Sam Pittman praises strong duo of Bumper Pool, Drew Sanders

Arkansas is a program that has been known for its tough, hard-nosed play under Sam Pittman. Luckily enough for the Razorbacks, they’ve had great linebacker tandems to lead them in recent seasons. This year, that duo is Bumper Pool and Drew Sanders.

In a press conference, Sam Pittman was asked about the dynamic between Bumper Pool and Drew Sanders. He was also asked to compare them to Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry.

“I think Bump and Drew are close,” Sam Pittman said. “I think they’re good friends, I think they’ve earned each other’s respect, I think there’s two totally different personalities there.”

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That also gave Sam Pittman to praise his former linebackers. He started by explaining what made Hayden Henry special.

“Hayden and Grant, probably Hayden was more of an extreme. You know, away from that, Hayden was just a slobber-knocker. All he wants to do is just hit people. Well, I like that kid though, man. What a good player he was,” Sam Pittman said.

“Grant was, you know, Mr. Everything. Best talker, best we had. I mean, best talker, best leader. You know, he was something really special there as well.”

Interestingly, Sam Pittman makes it clear that he doesn’t think the two linebacker duos compare to one another. Of course, that doesn’t mean there has been a dramatic fall-off or anything. Their style of play is just different from one another.

“So, there’s really not a huge similarity between those two duos and this group here. Plays really well together. Plays really complimentary football. They’re both really good players. Drew Sanders is a really, really good player.

Bumper Pool is a veteran presence on the Arkansas defense. A four-star recruit from the Class of 2018, Pool actually committed to play for Brett Bielema. Meanwhile, Drew Sanders was a five-star recruit in the Class of 2020. He initially went to Alabama, before transferring to Arkansas. Nick Saban has praised him, saying he would have started for the Crimson Tide in 2022.