The 2024 Arkansas football season is over. An up-and-down ride ended with a 7-6 overall record and a Liberty Bowl win over Texas Tech.
For the second straight year, the offseason figures to be busy, as more than 20 Razorbacks have entered the transfer portal and a new crop of incoming players from the portal have already signed.
But despite the turnover, there are still plenty of familiar faces. Here’s a look at key returners, and what they need to improve in 2025.
Arkansas Football Improvement Goals – Offense
Taylen Green (QB): Fewer Back-Breaking Plays
Arkansas’ first-year starting quarterback had a great season. After Boise State mostly used him to hand off to Ashton Jeanty last year, Bobby Petrino wanted to make him the focal point of the offense. It paid off nicely, as Taylen Green threw for 3,154 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for 823 non-sack yards and eight touchdowns. Even when accounting for sacks, he racked up 3,756 total yards – the second-most in UA history.
A year after finishing 108th in the nation in total offense, Petrino’s first Arkansas offense finished top-10 nationally in that stat. That doesn’t happen without Green.
His accuracy – the biggest concern when the Hogs signed him – steadily improved during the season, a sure sign that Petrino still has some quarterback development skills in him. After wildly missing receivers left and right in the first four games of the year, Green looked much more polished as a passer down the stretch. Things like field vision still aren’t perfect, but improvement was evident.
Green had to do it the hard way. According to Pro Football Focus, he was pressured on nearly 37% of his dropbacks, the second-highest rate among SEC starters. After taking just 14 sacks in two seasons at Boise, he took 32 this year alone. The Razorbacks were 5-1 when he took two sacks or fewer and 2-5 when he took three or more. And he lost more than 220 air yards to drops by his receivers; third-most among SEC starters.
Of course, it’s not fair to say he had to do it all himself. Not when Ja’Quinden Jackson broke a tackle on 28% of his runs and averaged 3.5 yards per rush after contact, both near the top of the SEC. But the offense clearly sunk or swam with Green, and it mostly swam.
The main issue for Arkansas was that yards aren’t points, and points are what wins games. Despite ranking second in the SEC in yards per game (459.2), the Hogs were merely seventh in points per game (30.9). And while there were issues unrelated to Green, like missed field goals and running backs occasionally struggling with fumbles, Green played a major role in the offense often failing to score in frustrating fashion.
Green certainly had a tendency to follow up a sequence of several good plays with one really bad one. He took way too many sacks right on the edge of field goal range, which led to missed field goals against both Oklahoma State and Auburn, for example. He threw nine interceptions, almost all of which were his fault and many of which were very bad throws or decisions. And he was charged with 12 fumbles. Four of those were mishandled snaps, but the Hogs lost four of his fumbles and went 0-3 in games in which he lost a fumble (Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Missouri).
He really struggled on his own goal line. He lost a fumble against Texas A&M that became a game-changing touchdown, then threw a pick against LSU that also turned that game for good. He was stripped for a touchdown in his own end zone by Ole Miss, and then took a safety against Texas Tech on a sack where he didn’t seem to expect a rusher to get free. That safety flipped momentum before the Hogs recovered to win.
In 2025, Green needs to avoid killing his team with bad plays. He has the arm strength, long strides and rushing vision to be a superstar, and his consistent accuracy is good enough to be great. But he has to cut down on his total turnovers and improve some of his situational playmaking (like against his own goal line, or while in field goal range) if he wants to have a monster season.
Braylen Russell (RB): Get Lower and Move the Pile More
Braylen Russell’s freshman season was an adventure that ranged on and off the field. The four-star Arkansan impressed in limited opportunities, but a combination of an injury and some off-field drama probably made fans wonder just how excited they should be about him.
To recap, Russell barely saw the field in Arkansas’ first five games, sitting behind Jackson and Rodney Hill on the depth chart. He broke out with an 8-carry, 62-yard performance against Tennessee that included two big runs on the game-winning drive. However, during the open week after that game, he posted on social media about looking for an agent for NIL deals, which scared fans.
He then had just three carries against LSU, as previously-injured Rashod Dubinion returned to the lineup and took over the starting job. But one week later, Russell rushed 16 times for 175 yards against Mississippi State, recording five runs of 10 or more yards. But then he had just four carries against Ole Miss, and he didn’t play in any of the final three regular-season games due to an unspecified injury that might have been a hamstring.
