What Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said about Tennessee on the SEC Teleconference

Everything Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said during his appearance on the SEC Football Coaches Teleconference on Wednesday, previewing Arkansas against No. 4 Tennessee in Saturday night’s game (7:30 Eastern Time, ABC) at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville:

Opening Statement

“Good morning, everybody. Excited to play Tennessee. Really great team. There’s no place that you’re going, oh, well, we’re going attack this guy, we’re going to attack that guy. Just a well rounded team. Very talented. Well, well coached. But we’re excited to get back home. We’ve been gone four of the five weeks and are excited to get back home for a night game. I’m excited to get to play in front of our fans. But certainly know we have a huge, huge challenge. 

A very, very fine football team. We’re excited about it though.” 

Tennessee’s depth in the defensive front

“Well, James Pearce is special. I mean, very, very special. And we have to understand where he is. We’ve got to give, we’ve got to give some help there on him. The problem with that is they really, really push the pocket well with their interior guys, big physical guys — 10 (Elijah Simmons), 20 (Bryson Eason), 21 (Omari Thomas), 55 (Omarr Norman-Lott), 53 (Daevin Hobbs). They’re got a lot of depth there inside and outside. So that’s going to be a really huge challenge for us. We have to win first down. We have to stay out of third-and-long. We have to be able to run the football. We have to be able to complete our short-passing game, our quick-passing game, our movement passing game, our play-action passing game. Because if we let them just tee off on us, it’s going to be a difficult challenge to block them at at times. They’re not going to have a tired guy out there. They don’t need to. Because they’re very talented and have a lot of depth there.”

The week of practice this week for Arkansas, recovering from injuries in previous games

“We took 10 minutes off of practice yesterday. Our Wednesday practices are usually about an hour and 48 from start to finish. So we’ll stay that way. We took the pad pads off, went to spiders on Monday, trying to get healthy. Also trying to get our legs because this is six weeks in a row. Knowing that Tennessee comes off a bye week as well, that they’ll be ready to go, obviously, just simply they won’t be as beat up because they didn’t play last week. So we took all those things in consideration. The first two days have gone to really, really well.” 

What impresses him about Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava

“That he plays within the offense so well. That he doesn’t make mistakes. He’s so talented. He can make every throw. But the thing that you see about him, just the way he carries himself and how he handles the team as a young redshirt freshman. And I was really going back to the bowl, really, really shocked at how mature he is. So I think that’s the thing that sticks out. He’s very, very, very talented, but his leadership skills seem to be off the chart. 

Tennessee having multiple options at receiver that Nico Iamaleava has connected with for big plays, how difficult that makes it

“Very, because at times the same guys that are looking for him to come running out of the backfield are the same ones trying to cover that slant route and the stop route, whatever it may be. And anytime you have a running, athletic quarterback that can throw, look at Alabama with (Jalen) Milroe and you can go on and on, those guys, our kid, Taylen Green, those guys are very difficult to plan for. And if you let them out of the pocket, they’re going to hurt you. If you put keep him in the pocket, he’s going to make some really good throws as well. So that dual threat is very concerning for us this week.”

If he has seen new stuff in the past when facing an opponent coming off a bye

“No, I don’t think that’s a myth at all. I think you have some unusual plays that you might put in. You have longer (time to prepare). You got to watch it, because sometimes those hurt you too. You’re doing things so well like Tennessee is. But yes, I think you’ll see at times more plays, sometimes in the special teams as well, that you wouldn’t if you didn’t have the two weeks of prep. So I do think that. I know we have done that. I think on our bye, when we’re (coming off) a bye we’re 3-0 having beaten Florida, Auburn and Mississippi State in the last three years. And I know we certainly try to add a wrinkle or two during that time.”

Tennessee transfers Doneiko Slaughter and Addison Nichols starting for this Arkansas team, what made him want those players out of the transfer portal

“Well, let’s start with Doneiko. We needed a guy who had played in this league and played well in this league at that position. So we went after him hard once he got into the portal. So that was was very simple. He’s a mature guy, older than his years of maturity. And I just really liked him once I got a chance to talk to him. 

“With Addison, there was a huge need for that as well. I knew Addison. I had recruited him out of high school all the way to his freshman or sophomore year when I was at Georgia. I knew his talent level. And again, there was a position, a need. But Addison was a little bit different because I’d known him when I was the offensive line coach at Georgia.”

Those players being big additions for Arkansas 

“they’ve been great additions. I mean, for us to go in the portal, and a lot of times you come out and say, well, at least we’ve got some more depth to get a guy in a portal. And he starts for you. It helps your football team, but it also validates that you’re doing a good job of evaluating who you’re bringing into the program. So they’ve both been great additions. They’re both starters for us.”