Arkansas had an unusually bad offensive line in 2023 despite being led by long-time offensive line coach Sam Pittman, who is entering his fifth season leading the Razorbacks' program.
On Thursday at SEC Media Days inside the Omni Hotel in Dallas, Pittman admitted that the coaching staff messed things up with the offensive line last year.
"We've got to do a better job of handling the offensive line, and that's my baby and I've let it down," Pittman said. "We have everything there is for us to have success. So, I like this team."
One of the first steps the Razorbacks took towards improving the offensive line was hiring Eric Mateos as offensive line coach from Baylor after Cody Kennedy left the same post for Mississippi State.
A former graduate assistant under Pittman at Arkansas from 2013-15, Mateos brought in three transfers who will start — Fernando Carmona Jr. (San Jose State), Addison Nichols (Tennessee) and Keyshawn Blackstock (Michigan State).
Mateos also inherited a pair of starters from the 2023 line, which blocked for the 86th best rushing attack in the nation and also allowed the fifth most sacks per game (3.92) in the nation.
One of those returning pieces is Second Team All-SEC guard Josh Braun, who will be a mainstay on the interior at guard again. The other returner is junior Patrick Kutas, who was primarily a tackle last season — something Pittman said nearly ruined the 6-foot-5, 312-pound native of Memphis.
"If you're not having success, you can't have confidence," Pittman said. "You can have fake, but that's not confidence. We had to find enough good people up front where we can go 'Hey look, throw that ball out there and let's go see what happens.' We didn't have that last year.
"We almost ruined Kutas because he was playing out there on the edge and he couldn't play out there. He decided he couldn't play out there. More importantly, now he comes in there and he's got sideboards with Carmona and Nichols and he's playing his butt off at guard. I think we've addressed that problem and I think we're going to see a significant difference."
Kutas earned a 54.9 overall grade on the 2023 season from Pro Football Focus, and his pass blocking grade was even lower at 47.1 Putting a first-year starter out on the edge against the pass rushers the Southeastern Conference has to offer didn't help with confidence, so the staff had to go get proven tackles in the transfer portal.
"We wanted to attack -- we had to go out and get two tackles," Pittman said. "We have a player in Kutas that I really like. He lost his confidence out there. He was the best we had but he lost his confidence out there."
After starting each of the first nine games of the season, Kutas had a season-ending ankle injury keep him out of the final three contests. He logged 552 total snaps as a sophomore.
It's safe to say that the addition of Mateos to the coaching staff has not only bolstered Arkansas' worst position group from a year ago on the field, but also off the field.
"Eric Mateos is different because... it's not necessarily about the play that he messed up, it's about hey what's going on at home," Pittman said. "There is different routes to the problem. May not just be between the ears. It may be life, home, girlfriend. That's why I found Eric is great at that.
"The kids know he loves them and thinks about them and cares about them. I hope that was a trait I had when the coached the offensive line. I don't know if I did or not. But I hope I had the trait that Eric has. He can make kids play better and harder by the way he talks to them and treats them."
Arkansas' season will kickoff Thursday, Aug. 29, against UAPB at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. The game will get started at 6:30 p.m. CT and it will be broadcast on ESPNU.
