Sam Pittman addresses Brady Latham's struggles with penalties

Arkansas struggled with pre-snap penalties this past Saturday against Ole Miss, with offensive lineman Brady Latham in particular having some issues.

Latham committed a pair of false start penalties against the Rebels, jumping early once in the first quarter and again in the third.

Latham now has five false start penalties and a pair of holding calls against him on the year.

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman was asked during his press conference this week about Latham’s struggles with penalties this season.

“He’s jumping. I mean I don’t know how else to say it,” Pittman said. “He’s flinching, whenever they say ‘move.’ Not all the time, but he’s had several. I don’t know really how to answer that one.”

Arkansas committed four false start penalties and also had an illegal snap against Ole Miss. Pittman believes the Rebels may have been yelling things out to get the Razorbacks to jump. Still, he wants to see better discipline from his team moving forward.

“Our penalties, we’re continuing to work on that. We’ve just got to keep the noise going all the time. I believe that might help,” Pittman said. “The rule on that a little bit is we’ve got linebackers flinching, jumping, yelling ‘move’ several different times. I don’t know if that’s what the rule’s intended for, but we’ve got to practice it like that is the rule and stay in there better.”

Sam Pittman addresses outside concerns about Alabama

The next opportunity for Arkansas to cut down on its penalties will come Saturday at Alabama as the Razorbacks attempt to avoid dropping a fifth straight game.

Winning won’t be easy, though, as Alabama is playing well at the moment.

Alabama went through some struggles early in the season, falling to Texas and playing poorly at USF. But the Crimson Tide seem to be hitting their stride here at the midway point of the season.

Nick Saban‘s club has won four straight games entering the matchup with the Razorbacks, including a tough win at Texas A&M last weekend. Pittman was asked this week about the notion that Alabama has taken a step back. He’s not buying into it.

““They can go up there, line up, and play anybody. I mean they can, they’ve got the talent. We’re catching them now where they’re, I think, really getting into their groove,” Pittman said.

“Their defense is fantastic and offensively now they’re doing what they can do to score points and have success. … I think [Jalen] Milroe is gonna get known for having great success for Alabama, it just might be a little bit different than what the past quarterbacks have been.”