FAYETTEVILLE -- Taylen Green threw for six touchdown passes while leading Arkansas to a 52-7 win over Alabama A&M in front of 70,827 fans to open the 2025 football season in Razorback Stadium.
Green threw two touchdown passes to CJ Brown and then four others caught one. Unlike last season when Andrew Armstrong dominated the reception chart, 10 different players caught passes. Charlotte transfer O'Mega Blake led the way with seven receptions for121 yards and one touchdown. Green found Blake for a 6-yard touchdown just before intermission.
Arkansas took a 31-7 lead into the half. Green played the first three quarters before giving way to KJ Jackson and later Trever Jackson. Green completed 24 of 31 passes for 322 yards and the six touchdowns. He also rushed nine times for 41 yards. Sam Pittman was pleased with the win.
"That was a good win," Pittman said. "Started off slow, defensively. Certainly had some mental errors there that, they had a good game plan coming in, but we had some mental errors. Some gap problems in the run and then turned the tight end loose a couple of times. He got open one more time on us and we got it fixed, and then played pretty good defense the rest of the day.
"Offensively, we threw seven touchdown passes, I think. Taylen did a good job of avoiding pressures. Some of them were simple twist games where they had pressure on, some of them they brought one more than we could protect in our protection, who was hot. We've got to get better there, butI was proud that we were able to throw the ball to a lot of different people, get them involved. I think that's going to help us in the future with those guys, get some confidence. A lot of different kids scored touchdowns, I was glad to see all of them. I was happy to see CJ Brown score a couple of touchdowns after his, obviously, his hardship that he's gone through. So, that was really cool to see. It was great to see (Scott) Starzyk come in and kick a 53-yard field goal on his first kick as a Razorback. Thought our special teams played well, so I'll answer any questions you have."
Alabama A&M did start the game on fire offensively. They scored on a 7-play, 75-yard drive on their first possession. A 6-yard run by Maurice Edwards and PAT tied the game at 7 with 6:28 remaining in the opening period.
A 53-yard field goal by true freshman Starzyk with 3:37 remaining in the first period put the Razorbacks up 10-7 and they never looked back after that scoring the next 42 points. Jackson was 2 of 4 for 36 yards and a touchdown in the fourth quarter. He found running back Mike Washington for a 27-yard touchdown. Washington led all rushers in the game with nine carries for 79 yards. Pittman was asked to talk more about Green's game.
"Yeah, I mean, one, we were turnover-free," Pittman said. "That's big. So he took care of the football. He was smart throwing and running. Once he got out, understood where first downs were, whether he needed to throw or he could run to get it. I thought he had good command over the huddle and over the offense all day. And he distributed the ball to several different people. So, came out, I think, healthy. So I was really pleased with his game and we've just got to protect him. We've got to continue to work. We knew they were going to blitz the heck out of us, and they did. But we've got to get better protection, him as well."
Pittman was asked if he liked Green spreading the ball around to different receivers.
"Bobby's (Petrino) the one who can answer that more than me, to be perfectly honest with you, but he has his first read, his second read, his third read," Pittman said. "Bobby has his reasoning for calling a play, whether it be because what he knows is going to come open, or he wants to specifically target a guy. But I was just happy that a bunch of guys got involved. Sure does make them want to practice more and more, and harder, to know they're going to get the football."
The second-team offense enjoyed some success against Arkansas' defense in the scrimmages. The way this game started with A&M scoring on its first possession with ease worry Pittman?
"Well, it's one game," Pittman said. "I was more concerned about the missed assignments, you know, that we were having. That wasn't necessarily the case in the scrimmages. I think if we don't miss the assignments, we're going to be in pretty good shape. But, we did. Therefore, we got in trouble on that first drive. It was nasty, it was terrible. But after that, for the most part they came back. We'll address that and go exactly why they went down the field and scored on us. But in my mind right now, it's about mental errors."
What changed for the defense after that first drive?
"Yes, after the first drive," Pittman said. "The first drive, I wasn't. I don't think anybody was. But after the first drive, I think that we changed up our coverages and I think we covered them tighter. There was some non-contested balls early, and then after that I think almost every ball throw was a contested ball. I do think their guys came up and were physical back there, as well. Lot of new guys back there, so hopefully that's out of the system and that we're rolling."
CJ Brown caught four passes for 49 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jalen Brown grabbed three passes for 44 yards and a touchdown. Raylen Sharpe came down with three receptions for 41 yards and a score. Tight end Andreas Paaske caught a pass for a 5-yard touchdown.
Braylen Russell was second with Green in rushing as he carried 11 times for 41 yards and delivered some key blocks when not running with it.
Maine transfer safety Shakur Smalls had a big Razorback debut. He had four tackles, three solo, one sack, a tackle for loss, forced a fumble that he recovered and broke up a pass. Cornerback Julian Neal and linebacker Stephen Dix Jr. each added four tackles. Neal is a transfer from Stanford who also had some big hits. Quincy Rhodes Jr. added a sack and pair of quarterback hurries to go with his tackle.
Standout defensive tackle Cam Ball had one tackle, another for loss and a quarterback hurry. Ball was asked if the communication level among the defensive players wasn't what it needed to be particularly early on?
"There was a lot of moments because we made some good plays, but we left a lot on the field, man, and we're going to see more of it on tape, but we know what the standard is, and we know even though we won how we did, that wasn't our standard," Ball said. "And there’s always room for improvement. We could blow somebody out, how we did, but we always know there's room for improvement. We got to polish everything so we can play a full, complete game. That wasn't a full complete game out there defensively."
Arkansas will be in Little Rock's War Memorial Stadium on Saturday to take on Arkansas State at 4 p.m.
