Arkansas is at a historic low point. Coming off back-to-back 2-10 seasons, the Razorbacks have a new head coach after firing Chad Morris just 22 games into his disastrous tenure in Fayetteville.
They replaced him with a familiar name, but one who hasn’t been a head coach since leading a junior college team in the early 1990s and hasn’t even been a coordinator at the FBS level. Sam Pittman does have a reputation as an excellent recruiter and developer of offensive linemen, giving the Arkansas fan base at least some hope that he’ll be able to stabilize the program.
As if that wasn’t already a big enough challenge, Pittman is dealing with unprecedented circumstances during his first offseason. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, he and his almost entirely new staff lost all of spring practice, as well as a chunk of offseason conditioning.
The team reconvened in Fayetteville last month to begin working out and has recently started walk-through practices with the coaching staff on the field. Despite all the uncertainty still surrounding the 2020 season, Arkansas and the rest of college football are scheduled to begin fall camp Aug. 7.
Between now and then, HawgBeat will preview each of the Razorbacks’ position groups, breaking down the returning players and additions, providing the top storylines, and projecting a depth chart ahead of this critical stretch.
First up, naturally, are the quarterbacks…
The Roster
Returning players: KJ Jefferson (r-fr.), John Stephen Jones (r-so.), Jack Lindsey (r-sr.)
Additions: Feleipe Franks (r-sr. - grad. transfer), Malik Hornsby (fr. - 2020 signee), Cade Pearson (r-so. - walk-on JUCO transfer), Braden Bratcher (fr. - preferred walk-on)
The Starter
Considering how last season unfolded with Ben Hicks and Nick Starkel, Arkansas fans are understandably hesitant about graduate transfer quarterbacks. However, competent staffs don’t bring in two the same year and have the competition last into the season.
That is just one of a few key differences between Feleipe Franks and the previous graduate transfers that were part of one of the worst quarterback situations in school history.
