Taylen Green cites relationship with Bobby Petrino as a factor in choosing Arkansas

Bobby Petrino can do more than create electric offensive schemes. At the 2024 SEC Media Days, Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green revealed how the offensive coordinator was pivotal in his decision to transfer to the Razorbacks.

“First, I had a relationship previously with Coach Petrino,” Green said. “He was my first offer coming out of high school. Hit the transfer portal, and he called me every morning. Sometimes I wasn’t up, and he would text me.

“But I took that as that meant a lot to me. He made me a priority. That meant a lot. We met before for about two, three hours talking about ball and not even talking about ball, talking about Arkansas and how it is and stuff like that.”

Green graduated from high school in 2021. At the time, Petrino was the head coach at Missouri State, where he led the program to the FCS Playoffs for the first time since 1990. The team made another appearance the following year and posted an improved 8-3 overall record.

After the 2022 season, Petrino accepted an offer to serve under Jimbo Fisher as Texas A&M‘s offensive coordinator. Petrino’s tenure with the Aggies only lasted one year and Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman hired him this offseason.

Despite the whirlwind of events, Petrino had not forgotten about Green.

“Just the vision that he had and Coach Pitt had. I’m truly grateful for the belief and the vision that they have,” Green said. “I feel like just the opportunity with the weapons that we have offensively and a great defense, I feel like the sky is the limit for us.

“The only people stopping us is ourselves and that’s what we try to mitigate and just try to continue through the summer just to continue what we did in the spring and just to grow our chemistry and to grow our chemistry on and off the field and to grow our understanding of the offense.”

In the 2023 campaign at Boise State, Taylen Green tallied 1,752 yards in the air, 436 yards on the ground and 20 total touchdowns. Green finished the season on a high note, erupting for four total touchdowns and generating 316 total yards of offense in the Broncos’ Mountain West Championship win.

Evidently, Green hasn’t lost any momentum. Earlier this offseason, Petrino verified Green has secured the starting quarterback spot.

“Taylen has kind of been the guy that works with the [first team],” Petrino said. “He’s earned that himself from the minute he got here — how he’s conducted his business, how he leads, how he studies, how hard he goes, and in all the mat drills that we did, he’s the first guy winning on the races.”