Sam Pittman details quarterback room and roles heading into 2022

Following Arkansas’s spring scrimmage on Saturday, Sam Pittman discussed three of his four quarterbacks at length. Starting with his returning starter KJ Jefferson, Pittman broke down his biggest improvements of the spring.

“He’s had a really good spring,” Pittman said. “I think the biggest improvement of his that I’ve seen is just his knowledge, seeing the play before it happens, presnap looks, things of that nature. He’s much better in his reads right now than what he was at any time last year. He’s more confident. Again, I don’t think we particularly threw and caught the ball well today but he’s a lot better player than what he was last year, in my opinion.”

After leading the Hogs to a 9-4 finish last season, Jefferson has the starting role in the bag. That clarity has allowed Pittman and offensive coordinator Kendall Briles to try out backup Malik Hornsby at wide receiver. Hornsby is a former track star and his speed is just one reason why the Razorbacks want more opportunities to get him on the field.

“(Malik’s) had some good practices, some really good days throwing the football,” Pittman said. “I do believe he needs to be on the field for us to be the best team we can be and we’ll continue to work that. It seems a little slow to me so we got to get him some more reps during practice.”

Razorbacks counting on former USF quarterback for depth

On top of former Ole Miss walk-on Kade Renfro who’s been injured, the Hogs have one more quarterback waiting in the wings. After losing redshirt freshman Lucas Coley to the transfer portal, Pittman picked up former USF and North Carolina senior QB Cade Fortin this offseason.

“I like Fortin, I do,” Pittman said. “He’s older, mature, he’s been in major college games. He’s got a way of getting a ball to a player, you know some quarterbacks want to fire it as hard as they can all the time, they want to show their arm. Fortin wants to complete the pass. I like his arm strength. He can throw a deep ball, he can throw it short, but he throws it so the guy can catch it. He’s really helped us.”

Pittman pleased with how Razorbacks handled last-second spring game change

Thunderstorms in the Fayetteville area forced head coach Sam Pittman to move the spring game inside the practice facility, eliminating the last chance fans had to see the team in person before the fall. It wasn’t the full experience the team was hoping for but the head Hog came away content with the effort.

“I thought it went well for roping off the endzones, getting the ball back in two-minute and turning back around because we couldn’t go into the parents and recruits, but I thought it went well,” Pittman said. “I thought we got accomplished. We had a couple of injuries I think but neither guy had anything to do with the live tackling so, we practice in there quite a bit.

“I think we came out fairly well. I didn’t think we threw the ball particularly well but the kids protected pretty good and our runners ran hard. It’s stud so you don’t have an opportunity to break a tackle or knock the ball out.”