FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas has a quarterback battle going on between AJ Hill and KJ Jackson and Coach Mitch Stewart is pleased with how both are performing thus far in spring camp.
Stewart was hired by Ryan Silverfield to coach the quarterbacks after Clint Trickett left to become offensive coordinator at Maryland. Stewart spent the past two seasons at Memphis with Silverfield. Jackson is a redshirt sophomore who played some last season including one start while Hill is a redshirt freshman who also came from Memphis. Both Jackson and Hill were four-star recruits coming out of high school. Stewart talked about how the first four days of spring ball have gone for his position.
"Man, things are things are going great," Stewart said. "Good room. It's a cool room. I'll be honest with you, it's a very positive room. We kind of joke about it all the time, they're like each other's biggest fans out there on the field, sometimes. (They) cheer for one another— 'Hey man, good throw, good read.' All of that kind of stuff.
"But we're in a situation where I think the first three days before spring break is more about just teaching everybody, right? Like, this is how we move around practice. This is how we do these drills. This is the verbiage we use, the cadence. It's always funny with quarterbacks, you don't think about little things like that. You gotta make sure they say the right cadence, and they don't go back to, blue 42 and say, 'No, no, we're not a blue 42 operation.'
Then, I think now, once we get on the backside of spring break, now it's about building those calluses, right? And for quarterback, obviously, a lot of that has to do with their mentality, building the calluses of their minds, and how they operate and the decisions they make, and putting them in those situations. Coach (Tim) Cramsey, I'm gonna tell you, he's one of the best I've ever been around at throwing those guys in situations and seeing how they respond and giving them a chance to build those calluses. And they've responded well to that. Cerebral group."
Cramsey is the offensive coordinator who who also came from Memphis. Stewart then went into more detail on Hill and Jackson.
"They have a great sense of urgency to improve," Stewart said. "Over the break, they all took VR goggles home with them so that they could watch the first three installs while they were over break. We were joking because one of them said, ‘I was running a QB draw and almost ran into the room. I forgot that I wasn't on the field and all of that, my mom's like hey stop’. But those are the type of kids that they are. They're constantly sending you texts wanting to know, ‘Hey, what does this play look like? Is this right?’ Those types of things. Kind of briefly, individually, obviously KJ has got a unique skill set. Dude's very athletic, but he's very cerebral too. He's just a kind of a savvy ball player. You can tell he's been around a lot of ball, kind of comes natural to him, some of the conversations and things like that, smooth throw.
"Then AJ, obviously I've got a lot of experience with him being around him. Another very, very high cerebral kid, very smart football player. He's one of those that has that unique skill set of taking what you see on film, and he can do that out on the grass. He can see that blitz coming and a lot of people can't do that. It's one thing to see it on a big projector. It's another thing to see it coming when you're there. Probably not quite the mobility that KJ has, but he is a big guy."
The other two quarterbacks this spring are Angelo State transfer redshirt senior Braeden Fuller and redshirt freshman walk-on Cade Trotter, who came from Clemson.
"Then you got Braeden, who's played a lot of ball," Stewart said. "Braden Fuller, who's D2 guy, which I was former bus leaguer, so me and him have a little kinship there. But he's played a lot of ball, super productive. Then Cade Trotter. There's the fourth dude who's just ultra passionate. That dude, he gets the crowd going, he's a lot of fun. You watch him play ball, that dude is having the time of his life playing football, and it's contagious. So all of them bring different things to the table, and then collectively makes them a lot of fun to be around."
At Arkansas in five games last fall, Jackson started against Missouri. HE completed 33 of 54 passes for 441 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed 11 times for 52 yards and two scores. Hill played in two games with Memphis and completed 19 of 32 passes for 223 yards, one touchdown and an interception.
Larry Smith, who coached wide receivers at Memphis last season and now is with Arkansas, talked about where Hill has made the most growth from his freshman season at Memphis.
"With AJ, when he first got on campus, because he was a midyear enrollee for us, he was learning the offense and we were going through spring ball, he would text each offensive coach individually and go through the script with us the night before," Smith said. "Whenever we were done with our position meetings, I would go back in my offense and would review the script, he’ll text me, ‘Hey Coach Smith, can I come by and review the scripts? I want to go through each play of the script.’ Then the next day, it’d be Jeff, our offensive line coach. Next day it may be Mitch.
"So just understanding that kid loves ball and seeing him develop and you can see his body change. Even though he’s 240 pounds, he was maybe 230 last year, but it was a baby fat 230. Early on, he was baby giraffe. He’d run and trip and fall over his cleats. Now you’re seeing him and he’s staying upright. But we’re excited about AJ because he’s a football junkie. The kids naturally gravitate toward him. He’s a natural leader. But he’s very, very smart and really, really high football IQ and just seeing him transition to here in Arkansas has been really good. Having Coach Mitch as his coach for him, just being very comfortable. Playing the quarterback position, comfort is very, very important, and particularly with people that you’re familiar with and a system you’re familiar with, so we’re excited for him and we’re definitely glad he’s here."
Stewart also explained what Jackson being at Arkansas previously has meant for the quarterback.
"I mean, I think he immediately comes in with some street cred because he knows the guys," Stewart said. "He knows a lot of the guys that have been on the team prior, so he has that relationship piece to it. Shoot, man, he knew where the bathrooms were. When everyone else got here, nobody else knew where the bathrooms were.
"So there’s a leadership role, naturally, of hey, how do we get to the Jones Center? Hey, come follow me. How do we get to the… Hey, come follow me. So he does have some of that to him, but he’s also got some of that natural. That’s just kind of his personality. He is a mild-mannered alpha, is how I would put it. He’s not a screamer and a yeller, but he does have a presence about him that makes you kind of naturally gravitate to him a little bit, and you see it. You see other players want to go sit at the table where he’s eating for post-practice meals and stuff like that. He’s cool. He’s a cool dude. There’s the coach speak for you. He’s a cool cat."
The spring game will be Saturday, April 25, at 2 p.m.
