Sam Pittman confirms Malik Hornsby is Arkansas' backup quarterback over Cade Fortin

Arkansas suffered its third loss of the season on Saturday at Mississippi State, doing so without starting quarterback KJ Jefferson, who missed the game after being hit in the head against Alabama a week prior. But the Razorbacks did find out one thing for sure: Malik Hornsby is Arkansas’ backup quarterback going forward.

Hornsby went 8-of-17 passing for 234 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, while also adding eight carries for 114 yards. But he did enough that, following a conversation leading up to the game, coach Sam Pittman is comfortable ending an early season experiment with the talented athlete.

“He’ll have to explain more than I can with him, but there was a big weight lifted off his back with the way that he performed,” Pittman said.

“I think he validated what he thought about himself as a quarterback and what the team did. He wants to stay right there to be ready if needed at quarterback and not necessarily do the wide receiver/quarterback, all that stuff, just be ready as needed with the No. 2 quarterback.”

Hornsby had spent considerable time this offseason and during fall camp working at receiver, where Arkansas thought it might be thin following the departure of first-round NFL Draft pick Treylon Burks.

But with Jefferson’s status in doubt against the Bulldogs going into the week, Pittman sat down with Hornsby and had a frank conversation about his future.

“I talked to Malik again, kind of had a Monday meeting with him last week and he certainly earned that spot on Saturday,” Pittman said. “I just gave him his choice, whether he wanted to stay where he was as the two quarterback now or whether he wanted to move to wideout or whether he was interested in moving to corner. Obviously the team needs some defensive back help.”

The decision: He’s a quarterback.

With Malik Hornsby as Arkansas’ backup quarterback, receiver packages will disappear

The Hogs had experimented with getting the ball in Hornsby’s hands in various ways earlier in the season, but they’ll stop doing that going forward. Hornsby had contributed just two catches for eight yards and three carries for 21 yards prior to his huge workload increase as the team’s quarterback on Saturday.

Pittman said the previous packages will be scrapped.

“It didn’t work. It didn’t work for him,” he said. “I think he wants to be a quarterback and we were forcing him a little bit into needs. I think we felt like our needs were a little bit more at wide receiver than what they may be. He wants to be a quarterback and that’s where we’re going to play him.”

Now Hornsby will begin training as the team’s primary backup quarterback, ahead of Cade Fortin.

“Even at practice we took him away from that, I don’t think it helped him at practice,” Pittman said. “I think he can become what we all think he can be at quarterback if we just leave him there. I gave him that choice and that’s what he chose, and honestly I was happy that he did.”