Travis Williams (left) will become the Razorbacks new defensive coordinator. Pittman, who introduced the two new coaches is at center. Morgan Turner (right) will become the Razorbacks' new tight ends coach. Photo by Otis Kirk.

By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- Sam Pittman introduced his two new assistants to the media on Monday morning in a surprise development.

It was originally slated to be a meeting with Pittman discussing the upcoming AutoZone Liberty Bowl, but he brought defensive coordinator Travis Williams and tight ends coach Morgan Turner with him. Williams replaces Barry Odom and comes to Arkansas from UCF while Turner takes the place of Dowell Loggains coming over from Stanford.

"Good morning," Pittman said. "We're excited to play Kansas. We've had Friday, Saturday of very good padded practices. We will go Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Thursday will be a.m. (practice). Then the kids will be able to get out on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th off. The 22nd, we'll practice in the morning and come back on the 25th, have a Wednesday-type practice on the 25th. Thursday we'll practice on the 26th, we'll walk on the 27th, then we'll play the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on the 28th.

"We're excited about that. Practices have gone well. On my right is our new defensive coordinator, I'm very excited about him. Travis Williams comes from (Gene) Chizik, (Will) Muschamp, (Kevin) Steele, was a two-time Broyles Award participant or however you say the word. And then certainly was a defensive coordinator at UCF. I went out and interviewed several guys and this was a home run hire, in my opinion. Very excited to have him. Then on my left is Morgan Turner. I think I visited about him the other day. He's had seven guys drafted out there at Stanford, another one that went and played in the NFL. I felt like Stanford was Tight End U. I think they had that name out there. I think they deserve that, but we went out and got their coach because we'd like it to be this way at the University of Arkansas."

Williams went into more detail about how his defense works and his philosophy.

"What we’re going to do, we’re going to get to the ball," Williams said. "We’re going to play intimidating defense. You’re going to see the guys play hard. One of the best things you can get from an opposing coach is, ‘Man, your guys play hard.’ So when you watch us, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to play physical.

"We're going to have that mental and physical toughness that you need to play. We’re going to get our tails to the ball, and it’s going to be sound. It’s going to be some sound defense. But at the same time, when teams watch us, they’re going to say, ‘OK, those guys play hard, and they play physical.’"

Pittman also talked about Williams' defense and even joked some concerning what he saw watching the UCF games.

"I can say this, I watched every game they played last year (UCF) and he scared me a little bit, because they were ultra aggressive (chuckles), you know," Pittman said. "A little more zero than I [was expecting], but if you’ve got the guys that can do it you know. But four down, a lot of different fronts, a lot of different looks. Intimidating. You have to really prepare for a defense like Coach has been running."

For Turner, coming to Arkansas from Stanford will require him to learn some different things with the different offense.

"So it’s like learning a new language," Turner said. "It’s like learning Spanish. All the words mean the same things, you’ve just got to figure out what those words are. Like a lot of the stuff we did last year schematically, it’s just different ways of getting to it. Like we were, at Stanford we were a huddle team. Everything on the wrist bands. Everything was detailed. We had checks at the line of scrimmage and things like that. Here, a lot of stuff, you’re going tempo, you’re going fast with it. So I’m learning how things are called and what formation, what’s talking to us. It’s a different way of relaying that information, but a lot of the stuff is very similar. I’m trying to translate everything to what I know."

Pittman can relate to what Turner is experiencing in that regard after coming over from Georgia.

"I came from Georgia in the same world, with the check system, and I loved the check system," Pittman said. "Your answer will be, ‘Well, we’re never going to run it into that look.’ But because we play fast, but we also have either an option to throw it with KJ (Jefferson) or an option for him to run it, to try to get out of those bad plays.

"Stanford, I liked the way that they were technically sound and physical and of course, you have to recruit — I mean, you can go have a non-body, non-play that goes to the NFL, so obviously I knew his recruiting skills. But I came from the same world he was and some of it, for my first spring ball here, I was like, ‘Why are we doing that?’ Then finally it was like, ‘Well, because the quarterback’s got the option now to run or throw it.’ That was one my deals, I wanted to make sure we had a quarterback who could have those options. He’s going to have a little learning curve with that a little bit, too, because he was in the world of 12, 11, 13 personnel."

Both Williams and Turner are married and have families. Williams talked about the reaction when he told his family about accepting the Arkansas job.

"Fired up," Williams said. "Got the news, called my wife. So we didn’t tell the girls. I have three daughters. So I have an 11-year-old, about to have a 7-year-hold here in a couple of days, and a 5-year-old. So all three girls. So we told them all together that night and they were just fired up. Put the stadium on the TV and ‘That’s where we’re going.’ And said, ‘You know, we may have some snow.’ And they were fired up about snow."

Obviously the weather is much different in Fayetteville than Orlando, Fla., and Pittman admitted initially that was a concern.

"That was the biggest sell," Pittman said. "Because when I talked to them, beautiful family, when I talked to them on FaceTime they were going ‘And snow, and snow and snow.’ And I’m like, you know how it is, you’re going is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? I felt pretty fast it was a good thing so I started ‘Oh yeah, and snow mans.’ And all that kind of stuff."

Williams with a wide smile quickly put an ease to Pittman's concern about the weather.

"Fired up," Williams said. "They were fired up. It was just awesome."

Turner also talked about the reaction of his family upon hearing they were moving to Fayetteville.

"My wife, she’s from the Bay Area of California," Turner said. "So she’s leaving home. But I told her, I’m, like, ‘Hey, what do you think about Arkansas?’ She’s like, ‘Yes. Absolutely.’ She’s been in the state. It’s a place like, ‘All right. I know that. I have some comfort there.’ My kids have cousins that are five hours away, something like that now. So that was an easy sell for her. Actually, my sister just moved here. The moving truck got there Saturday."

Turner added more about his sister also moving here as well as his own family.

"Moving into a house in Rogers, yeah," Turner said. "I couldn’t think of anything more meant to be. Her moving here, we get to come here, my wife’s fired up. I have a 4-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. I showed them the logo, showed them a picture of it, and he’s like, ‘I remember that one.’ So they’re at the age, like they’re not totally sure what’s going on. But like, ‘Alright. I’ve got some comfort there. I know it.’ It’s pretty exciting."

Arkansas will face Kansas in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 28, with kickoff set at 4:30 p.m. and televised on ESPN.