Arkansas pitcher Austin Ledbetter leaving baseball team to play QB for Razorbacks

Austin Ledbetter is leaving the Arkansas baseball team, but he will still be a student-athlete for the Razorbacks. Ledbetter announced on Thursday that he is joining the Arkansas football team as a quarterback for the 2024 season.

Ledbetter played baseball for the past two seasons at Arkansas. He appeared in 15 games last year, finishing with a 7.09 ERA.

The Bryant, Arkansas native was a two-sport start at Bryant High School, prior to joining the Arkansas baseball program.

“First and foremost, I want to give glory to God for all of the opportunities he has presented me with. These past two years playing baseball at Arkansas have been nothing short of amazing. I want to thank the coaches and staff for always supporting me and constantly pushing me to be my best,” Austin Ledbetter said in a statement.

“Thank you to my teammates who have been there for me through everything. After much prayer, thought and consideration with my family, I have decided to put my career in baseball behind me. After talking with Coach [Sam] Pittman and Coach [Bobby] Petrino, I have decided to pursue a football career at the University of Arkansas. I am super grateful for this opportunity and ready to get to work!”

Austin Ledbetter put up impressive stats as a quarterback at Bryant High. He passed for 42 touchdowns and five interceptions as a senior in 2021 and 40 touchdowns, with eight picks, as a junior in 2020.

Now he will try to continue that success with the Arkansas Razorbacks football program.

Sam Pittman details how Arkansas will fix offensive line issues

Austin Ledbetter is joining an Arkansas football team that will look to have a bounce back year in 2024. The Razorbacks finished 4-8 (1-7) this past season.

One big issue was offensive line play. Sam Pittman recently shared how Arkansas will try to fix issues on the o-line.

“Well, you gotta go in the portal. And I look back at Auburn coming in here and I think four of their five was from the portal. And think seven of their top eight players, O linemen, were transfers. There’s an opportunity to do that. We’ve gotta get better with the ones that we have here, as well. But you don’t have to be a football coach to know we need help,” Pittman said.

Arkansas’ offense languished in 2023. Offensive coordinator Dan Enos was fired after a three-point showing less than a year into his tenure and the results weren’t that much better after the staff shakeup. By Pittman’s own analysis, much of what ailed his squad in 2023 can be remedied by some improved play up front on offense.

“So we’ve gotta go address that and that will be our No. 1 place to address because without that, you really can’t have a lot of success, offensively. And with that, you can have a whole bunch of success. But we’ve gotta get it fixed, and that’s nothing negative about the kids we have. We just gotta get that one fixed. I think everybody knows that,” Pittman said.