By Otis Kirk
Ryan Silverfield's first trip to the SEC Media Days was a successful one as he answered numerous questions surrounding this year's squad.
Arkansas will begin practice on Aug. 5 and then exactly one month later will play host to North Alabama in Razorback Stadium. Arkansas is coming off a 2-10 season, but Silverfield has made a strong effort to change the culture and everything surrounding the football program.
"With that being said, the last eight months have been a whirlwind," Silverfield said. "They've been a lot of fun. It's been a lot of exciting times. Couldn't be more pleased with the way it's gone, the work that's been put in.
"Obviously a lot of unknowns heading into the 2026 football season with near 80 new players on our team, now an almost entirely new staff, but a lot of exciting work has been put in, and I can't wait to talk about our Razorback team today."
Obviously the quarterback spot is one being monitored by everyone supporting the team. The two candidates are redshirt sophomore KJ Jackson and redshirt freshman transfer AJ Hill who came over from Memphis. Both were 4-star recruits in high school.
"I have great faith in the two guys that are competing for that starting job as it sits today," Silverfield said. "KJ Jackson and AJ Hill, both are very, very intelligent. Both are very hardworking. Both have the skill set in order to lead us to a bunch of SEC wins and compete at the highest level. Thrilled with those two.
"Everybody keeps saying, when will a decision be made? Listen, they're going to continue to battle through OTAs and summer access and then through training camp, and then we'll look up later at the end of August and see where it sits. Very pleased with the way each one of those guys is progressing, and looking forward to seeing how they continue to try to lead our offense."
In 2025 Jackson appeared in five games while starting the regular season finale against Missouri. It was Jackson's first career start in the loss to Missouri, completing 11-17 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown while rushing four times for 14 yards. For the season, Jackson completed 33-54 passing attempts for 441 yards and three touchdowns. He registered 11 carries for 52 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Hill redshirted in his first season at Memphis, playing in two games. He completed 19-of-32 passes for 223 yards with a touchdown and one interception. Made his collegiate debut at UAB passing for 175 yards on 13-of-25 with one TD and an interception. He went 6-for-7 for 48 yards in Gasparilla Bowl vs. NC State.
Silverfield said one question he gets often is how would success in 2026 be defined?
"For me, success has been set up from not only when we got there in December to the winter workouts in January on, to spring football, were we getting better?," Silverfield said. "To the summer conditioning and OTAs, are we making improvements? Are we bigger, faster, and stronger? Those are the things that we can measure on a day-to-day. Are we handling ourselves academically, setting benchmarks and record for the highest GPA, the most community service hours? Those are things that we get to see progress in.
"Ultimately, we're going to be judged by our wins and losses. We understand that. We want to see our guys go out there and play harder than they have ever before. We can judge by the effort we're playing with in between the white lines. When you watch us, are we playing more disciplined than the Razorbacks of the past have played? Are we taking care of the football? Are we winning those close games? Are we finding ways to play better at home?"
At Memphis, Silverfield game planned against Arkansas and other SEC programs. What did he see in Arkansas that he wanted to change the most?
"Obviously I've coached against a lot of SEC teams in my ten years at Memphis, and we're pretty fortunate to have some good success," Silverfield said. "When I put on that Arkansas film -- and, again, this is no knock on what occurred before we got there, but the number one thing I said is, man, we got to get this team playing more disciplined with better effort and then finding ways to take care of the football.
"I think all Razorback fans alike will sit there and nod their head and say: Yeah, let's get those things fixed and we'll be pretty pleased. Those are things I think we have the ability to do so immediately. You watch the guys. There was a lot of guys that had talent on the rosters previously, a lot of guys that played really hard, but it's my job and our job collectively to bring that together.
"So hopefully, you know, this time next year we're talking about, man, it was a different-looking team the way they went out week in and week out and played like their hair was on fire, with great effort, with great discipline. I think when we do that, we'll be taking steps in the right direction."
While most national groups that have ranked the SEC coaches places Silverfield at last, No. 16. This is despite he's 5-1 against coaches currently in the SEC. Silverfield smiled and asked the reporter to repeat that record.
"Yeah, that's great," Silverfield said. "I won't throw the podium at you, so I appreciate that. Listen, people have the right to feel a certain way, and that's okay. I've been doubted my whole life. That's not a bad thing. I think what ends up happening is you have a head coach that has a chip on his shoulder.
"It doesn't matter what other people think about me. It truly doesn't. All I care is what the players and my family think about me. Anybody that's been around our program, anybody that's been around me knows that we're going to do it the right way. In due time we'll get this back to where it needs to be.
"I think a lot of the expectations are there are a lot of unknowns. Let's call it what it is. As you in the media that have the right and certainly should have your opinion on things, it's unknown who our quarterback is. There's a lot of unknowns on our roster. With those unknowns come uncertainty. So it makes sense to pick us at a certain part."
Silverfield is aware a lot of what goes into preseason rankings and predictions are based on what happened last season, fair or not.
"I think a lot of people reflect on what happened last year and what's happened in recent history," Silverfield said. "That has zero correlation to the success we're going to have moving forward. To me, we don't look at it. I don't use it as motivation. I don't put it on bulletin board material: Hey, this is what they think about me or this is what they think about us as a team.
"None of that matters. We're putting our head down and going to work every single day, and I can promise you our guys are. To us, listen, we'll look up in December and see where we're at, and so be it. Hopefully we're not at the back end and we continue to make steps in the right direction. That's all par, and let people have their opinions and their thoughts."
In addition to Silverfield, two other American Conference coaches have joined the SEC since last season. Alex Golesh is now at Auburn and Jon Sumrall left Tulane for Florida. Silverfield talked about his relationship with the pair.
"Yeah, listen, six years in the American, ten years total," Silverfield said. "So much respect for that conference. Then obviously a lot of respect for the two coaches you mentioned.
"But I think you look at the group of five, group of six, whatever it's now called, as we sit here today, I have so much belief that the American Conference is truly the top of that level. In fact, you know, during our time at Memphis, obviously we had fortune to play, as I mentioned earlier, against some of the SEC schools and other Power 4 teams and have success. So do a lot of the teams in that conference.
"Coach Sumrall and Coach Golesh are two guys that I have known for quite a while that I have a lot of respect for. Obviously they've got their challenges and opportunities ahead for them. But they're two good ones, and I'm sure they're working hard to get their programs back where everybody expects as well."
