The Arkansas Razorbacks arrived back on campus last week and they've begun their new eight-week training program under the tutelage of strength and conditioning coach Jamil Walker.

Sam Pittman hired Walker due to his familiarity with him at Georgia where he was an associate strength coach and knew he was ready to take over a program for the first time himself.

"He was a great communicator, a guy that knew how to talk to people and he’s impressive in his knowledge," Pittman said about why he hired Walker. "He was ready. He had been through a structured program that I liked, so I knew that he could bring a lot of similarities."

While the athletes can organize drills amongst themselves, Walker and his assistants are the only coaches "coaching" leading up to spring football and it's up to him to achieve Pittman's early goals for the team.

Arkansas will have a roster featuring close to 60 percent underclassmen when the 2020 season rolls around and at least 54 percent for the spring. Naturally, the underclassmen are still underdeveloped.

Pittman wants concrete results out of Walker's eight-week program, as well as some intangible improvements.

"We have to be a bigger football team," Pittman said. "We have to be a more physical football team, a tougher football team and those things happen in the weight room."

On top of building physical strength and toughness, it's also Walker's job to increase the team's mental toughness, competitiveness and confidence–all things many Razorbacks may have lost during two two-win seasons.

"We need to come out of that room in that eight-week training cycle before we go to spring ball bigger, stronger, faster - all those things - but confident," Pittman said. "We need to get our confidence back. You know how it is. In life, so much about having success in life is if you think you’re going to or not.

"Sometimes you can defeat yourself before you ever walk on the field or walk into a job interview, whatever it may be. So right now, we’re trying to build confidence in the team and that means confidence in us, confidence in what we’re teaching, all of those things."

While coaching for the Bulldogs, Walker saw incredible success and the team won 36 games during the three-year stretch, including the 2018 Rose Bowl and a national title game. The new head strength coach also knows what it's like to find success as a player and what it takes to get there.

He was a part of one of the most successful periods in Wisconsin history. At the time of graduation, his class was the winningest in program history going 40-11 during his four years on the field.

Arkansas fans won't get a chance to see much of the Hogs' progress until after spring football begins in the first weeks of March but the head man has plans to give them more access this year.

"I think it’s going to be quite a bit more than what we did at (Georgia). There’s obviously going to need to be privacy with our program... but in the spring I think we’ll open up a little more than what we’re accustomed to at the last place I was at. I think people want to come and see the Razorbacks. So we’re going to open it up for folks to see maybe a little bit more."

Listen to the full two-on-one exclusive interview with Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman on Spotify or iTunes beginning at the 13-minute mark.

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