Sam Pittman reveals multiple players he would like to return for additional season in 2023

The 2022 season has not lived up to what it could’ve been for Arkansas — the Hogs are 4-3 and sitting in the muddled middle of the SEC West. And with a lot of players banged up and missing time, there’s a cadre that head coach Sam Pittman would like to get back for 2023.

Speaking on the SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday, Pittman shared that there’s at least a half dozen guys who the coaching staff would ask to return for an additional year. Most of the players on the defensive side, and includes two guys from the secondary who have been hurt since the opening weeks of the season.

“There’s I’m gonna guess, somewhere around six to eight, that we would ask to come back,” Pittman said.

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Two of the main players Pittman would like back are cornerback LaDarrius Bishop and safety Jalen Catalon. Jefferson has been out since Week 2 against South Carolina and Catalon hasn’t been available since the opener against Cincinnati.

The others are mostly along the defensive line, Pittman said, though he didn’t name anybody specifically.

“One of them being Bishop who is not playing right now,” Pittman said. “Obviously Catalon would be in that, because he’s gonna graduate. That would be another one that’s not playing right now. And then we have several, lot of them on the d line, that we certainly would like to have back. So, yeah, I’d say the number would be around — it might be a little higher than that — but at least six to eight.”

Bishop and Catalon are expected to be out for the time being. Arkansas has the week off after best BYU this past Saturday, and Pittman said he doesn’t expect to get either of those two back after the off week.