Sam Pittman shares latest Khari Johnson, Jayden Johnson injury update

Few programs have had one position hit by injuries as hard as Arkansas has been at the safety position in 2022, and coach Sam Pittman provided a Khari Johnson and Jayden Johnson injury update Monday after both left this weekend’s game against Mississippi State.

They were just the latest in a long string of injuries for the Razorbacks at the position, and Arkansas will begin the week with Pittman unclear on the status for either going into a game against BYU.

“I don’t (know). Well, I don’t know that Khari will be available,” Pittman said. “Jayden could be, we’re not going to practice him today. Khari probably not, Jayden I don’t know. We’re holding him today.”

In addition to those two, who left the Mississippi State loss in the first half, safety Myles Slusher continues to battle an upper-body injury that has had him in and out of the lineup.

Slusher sustained the injury in the season opener and missed the team’s contests against South Carolina and Missouri State before returning against Texas A&M and Alabama. However, he did not appear in the team’s 40-17 loss to the Bulldogs over the weekend.

“I thought he would be a little bit further along yesterday, to be perfectly honest with you, than what he was,” Pittman said.

Arkansas secondary quite depleted at safety

While Pittman’s Jayden Johnson injury update left at least some room for optimism, the outlook at safety as a whole has been dour all year.

Already star safety Jalen Catalon was lost for the season due to an injury, as was fellow safety LaDarrius Bishop. Throw the current injuries to Slusher, Johnson and Johnson on top and it’s no wonder Arkansas has lost three straight games.

Teams have been able to exploit those absences in the secondary with increasing regularity.

Arkansas gave up 395 passing yards to Mississippi State in the loss and has surrendered at least 550 yards of total offense in each of the last two weeks after giving up an average of 402.5 yards in the first month of the season.

Pittman’s banged-up Arkansas squad will return to action this weekend on the road at BYU on Saturday in a game that kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.