Arkansas Football 2023 Spring Preview: Defensive Tackle
With Arkansas' spring football practice starting on next Thursday, we continue our series of previewing positions for the 2023 Razorbacks.
The Hogs currently sit with 76 scholarship players going into spring ball, which leaves nine open spots to fill when the transfer portal opens back up in May.
Head coach Sam Pittman's squad lost a lot as far as numbers go, but few played a significant amount during their time in Fayetteville. Arkansas added the nation's No. 20 2023 freshman class on Rivals with 20 incoming freshman, and it also added 10 talented transfers from the transfer portal.
We continue our spring preview with a position group that the Hogs recently gained positive news at — defensive tackle...
Returning: Taurean Carter (redshirt senior), Marcus Miller (redshirt senior), Eric Gregory (redshirt senior) Cameron Ball (redshirt sophomore), Nico Davillier (sophomore)
Newcomers: Ian Geffrard (freshman, enrolling after spring)
Big news came Wednesday, when redshirt senior defensive tackle Taurean Carter announced via Twitter that he's been cleared to practice for the Razorbacks.
After shining for the Razorbacks last spring, Carter suffered a knee injury on the third play of the team's 'Spring Showcase' that took place inside the Walker Pavilion due to inclement weather.
While head coach Sam Pittman remained hopeful that Carter would be able to make a return at some point last season, it never happened. The official injury was never announced, but Carter had surgery and was on the sideline with his jersey on to root his teammates on each game.
"He was having a great spring, and it’s tough not having him out there," Pittman said on Aug. 16, 2022. "But he’s bought into his role at this point of being a leader and talking to the younger guys and being a motivational guy in the room. He is probably the most outspoken guy in our room. He gets after it. If he sees them lagging and dragging around, he’ll get on them pretty good."
It could be assumed that Carter was in prime position to start on the defensive front for Arkansas last season. This year, he can be penciled in as a starter at defensive tackle in the spring.
Carter's best season as a Razorbacks came in 2021, when he racked up 24 total tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack. His Pro Football Focus grade of 67.1 across 244 snaps was the second best of any Arkansas interior defensive lineman.
New defensive coordinator Travis Williams is expected to implement a 4-2-5 base defense, which is new to those on the Arkansas roster. Former defensive coordinator Barry Odom ran primarily three-man fronts during his time in Fayetteville, but that will likely change this season unless the team is unable to find more players in the transfer portal.
While Williams likes to run a four-man front, the Razorbacks might not have the depth to do that right away. Carter is back, but the team lost a pair of starters in Isaiah Nichols (transferred to Purdue) and Terry Hampton (out of eligibility).
That leaves redshirt seniors Marcus Miller and Eric Gregory along with redshirt sophomore Cam Ball and sophomore Nico Davillier. Of those three, Ball is the primary candidate to slide in next to Carter with the starting group.
The 6-foot-5, 305-pound big man was the Hogs' highest graded interior lineman by PFF last season. He logged 341 snaps and graded out with a 70.5 overall mark and a 75.0 in run defense. Ball racked up 31 total tackles, 2.5 TFLs, one sack and a forced fumble in 2022.
Gregory worked on the edge at times last season, primarily when the team was in a three-man front. When they go to four-man, Gregory is prone to shift inside and he will likely need to do that with the lack of depth at the tackle position. He played 379 snaps last season and graded out with a 63.4 overall defensive grade after totaling 19 tackles, four TFLs and two sacks.
Miller has been around for a while, but he's only played 122 total snaps and just eight of those came last season. He did have a knee scope in fall camp that limited him early on, but he was healthy for the majority of the season.
Pittman praised Davillier during fall camp last season after the four-star freshman was thrown into the fire quickly due to injuries.
"Nico Davillier made some big-time plays today as a young guy," Pittman said on Aug. 13, 2022. "He’s going to play for us now. There’s not gonna be no redshirt. I mean, he’s going to be on the field. He’s a good player."
Davillier played 13 total defensive snaps as a freshman and he had a quarterback hurry in the win over Auburn. He did see action in each game on special teams, totaling 63 total snaps, primarily on the field goal block team.
While defensive line coach Deke Adams and the Hogs are pleased with who they have on campus, it's pretty clear that defensive tackle remains a position of need. Expect to see the Hogs target that spot in the transfer portal after spring ball, which has been successful over the past few season. Arkansas added players like John Ridgeway, Markell Utsey, Tre Williams, Terry Hampton and Jordan Domineck after the spring over the past two seasons.