Sam Pittman encouraged by Arkansas' running back depth behind Raheim Sanders

One of Arkansas‘ key offensive weapons could be missing this weekend against Kent State, with running back Raheim Sanders dealing with some swelling in his knee. The running back depth could be tested.

Sanders was the team’s leading rusher a year ago, piling up 1,443 yards and 10 touchdowns on the ground. It’ll be a big blow if he can’t play, but coach Sam Pittman isn’t worried due to what’s behind him.

“I love our depth,” Pittman said. “I think (Rashod Dubinion)’s really good and all of them. AJ (Green) and (Dominique Johnson), I keep going back to two years ago we had the same guys on the team and (Johnson) was the starter later in the season. We kept trying to get him more and more carries. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn’t. But when we did he was very successful.”

Johnson finished with 575 yards in that 2021 season that Pittman was referencing, only three yards behind Sanders and just 23 yards behind leading running back Trelon Smith.

So he’s clearly capable of toting the rock and being the guy that emerges from the running back depth chart if Arkansas needs him to.

“So I feel really good,” Pittman said. “You never want to lose a player for a game or two or whatever it may be, but that room is loaded with really good players and we like Isaiah (Augustave) as well, so he got some carries last week. Looked pretty good to me. Very physical runner.”

Augustave saw four carries for 20 yards in the season opener, while Green saw four for 22. Dubinion logged three carries for 15 yards, while Johnson logged three carries for 14 yards.

The Razorbacks will probably spread the rock around a little less as the season carries on, but the ability to go deep down the ranks is certainly there.

Pittman praised his running backs coach for getting the running back depth to where it is.

“Jimmy (Smith)‘s done a nice job recruiting that room so we feel very confident in that room if Rocket wasn’t able to play, that we’d be fine,” Pittman said.

Sanders’ status is uncertain due to some swelling in his knee. He’s been dealing with that swelling since the season opener against Western Carolina, where he carried it 15 times for 42 yards and two touchdowns in a bit of a tough outing.

“I don’t think it played any impact on him. I do believe that yes, that it happened during the game,” Pittman said Wednesday. “Was a little bit of swelling on Sunday. Obviously didn’t say anything about it until Sunday when the swelling came up. But, it could’ve impacted him. But with him not saying anything until Sunday, I would assume that it didn’t and again, I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen with him at this moment. I think I’ll know more this afternoon.”