FAYETTEVILLE -- Travis Williams has a linebacker room that has a mixture of young players, sophomores and transfers, but he feels very confident in the job they can do.

Williams not only coaches the linebackers but serves as the defensive coordinator. His room is led by redshirt sophomore Pooh Paul and sophomore Jordan Crook. A pair of transfers are also making an impact. They are South Florida's Antonio Grier Jr. and Cincinnati's Jaheim Thomas. Three freshmen, Alex Sanford, Carson Dean and Brad Spence also are drawing praise.

"You can tell the guys like each other," Williams said. "Bringing high school guys in and guys out of the portal with guys that were already here and trying to put it all together. First of all, the guys like each other. Efford is really what we've been kind of honing in on, and trying to fly to the ball. The great thing is they're trying to do exactly what we're asking them to do. We tell them there's going to be stuff we have to correct every day, but control what you can control. It's fun to coach those guys."

Paul was nursing a minor injury last Saturday and didn't scrimmage. That gave Thomas a chance to get more reps. In 29 games with the Bearcats, Thomas had 95 tackles, including 34 solo, seven for loss, 2.5 sacks and three quarterback hurries. Williams liked what he saw.

"It was good to get him out there and get those scrimmage reps," Williams said. "He didn't go through spring ball at the last place he was at, and to get him some live reps was always good. And we went in with the mindset to get him a lot of reps just to see if he could work the rust off or whatever you want to say. He did a really good job. He's doing a good job. Very smart, very detailed, takes a lot of notes. I'm happy he's with us."

Paul started the Missouri and Kansas games last year, but played a lot while Bumper Pool was nursing an injury. Crook started the bowl game against Kansas when Drew Sanders opted out. Grier played 48 games at USF compiling 238 tackles, 139 solo, 23.5 for loss, 10 sacks, five forced fumbles, two recovered, a pair of interceptions, six quarterback hurries and three pass breakups.

"All three of those guys are doing a great job," Williams said. "It's a new defense for all of those guys. What's always exciting is to see the growth and football IQ and learning what we're doing and different concepts. All of those guys have a good football IQ. All of those guys love to come to work and come out to practice. It's been good.

"Pooh is very detailed. He takes pride in his performance. Same thing with Crook. Same thing with Antonio. Even when you watch them in the summer workouts and the way those guys bond together and work together. We need all of them. We need everybody in that room. We talk in the terms of we don't have starters, we have standards. If you uphold the standard, you will play. All of those guys work well together. I'm proud of all three."

The freshmen are also competing for playing time. Spence and Dean enrolled at midterm and Sanford in June.

"I think all three guys have bright futures here," Williams said. "All of them have a great pace of being able to help us at some point this year on special teams and maybe on the defense. All of those guys have a skillset and you can see they are SEC players. Brad Spence is one we're putting at so many different positions because he can do so much, but all those guys have high ceilings and we're very, very happy with their progress right now."

Williams was asked if there's any specific intangibles involving the three true freshmen?

"I take all three of those guys and just shoutout to their high school coaches," Williams said. "All of those guys learn ball pretty quickly and easily. Like Brad Spence is doing some really good things out there. Carson Dean is doing some really good things. Alex didn’t go through spring ball and you can just see right now he’s just running to the ball as fast as he can go. He likes to play physical and he’s learning the system. He’s just 12 days into practice, but you can see the skillset in all three of those guys."

It wasn't just Thomas that got some extra reps and stepped up with Paul out. Crook also took advantage of the situation.

"Just a true leader," Williams said. "He's a warrior. I love the kid. In the workouts when they're racing or doing sprints he's always trying to be first. He wants to lead. He has that mike linebacker mentality that you want on your team. We see all of those guys... like Crook is a starter for us. Pooh is a starter for us. Antonio is a starter. Jaheim is a starter. Those guys are going to play, even the freshmen. We need all of them. Crook is a really, really good leader and a really good person. I'm glad he's on our team."

Thomas actually played against Arkansas last year in the season opener. He had seven tackles, including five solo and a 0.5 for loss against the Razorbacks.

"It was a great atmosphere," Thomas said. "It was a big crowd. It was good ball also. Being able to play in that atmosphere and make plays, I feel like that attracted me to come here."

Williams was asked about Thomas' skillset just as he walked in the interview room on Friday.

"He just walked in the room, so I can’t really say too much," Williams said laughing. "Really good skillset, smart, can change direction and he brings length to the room. He can cover out of the backfield. He’s doing a really good job for us."

He also added what Thomas is like behind the scenes.

"Quiet," Thomas said. "Quiet. You see him in the back right now. He’s not saying anything. He don’t say anything in the meetings. He’ll ask questions, but quiet and very detailed. A pro. Takes notes. He’ll come talk to you one-on-one and ask questions. He’s one of those guys that just loves ball and is always taking notes down and getting the fine details of everything."

Harrison redshirt junior linebacker Brooks Both is also expected to make an impact this season.

"Brooks Both is improving," Williams said. "Brooks Both, man, he gets a lot of reps for us on special teams and defense. He’s very valuable to our team."

He's someone who may help on special teams?

"There ain’t no probably," Williams said. "He is. Coach (Scott) Fountain loves him, because he does a great job. He does a good job of coming to work everyday and we’re proud he’s on our team. He really helps us out a lot."

Both played in nine games in 2022. Both and the Razorbacks will hold a closed scrimmage on Saturday.