Jackson is one of them. Taylen Green came in and took the team. Once he earned the starting spot he took the team. It wasn’t anything about me, me, me. It was about us, us, us. (Fernando) Carmona, (Keyshawn) Blackstock, (Addison) Nichols, those guys are team oriented. And if you look at our O-line and our D-line’s camaraderie, a lot of times you know you’re battling and you get tired of each other. They’re close. They hang out together...So I think it has to do with who we get on the team, possibly who’s not on the team. A lot of things go in with culture."
Position battles to watch
Position battles are a staple of every fall camp period, as players fight tooth and nail to secure their depth chart spot before season kickoff. Though the Hogs already have starting positions like quarterback locked up, some important decisions still loom."I think we have to create a battle with Ty’Kieast Crawford," Pittman said. "I think … well, we are going to move him in to right guard. He’s played a lot of ball there. But we’re going to move him in to see if he could potentially start for us there. There’s nothing against (Joshua) Braun. We like Braun and all that. But we have to give kids opportunities to start.
"So if you think about it you’re going, ‘What are you going to do with Joe More? Well, Joe More’s played a lot of ball and he’s a very, very strong kid. Very, very smart. What are you going to do with them. So our choice was we could either put him at right guard and keep Ty’Kieast out there where he is or we could move Ty’Kieast and move Joe in. We may move that combination at some point but that’s today, how we think we could have our best depth right there.
Pittman mentioned that determining Arkansas' backup quarterback is something the team needs to figure out, along with which linebackers can be relied on after bringing in multiple new faces.
One group that Pittman pointed out was the place-kickers, something he said he wants an answer on fairly quickly.
"You have three kickers there," Pittman said. "You’ve got (Kyle) Ramsey and (Matthew) Shipley and Vito (Calvaruso). Obviously we went and got Ramsey in the April portal. To me, that’s one of our big we-have-to-find-outs. So we’ve got to put them in some pressure situations. And to be honest with you, we’ve got to put them in the stadium. It’s just different.
"So that’s going to be a battle between those three guys. I think we need to find out before school starts — the next two weeks, two-and-a-half weeks — who’s going to be that guy."
Pittman talks self-improvements as head coach
Everybody makes mistakes, but doing them at the highest level of college football and on the national stage will earn you plenty of scrutiny from fans and pundits alike.
Pittman is no exception to this, and he's learned a lot through four years on the job as Arkansas' head football coach.
"I think we learn all the time," Pittman said. "I go back to some of the decisions. I think I’m just going to let my mind and my eyes see what I see and go from there. The one thing about it is if you’re always worried about ‘what if something happens wrong with what you decide,’ then you’ll never take a chance.
"So my first 2-2.5 years, I think I just decided what I wanted, so that’s one of them — be positive in the preparation, understand where we’re going to go if we decided to do something. If we decide to go for it, understand where we’re going. Are we confident? If I hear a doubt of confidence on the headset, just say, ‘Okay, let’s put the ball or kick the field goal,’ whatever it may be.
After going 0-5 in one-score games during the 2023 season, Razorback fans hope that Pittman will learn from his experiences and flip the results on the field to a more positive light. Perhaps the hiring of former head coach Bobby Petrino will make a major difference, similar to when Barry Odom served as Arkansas' defensive coordinator under Pittman.
"Organization-wise, I think I’m better with the overall staff," Pittman said. "Not just the football staff, but the overall staff and the importance of all that they do. I think I have a better grasp of NIL than I had before and handling that better. There’s a lot of stressors in our job. You’ve got them, too. And trying to eliminate as much stress helps you make better decisions.
"I feel really good. I feel good about where we’re at. I feel good about the staff. So I’ve learned a lot of things. I’m still going to make mistakes. In other words, you’re going to make a decision that’s going to turn out and not be the correct one. I have more patience than I used to have. I’m not as much a dictator as I used to be. I think I’ve learned a little bit that way. Hope so."
