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Key Matchup: Arkansas vs. Texas

Treylon Burks will be a key player for the Razorbacks against Texas.
Treylon Burks will be a key player for the Razorbacks against Texas. (Arkansas Athletics)

With four- and five-star talent up and down its roster, Texas is more talented than Arkansas at virtually every position on paper.

Luckily for the Razorbacks, paper does not matter as soon as the ball is snapped. There are plenty of interesting positional matchups that will take place this weekend, but none more interesting than the speedy Razorback receivers versus the experienced Texas defensive backs.

Arkansas fans were scrambling to confirm if junior wide receiver Treylon Burks was going to suit up against Rice last weekend. The Warren product played 58 of the 67 offensive snaps, but was not his usual self, as evidenced by a couple of dropped passes.

Despite not being 100% against the Owls, Burks still led the Hogs with nine targets and caught a team-high five passes for 42 yards. Head coach Sam Pittman said he came out of the game healthy and will get a full week of practice, so those numbers are sure to increase against the Longhorns.

“The guy hadn’t practiced a whole lot,” head coach Sam Pittman said. “I’m sure there was a lot of pressure on him, as well. We’ll see a much better Treylon Burks next week.”

Texas' top coverage guy is senior cornerback D’Shawn Jamison, who also returns punts and kickoffs for the Longhorns. Jamison has started nine games in each of the past two seasons and, according to Pro Football Focus, led the nation in most coverage snaps without allowing a touchdown last season (352).

Arkansas will also start seniors Tyson Morris and De’Vion Warren, while Texas will counter with senior Josh Thompson at the other corner spot and senior Anthony Cook at nickel. Thompson, who started all 10 games last year, is a physical corner.

The real threat in the Texas secondary lies with the ball-hawking safeties.

“Against Louisiana, they played primarily a two-high safety look and said, 'We can stop you with safeties rotating down and numbers in the box are equal,’” Pittman said. “I look to see them put another guy in the box because of the running ability of KJ and make him throw it. And that's what we're kind of anticipating."

B.J. Foster is a senior who has started at least six games in the past three seasons. It should be noted that Foster “quit” the team during a blow-out victory over UTEP last season, but he earned his stripes back and led Texas defensive backs with six tackles last week.

Super senior Brenden Schooler played four seasons as a wide receiver at Oregon before transferring to Texas. He caught 12 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns at receiver for the Longhorns last season before converting to safety this spring. He is a speedy guy and it showed on a 40-yard score during the season opener against UTEP last season.

“I definitely feel more comfortable at safety than I do receiver,” Schooler said in fall camp. “I love playing receiver, don’t get me wrong it’s pretty fun scoring touchdowns, but out of high school I was recruited as a safety so just played defense all my high school career with a little sprinkled in receiver.”

Warren showed signs of being a big-play guy for Arkansas last season before suffering a season-ending ACL tear against Florida. His two-week stretch against Mississippi State and Auburn early in the season featured nine catches for 195 yards and three touchdowns.

The combo of Warren and Morris provides Arkansas with speed on the outside. Add in Oklahoma transfer Jaqualyn Crawford, Florida State transfer Warren Thompson and freshman Ketron Jackson Jr., and the Hogs have plenty of deep threats.

Morris said he thinks the receivers will be just fine when Texas comes to town.

“We’re going to have to play fast every snap, run, pass, just be physical with our blocking on the edge and stuff like that and we should be okay,” Morris said.

Both groups will have their opportunity to prove themselves when the teams square off on ESPN at 6 p.m. CT in Fayetteville this Saturday.

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