Sam Pittman identifies Alex Sanford as scout team player who could contribute

They may go overlooked at other programs, but at Arkansas, the scout team is a vital part of Sam Pittman’s operation.

At his recent media availability, the Razorback head coach took a couple of minutes to discuss his scout team when asked about it. He even singled out one player on it now, a true freshman linebacker, who is really thriving and showing off why he may not be a scout team player much longer.

“Alex Sanford is down there right now. I don’t know he’ll be there all year,” Pittman said of the true freshman.

“You know, he makes a lot of plays down there and there’s guys showing out every day over the last two days since we’ve moved out. So, really proud.”

Sanford doesn’t come in as a tremendously high-ranked prospect, as he was a three-star ranked in the 700s per the On3 Industry Rankings. However, per his head coach, this less-heralded rookie is already showing out in his scout team play.

Perhaps Sanford winds up like some former Pittman players of the past, who advanced from the scout team early in their college careers to eventually be drafted.

“You know, the first thing I did, I put up two guys that were scout team players that went the first round. You know, Isaiah Wilson played on the scout team the entire year, and then two years later he went in the first round. And Jonathan Cooper, I coached him at North Carolina, was a scout team, redshirted guy, and was a seventh round pick.”

Some players are down there for development, but some are down there because they simply ain’t good enough or athletic enough to hack it with the starters. Either way, Sam Pittman doesn’t want to dash their dreams by making them scout team.

“Guys learned a little bit different, you know. Some guys aren’t big enough, strong enough yet, but I showed them, talked about, you know, their dreams. Whatever their dreams may be, they can still have them. These guys did, and they continued to do it.”

Overall, a good scout team usually means a good football team as a whole, and that’s what Pittman says he has in Fayetteville this season.

But, you know, the better your players get, the better your scout team gets. Like at Georgia, our scout team, and I know on both sides of the ball, but I knew more about the defensive stats and it was incredible. And I think it helped us tremendously.

Lastly, he added of the scout team: “I thought they did a really good job.”