Fully recovered from hip surgery undergone immediately following the 2024 regular season, Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman was in a good mood Monday to help kick off the Little Rock Touchdown Club’s 2025 speaker series.
Pittman led the Hogs to a win over Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl this past December while still using a cane. The sixth-year head Hog looked nimble by comparison, addressing a packed house inside the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Little Rock. He and his band of Hogs will need to channel that nimbleness after a 7-6 season and another grueling schedule ahead, rated as among the toughest in the nation.
SEC coaches picked the Hogs to finish 14th in the 16-team league.
“In 2024, I had a bad hip. It was horrible,” Pittman said. “I feel wonderful now and really good about our football team.”
Pittman cited the team’s overall size and speed several times. Arkansas lost nearly a third of its roster to the transfer portal alone, but Pittman said he and his staff like what they were able to glean themselves from the portal. The top prize is shaping up to be New Mexico State transfer running back Mike Washington Jr., who took over the top spot on the depth chart during fall camp over returning Benton bruiser Braylen Russell, from whom much is still expected.
In the Hogs’ three fall camp scrimmages, Washington has broken touchdown runs of 50-plus yards, Pittman said. He also called out the play of junior scatback Rodney Hill.
David Bazzel at Little Rock Touchdown Club. Photo by Dewaine Duncan.
Led by quarterback Taylen Green, one of the SEC’s top returning signal callers, the Razorback offense is expected to shine under second-year offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. Green fell roughly 80 yards shy of setting a single-season total offense record at Arkansas in 2024.
Pittman also expressed confidence in backup QBs KJ Jackson, redshirt Florida State transfer Trever Jackson and true freshman Grayson Wilson. The former Jackson is the clear No. 2 behind Green.
“I don’t see us going to the portal once Taylen leaves,” he said. “I think we have our future quarterback on campus.”
New faces dot the wide receiver and tight end rooms, but Pittman said the Hogs got good ones in wideout O’Mega Blake, a UAB transfer, and tight end Rohan Jones, a transfer from Montana State. Pittman also mentioned the work of returning WR Monte Harrison, the 30-year-old sophomore who signed to play pro baseball after high school and actually played 50 games in the bigs with the Marlins and Angels.
Pittman, the former offensive line coach, said the Hogs upgraded up front, and this is where fans will notice marked improvement.
On defense, Pittman said Arkansas can match SEC teams in terms of the two-deep, but said the team is still developing depth, especially on the injury-plagued D-line. He did note, though, that he believes the two-deep on the DL can help win SEC games and noted the preseason work of DE Justus Boone, a transfer from Florida.
Little Rock Touchdown Club’s first meeting August 18, 2025. Photo by Dewaine Duncan.
The head Hog mentioned all-star candidates Cam Ball on the D-line and Xavian Sorey at linebacker, as well as returnees Quincy Rhodes (DL) and Stephen Dix (LB). Pittman raved about new secondary coach Nick Perry, the former Alabama standout who coached for several years in the NFL, and the rebuilt secondary’s size and speed. Pittman said when the Hogs are on D, there’ll be no more holding one’s breath when opposing teams put the ball in the air.
“We’ve got guys who can cover and play man,” he said.
Pittman praised the work of punter Devin Bale, who may be hoisting the Ray Guy trophy come season’s end, and highly touted, projected starting freshman kicker Scott Starzyk.
Pittman touched on the state of college football and, like most fans, thinks the transfer portal goes too far. He said coaches can tell if a player is a candidate to hit the portal based on his parents.
“You have to figure out their parents,” he said. “The ones where the parents are awesome, the young man’s usually that way too. The ones that are needy — and will probably transfer — the parents are probably that way too.”
He also said revenue sharing “has helped us to compete with others in the league.”
“Now, you gotta piece a team together sooner,” he said of gaining new players from and losing players to the portal. Coaches have to get all the new faces integrated into the program quickly now, he added. But he’s comfortable that the Hogs came out ahead in the offseason.
“We got the guys we needed, on the field and in the locker room,” he said. “It’s the unknown now, but we’ve got a really good football team. It’s the biggest team we’ve had, and the fastest too. We’ve got Taylen Green, and other teams don’t. I really believe we’re gonna put something out there you can be proud of.”
The Hogs open the season Aug. 30 in Fayetteville against Alabama A&M. Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. The game is sold out. The club welcomes former Razorback national champion and NFL Hall-of-Famer Jimmy Johnson to the stage on Tuesday, Aug. 26.
AY Media Group is a proud media sponsor of the Little Rock Touchdown Club.
Photos by Dewaine Duncan
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