It was a challenging season for the Arkansas Razorbacks football team (4-8, 1-7 SEC), but that doesn't mean there weren't some intriguing performances from freshmen to drive excitement for the future.
Three Hogs earned recognition from the SEC on Thursday for their performanes throughout the 2023 campaign. Offensive lineman Andrew Chamblee, defensive back Jaylon Braxton and return specialist Isaiah Sategna were named SEC All-Freshmen.
It's the second-straight year that three Arkansas players were named to the All-Freshman team.
Braxton enjoyed a stellar freshman campaign playing in nine games with six starts. The Frisco, Texas native made 20 tackles to go along with eight pass breakups, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He scored his first career touchdown on Florida’s first play from scrimmage, ripping the ball away from a Gator receiver and racing 33 yards for the score in Arkansas’ historic, first-ever victory at Florida.
His first career interception came the following week against Auburn when he picked off a fourth quarter pass to go along with a career-best three passes broken up. Braxton’s eight pass breakups led all SEC freshmen and were tied for the sixth-most overall in the league. He picked up a freshman All-America honorable mention from College Football Network along with Luke Hasz, who was named Freshman Tight End of the Year and First-Team Freshman All-America by the same outlet.
Chamblee appeared in all 12 games with eight starts during his first season of action after redshirting in 2022. He is the first Arkansas lineman to earn Freshman All-SEC accolades since teammate Brady Latham earned the honor in 2020. Chamblee started each of the first four games this season at left tackle, including the season-opening win over Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium.
After coming off the bench against Texas A&M, he started four more straight games to run his total to eight for the season. The Maumelle, Ark. native was one of nine Hogs to earn 400+ snaps on offense according to Pro Football Focus. His 405 snaps were the sixth-most among Arkansas’ offensive linemen.
Sategna provided a spark for the Hogs in the return game all season as the squad’s primary punt returner and kick returner. He’s the first Razorback freshman returner since De’Vion Warren in 2017 to be named to the Freshman All-SEC team. Sategna’s biggest play of the season came against BYU when he took a punt 88 yards to the house, the fourth-longest punt return touchdown in school history.
His 169 total return yards that night were the third-most in a single game in school history. He took over the sixth spot on the single season list in Arkansas history with 680 total return yards this season. The speedy Sategna led all SEC freshmen in both punt return average and kick return average.
The three freshmen join Landon Jackson (1st team), Cam Little (1st team) and Max Fletcher (2nd team) as Razorbacks to earn All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches this week.
Note: Some information courtesy of Arkansas Communications.
