There was a stretch of time when no team, outside of the Razorbacks, benefited more from Arkansas than the Auburn football program.
Camden native Tommy Tuberville led the Tigers to seven first- or second-place finishes in the SEC West during his 10 seasons as their head coach and, after helping them win a national title as offensive coordinator, Fort Smith native Gus Malzahn led the program for eight years.
Kodi Burns (Fort Smith Northside), Lee Ziemba (Rogers) and Michael Dyer (Little Rock Christian) were key players on Auburn’s 2010 national championship team, while Kiehl Frazier (Shiloh Christian) never really panned out.
Despite the presence of Malzahn, whose tenure ended following the 2020 season, those Arkansas-to-Auburn connections had mostly sizzled out over the past decade, including when Springdale native Rhett Lashlee left Malzahn’s staff following the 2016 season.
That changed this past offseason when Hugh Freeze — who has ties to the state himself as Arkansas State’s OC in 2010 and head coach in 2011 — dipped into the Natural State for a pair of four-star recruits.
He managed to sign quarterback Walker White and defensive end T.J. Lindsey, both of whom list Little Rock as their hometown.
While the latter one certainly hurt, Lindsey had already left Bryant High to play his senior year at IMG Academy in Florida and the Razorbacks secured commitments from two arguably better defensive ends in Charlie Collins and Kavion Henderson.
The loss of White — even though Arkansas got a promising four-star quarterback of its own in KJ Jackson — was more of a jolt to fans’ systems, especially considering his family’s extensive ties to the Razorbacks. In fact, he didn’t even include Arkansas among his top three options coming out of Little Rock Christian.
Neither of them are expected to make much of an impact in this year’s Arkansas vs Auburn game, but they could evolve into contributors who hurt the Razorbacks in the future.
Even with some shakeup at the top of the depth chart, as Payton Thorne has been replaced by Hank Brown, White is listed as the Tigers’ fourth-string quarterback. He’s behind the aforementioned and sophomore Holden Geriner, meaning the 6-foot-3 freshman has been relegated to scout team duty this year.
“He leads the scout team probably better than any scout team quarterback I’ve ever seen and wants to compete every single snap in that,” Freeze said on the SEC coaches teleconference this week. “It’s hard to say how his development is coming right now in the season because you can’t get reps for everybody in preparation for games, but I thought in spring, in the 15 practices we had, I thought he really came on and has a real chance to be a really good player at this level.”
This week, White has been tasked with impersonating Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green for Auburn’s defense. Even though he’s three inches shorter, he at least has some of the same skills as the Boise State transfer. A true dual-threat quarterback, White rushed for 30 touchdowns during his high school career.
As for Lindsey, he’s added weight (now 294 pounds) and is a defensive tackle in Auburn’s three-man front. Despite being one of four players listed on the depth chart with an “or,” he’s mostly a scout teamer and will likely only play in mop-up duty, such as his 10 snaps in the Tigers’ 73-3 shellacking of Alabama A&M.
While you probably won’t see either of them Saturday, you will almost certainly see Conway native Reed Hughes at some point. Coming to Auburn as a walk-on in 2020, he is now in his second season as the team’s starting long snapper.
Another Natural State Connection
Those are the only three Arkansas natives on Auburn’s roster, but another player did finish his high school career in the Natural State.
Offensive lineman Jaden Muskrat lists Berryhill, Okla., as his hometown and attended Choctaw High in Oklahoma before moving to Arkansas and playing his senior year at Bentonville West.
A two-star recruit, he returned to his home state by signing with Tulsa in the Class of 2020. Muskrat evolved into a starter with the Golden Hurricane and, after three seasons, opted to hit the transfer portal.
The Razorbacks got him on campus for an official visit, but he ultimately chose to head to Auburn.
It hasn’t gone particularly well for him down on the Plains. He made just one start last year and is now listed as the third-team left tackle, which his only action this year coming late in that blowout win over Alabama A&M.
However, he could see an uptick in playing time this week. Hugh Freeze revealed this week that the 6-foot-3, 312-pound lineman is getting some work at tight end in light of Brandon Frazier (6-7, 262) going down with a broken foot.
It’s unlikely the Tigers will throw him any passes, but there’s a legitimate role for him as a blocking tight end in Auburn’s jumbo package that utilizes three tight ends — similar to what Arkansas does.
Adding to the Arkansas ties in all of this, Frazier is a name fans may recognize because he was committed to the Razorbacks once upon a time. A product of McKinney North High in Texas, he was part of their 2020 class, but backed off following Chad Morris’ firing and ended up signing with Auburn instead.
Arkansas vs Auburn for Carmona
The Razorbacks may have lost Jaden Muskrat to Auburn in a transfer portal battle, but they did beat the Tigers for another key offensive lineman this offseason.
Fernando Carmona Jr. was one of the top available offensive tackles and had many suitors when he left San Jose State, including UCLA and BYU out west.
A pair of SEC programs also caught his eye and he planned to visit both, but Arkansas got him first and he never made it out to Auburn.
“The portal kind of happens fast,” Carmona said this week. “You make these quick relationships and then you have to make that quick decision, and it’s just how it is. You can’t be everywhere. … My heart was here all the way. I’ve always been a big believer in following your heart and my heart was in Arkansas. It was a really easy decision.”
It was a disappointing result for Hugh Freeze, who got a glowing review of Carmona before targeting him.
Brent Brennan, who coached Carmona at San Jose State before taking the Arizona job this past offseason, is really good friends with Freeze, so the Auburn coach knew he’d shoot him straight with his assessment.
“I wish we would have got him,” Freeze said. “I liked him a lot. I thought he had really good feet, and obviously girth. (Brennan) had nothing but positive things to say about him as an individual. Unfortunately, we never got him on campus. Arkansas did a great job of convincing him to end his recruiting on their visit. But he’s a really, really solid player.”
Even though Carmona never took that recruiting visit, he has been to Jordan-Hare Stadium before.
In fact, his second career start was at Auburn in 2022. At the time, he was still getting a feel for things because he was a high school tight end and relatively new to the sport, but — as he told the Hog Pod — put on 105 pounds by eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream every night as part of his transition to offensive line.
“I’m definitely not as fat as I used to be back then,” Carmona told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “I feel like when I was kind of going into that game, I was just a fat, little tackle out there, just trying to fight his tail off. I’ve obviously grown, in a sense of my body, and then also my mind.”
For Carmona, the game comes a lot easier nowadays. Auburn’s defensive linemen, however, may have something to say about that Saturday afternoon.
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