FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has elected two pitchers and one position player as team captains for the 2019 season.

Isaiah Campbell, Kevin Kopps and Trevor Ezell were voted on by their teammates for the honor. For Campbell, it is the second straight year he’s been a captain, while others are first-timers.

They will be tasked with filling the leadership void left behind by Grant Koch, Jax Biggers, Carson Shaddy, Blaine Knight and others who competed their eligibility or have begun their professional careers.

The lone holdover is Campbell, a right-handed pitcher projected to be the staff ace, but even he is a different kind of leader this year after leading by example last season, head coach Dave Van Horn said at the Swatter’s Club meeting Monday.

“He kind of kept to himself, but now he’s there,” Van Horn said. “This is kind of his team now and he wants to win and get back.”

Kopps appears to be taking almost the exact same role as Campbell last season. Despite missing the entire 2018 season thanks to Tommy John surgery and being a quiet guy, his teammates still voted him as a captain.

“Kevin is one of the quietest guys on the team, but you can’t outwork him; it’s incredible,” Van Horn said. “I always tell Kevin when I’m kidding around, ‘You need to say something, you need to talk,’ and he just gives me this big smile.”

Much like Shaddy, Ezell is a fifth-year senior second baseman from Arkansas. However, he has taken a much different route to get to this point. This will be his first and only season with the Razorbacks, as the Bryant High product is a graduate transfer from Southeast Missouri State.

Although he was an all-conference performer, Ezell is admired by his new teammates and coaches because of how hard he’s working to rehab from offseason shoulder surgery. He also has invaluable leadership qualities that will keep him on the field even if his arm isn’t quite ready for second base and he has to move positions.

“We really need that bat in the lineup,” Van Horn said. “I really like him on the field somewhere because of his presence and his baseball knowledge.”

As was the case last season, when Shaddy and a few others, Van Horn thinks a few other players will emerge as team leaders despite not being team captains.

Preseason All-American shortstop Casey Martin has shown signs of speaking up more than he did as a freshman, but the player Van Horn is really keeping an eye on is sophomore catcher Casey Opitz.

“I think the one that’s going to come out and be our leader before it’s over with is Casey Opitz because he’s feeling it now,” Van Horn said. “You love it when a catcher can be a leader and I think if we took a revote, he’d be selected be selected one of our captains along with those guys.”

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