FAYETTEVILLE — As good as Arkansas’ offense was Saturday night, it still stalled out inside the 10-yard line three times against No. 15 Texas.

Luckily for the Razorbacks, Cam Little helped them turn those drives - and one more - into points by making all four of his field goal attempts in their 40-21 win over the Longhorns.

Including four PATs, the freshman accounted for 16 points. That’s tied for third on the UA single-game list and the most scored by a kicker since Alex Tejada also had 16 points against FIU in 2007.

It was the kind of performance Arkansas expected to get from Little when it offered him a scholarship out of high school, but one the coaching staff might have been worried about after seeing his struggles during the spring.

Little, who didn’t know he’d be able to graduate early and become a midyear enrollee until about three weeks before the start of the semester, failed to separate himself from walk-on Matthew Phillips.

Fast forward five months, though, and the Oklahoma native played a key role in the Razorbacks’ upset win over Texas. He made a 22-yard field goal, a pair of 24-yarders and a career-long 44-yarder that actually grazed the upright before going through.

“He wasn't very good last spring,” head coach Sam Pittman said. “He's very good now. He can even slide them in off the goal post now.”

Pittman credited Little’s confidence for the dramatic turnaround, but the freshman said he believes the adversity he faced during the spring actually benefited him in the long run.

As the No. 2 kicker in the country in the Class of 2021, according to Kohl’s Kicking, it was something he’d never experienced before.

“I think the experience I gained during the spring, going into the summer with lifting and stuff like that, just gaining the extra strength and confidence through my operation, I think it really just helped,” Little said. “I worked with Reid Bauer and Jordan Silver a lot this summer and I think those two had a lot to do with why I’m making kicks right now.”

It also didn’t help that the Razorbacks were unsettled on who their holder would be and rotated them throughout spring ball before settling on Bauer - the punter - as the No. 1 guy.

“I think (it’s) a big deal when you're rotating holders to a kicker, and that's what we were doing a little bit in the spring trying to find the right guy with him,” Pittman said. “Obviously, with Bauer we did because he's on target right now and doing a great job.”

Saturday’s performance had a little extra meaning for Little, as well, because earlier in the week he pledged to donate $10 to Down Syndrome Connection of Northwest Arkansas for every field goal he makes the rest of the season.

He chose that organization because his cousin, Ayden, has the condition and they’ve grown up together.

“To give back to an association like that, it's so personal to me,” Little said. “It's great and I hope I can make as many kicks to donate as much money to that association as I can.”