Arkansas pitcher Austin Ledbetter joining football team
After spending two seasons with head coach Dave Van Horn and the Arkansas baseball team, right-handed pitcher Austin Ledbetter announced he is moving on from baseball to join the Arkansas football team as a quarterback.
A native of Bryant, Ledbetter confirmed to HawgBeat that he will be a walk-on for head coach Sam Pittman and offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
Ironically enough, it wasn't Pittman or Petrino that initially helped get Ledbetter on the football team.
"I went back to Bryant for a weekend and ran into Coach (Marcus) Woodson, the DB coach," Ledbetter told HawgBeat. "We kind of talked and I told him I wanted to play football. He brought the information back to Coach Pittman and them.
"Didn't really hear anything back for a while, but then they came back down to Bryant — Coach Pittman and Petrino — and they talked to my high school coaches. They found out it was real that I wanted to play football and I wanted to pursue this as a career."
Ledbetter then received the call that they wanted him to join the football team as a preferred walk-on.
"Petrino is one of the best offensive minds in the country," Ledbetter said. "I'm excited to learn from him, because that's what I want to do if I ever get into coaching, I want to be an offensive coordinator. Learning from Petrino will be a big thing."
At 21-years-old, Ledbetter said he remembers the Petrino-era at Arkansas from 2008-11 well.
"He's a legend," Ledbetter said. "I'm super excited. He's a great offensive mind. I'm in a great position right now. I'm super blessed and I'm just ready to go up there and compete and learn from him."
The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder spent two seasons with the Diamond Hogs and posted a 5.45 ERA across 39.2 innings pitched. He struck out 31 and walked 14 batters across 21 total appearances.
"After playing two years, accomplishing what we did the past two years by making the College World Series my freshman year and winning the SEC this past year, it meant a lot," Ledbetter said. "I think it's time for a career change with me and I'm glad it's with the Razorbacks, because that's who I am. I am a Razorback."
After a wrist injury during fall baseball limited his innings, football seemed to be on Ledbetter's mind even more. He clarified that the wrist is perfectly fine now, but he needed to make the move sooner rather than later.
"Other than that, my stuff was really good," Ledbetter said. "Developed a new pitch. It was all really good. It's just, I felt like it's been on my heart for too long. I don't want to wait too long for it to be too late to not be able to play football, so I'm going to give myself a chance.
Prior to arriving at Arkansas, Ledbetter was one of the most decorated quarterbacks in Arkansas high school football history. He won three straight 7A state championships with the Hornets, including his senior season, when he threw for 3,086 yards with 41 touchdowns and 5 interceptions to win the 2020 Landers Award.
Ledbetter is set to join Jonesboro native Rykar Acebo in the walk-on quarterback room, while the Razorbacks will also have scholarship quarterbacks in Taylen Green, Jacolby Criswell, Malachi Singleton and KJ Jackson in 2024.