FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas hopes the Fayetteville debut goes as well as the one in Little Rock did on the field.
Arkansas defeated Western Carolina 56-13 this past Saturday and now plays host to a Kent State team that fell to UCF 56-6 in its opener. Arkansas will get left guard Brady Latham back, but will be without running back Raheim "Rocket" Sanders. Much has been said about the running back situation, but Sam Pittman was asked how the offensive line has looked this week in practice?
"Yeah, I thought the 1s looked really good yesterday," Pittman said Wednesday. "The problem… It's not… Depends on how you look at it. But I'd like to find five guys that, ‘This is our left tackle, this our right tackle, this is this.’ I would like to find that. And then be able to play, right now, up to around eight guys. I would like to do that. We haven't been able to do that just simply because we've been beat up here, beat up there, things of that nature. Now, are the five guys that started last Saturday our five best? Heck, I don't know. It is nice to have Brady back this week. But consistency of those guys, you want to find your five best and let them go play.
"And then hopefully you've got up to eight. We're still not there yet. We're not healthy enough to be there at this point, and it's frustrating a little bit. However, I do think it'll help us down the road, but it is a little frustrating. And we're not going to have 1s and 2s in the game, so I think part of my frustration is we have some guys on the 2s that don't have any experience. And so at times in practice it doesn't look quite as good, and I get frustrated with that because our experienced guy might be beat up a little bit. So I think we're going to be fine. I think in the long run it’s going to help us. But that has been a little, somewhat, frustrating."
Pittman also talked about the linebacker spots where Jaheim Thomas and Jordan Crook started last week. Chris "Pooh" Paul played a lot. True freshman Brad Spence had an 85-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Hogs also expect Antonio Grier Jr. to play this week as he has been deemed fully healthy. Thomas is a transfer from Cincinnati and Grier from USF.
"I think Jaheim Thomas has been the most consistent player for us there in the linebacker room," Pittman said. "Obviously you mention the injuries that we’ve had. Obviously Pooh was the guy that we…and he still is, but he’s been beat up. He’s been hurt and then of course unfortunately he won’t be able to play in the first half Saturday. Linebacker honestly has been a little bit like the o-line room, where Man, you wish you could find guys and put them in a spot and put them next to somebody that they’ve played a majority with of the time. But, injuries haven’t quite let us do that.
"Now, the other part of that is we’ve found Spence. Crook’s gotten a lot of reps and with Grier coming back now that should help us feel every bit of good about five guys. I think in the long run it’ll all help us. I would like to have two guys sitting out here side by side that have played together, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to do that until maybe week 3 when Pooh gets off his…maybe the second half of Saturday’s game. But I think it has helped us overall."
Paul was called for targeting in the season opener and thus must sit out the first half of Saturday's game. Safety Jayden Johnson has been a pleasant surprise this fall after an inconsistent showing in 2022.
"I think a lot," Pittman said when asked if Johnson is more confident. "I hope it does. What you're always concerned about is it happens and then you become content with, well I showed you I can do it. We’ve obviously talked to Jayden about some of those things too. I think he likes where he’s at. I think he knows that he can improve a lot, but with the pick in the pass, had a lot of open-field tackles, obviously the fumble that he caused.
"He went into camp, maybe a 1, maybe a 1b, whatever it is, and came out as good a safety as we have. A lot of good things happened with him. He’s always had the talent, his mind just allowed him here recently, here in the last six months, seven months, to go ahead and let that body do what it always could do."
In addition to Grier, another transfer who could see extended action this week is North Texas tight end Var'keyes Gumms who didn't catch a pass last week. Gumms was a key part of North Texas' offense last season catching 34 passes for 458 yards and five touchdowns. Pittman talked about what Gumms needs to do for more reps.
"Well I think he’s got to understand the offense a little bit better," Pittman said. "He’s getting better at those things. Understanding what he’s doing is going to let him play faster. But we think he is a threat. Obviously we didn’t throw the ball a whole lot to the tight ends last week but that certainly is in the plan because he’s talented as well as Luke (Hasz) and a lot of guys. A lot of guys at tight end we feel like we can throw the ball to. But I think he’s overall had a good week this week so I would anticipate his play amping up this week."
Arkansas will be at home on Saturday to host Kent State at 3 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
