Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman exuded confidence in his team Thursday at SEC Media Days inside the Omni Hotel in Dallas.
Fresh off a 4-8 campaign in 2023, Pittman's seat is hotter than he'd like it to be, but he didn't shy away from that when pressed by reporters on what he and his staff have to do better.
"We've got to do a better job of recruiting," Pittman said. "With that comes a whole lot of NIL, comes a whole lot of collective — there's a whole conversation there. We've got to do a better job of handling the offensive line, and that's my baby and I've let it down. We have everything there is for us to have success.
"So, I like this team. I think we're going to have a lot of 'old cold beer' (postgame) talk. We've got to do a better job of recruiting. I do think we coach well. I think we communicate with our kids well. We've got to do a better job of that and I've got to make some better decisions on some of this 4th and 1, and things of that nature. I think that'll help us if I do."
Pittman joked about the fact that his seat is hot, saying "I'm popular now, it's just in the wrong way." The Head Hog took every tough question throughout the morning and met it with a solid answer.
"Listen, what's fair is fair," Pittman said. "If you're going to get patted on the back, you're going to get punched in the gut. What's fair is fair. To be honest with you, the only one that can really control the hot seat is me and what we do with our football team. It's never been about me, so I'm really not concerned about it. I'm concerned about the state, players and our staff. And we've got a good football team."
One of the biggest criticisms of the 2023 edition of Pittman's Razorbacks was the offensive line — a position group Pittman coached his entire career before becoming head coach at Arkansas. The Razorbacks' offensive line gave up the fifth-most sacks per game in the nation last year.
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"Talent-wise, we had to do better recruiting," Pittman said. "You talked about my o-line background. Some somewhat -- well, we got to get better there.We wanted to attack -- we had to go out and get two tackles. We have a player in (Patrick) Kutas that I really like. He lost his confidence out there. He was the best we had but he lost his confidence out there.
"We move him inside, he's a heck of a player. One the strongest guys on the team. (Fernando Carmona Jr.), (Keyshawn) Blackstock and (Addison) Nichols, those three guys, a little bit like Taylen Green in that his leadership is incredible but they are too. When you have guys that don't just want to play on the O-line but want to lead... When you have those guys in there, which we have, leading like that, I think that you can get a lot better."
VIDEO: Sam Pittman, Arkansas players speak at SEC Media Days
Two of Arkansas' star players from a year ago in defensive end Landon Jackson and wide receiver Andrew Armstrong both elected to return for another year in Fayetteville despite the down season. That might speak volumes as to the belief the players have in this year's squad.
"We were extremely confident last year," Armstrong said. "Looking at how the team was last year with those close losses that we had, I feel like we can build on top of that. I feel like if I would have left, I would have just left, like tried to get to the NFL and things like that, but I feel like it was unfinished business here. I feel like we can do something extremely great here, and that's why I came back."
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.