After the regular season, he entered the transfer portal twice, but withdrew both times. He joined the team for the Liberty Bowl and recorded a career-high 20 carries and a touchdown in the Hogs’ 39-26 win over Texas Tech. He’s now set to play a major role on the 2025 team.
You might expect that a 253-pound running back is a tackle-breaking monster and yards-after-contact generator, but the stats don’t back that up. Russell averaged a fairly mediocre 2.9 yards after contact per rush this year and broke only 11 tackles (his broken tackle rate of 16% was well behind Jackson and Dubinion). His 175-yard performance against Mississippi State included only 67 yards after contact and just two broken tackles.
Film confirms what the stats show: Russell’s big runs were mostly due to good blocking and good vision, not size and strength. His 22-yard run to get the Hogs into field goal range against Tennessee was due to a great bounce to the outside after the edge defender lost contain. And his 75-yard run against Mississippi State was untouched through a big hole.
This isn’t to rag on Russell at all. Good vision is, obviously, very important for a running back, and a 250-pound back who also has good vision gets four stars from recruiting services for a reason. But if Russell wants to take the next step, he needs to become a pile-mover and get that YAC number over 3.
He took a small step in that direction against Texas Tech. A retooled offensive line gave him almost no holes to run through, so he finished with minus-2 yards before contact and 52 yards after contact (2.6 per rush). But he broke a career-high four tackles (he had just seven during the entire regular season) and had one of the overlooked moments of the game: up 21-19 at the end of the first half, he took a handoff on 4th-and-1 near midfield and was hit in the backfield. If he went down there, Tech likely has enough time to get into field goal range and take the lead. But Russell lowered his body and drove forward to get the first down. Those two yards after contact led to a field goal and helped the Hogs salvage momentum.
That’s the Russell the Hogs would love to see in 2025: a back with the vision to find holes that exist, and the size and strength to create them when they don’t.
Fernando Carmona (OL): Improve as a Run Blocker
San Jose State transfer Fernando Carmona was a revelation at left tackle for the Hogs this year. He was highly sought in the portal after allowing very little pressure over two seasons as a starter for the Spartans, and that continued in Fayetteville.
In more than 500 pass protection snaps, Carmona allowed just 17 pressures, including four sacks. That’s really impressive for a left tackle, a position that usually lines up against the opponent’s best edge rusher.
However, that didn’t stop the Razorbacks from finding a new left tackle in the portal. Georgia Tech transfer Corey Robinson II was one the top tackles available after allowing zero sacks and only five pressures in 278 pass blocking snaps this year.
It seems likely that the Hogs plan to have Robinson compete with returner E’Marion Harris and incoming Oregon transfer Jac’Qawn McRoy for the starting right tackle job in 2025, since right tackle was the offensive line’s biggest weakness this year. But if McRoy shows out and wins the right tackle job, would the Hogs consider benching the solid Carmona for a guy who might be really, really good?
Carmona could help his cause by improving as a run blocker. He earned a PFF grade of 61 as a run blocker, but the Razorback offense mostly ran right, away from him. Robinson grades as a poor run blocker (54), but Carmona’s grade wasn’t good enough to make him indispensable. The Hogs ran into some elite run defenses in 2024 and will see them again in 2025. They’ll need to have five solid run blockers on the field at all times.
(READ NEXT: Fernando Carmona Needs to Do One More Thing to Avoid Suspension)
Arkansas Football Improvement Goals – Defense
Quincy Rhodes Jr. (DE): Get After the Quarterback
Landon Jackson leaves behind big shoes to fill after three seasons in Fayetteville. He was arguably the Hogs’ top pass rusher and top run defender. The job of replacing him likely falls to Quincy Rhodes Jr., a rising junior from central Arkansas.
Rhodes showed a ton of promise this year as Jackson’s backup. PFF gave him an overall defensive grade of 73, fifth-best among all Razorbacks to appear in multiple games for the defense. He missed zero tackles and had good fits against the run.
Where can he improve? As a pass rusher. He finished the season with just 10 pressures, and touched the quarterback only twice: a hit against UAPB and a sack against Texas A&M. Travis Williams likes to bring extra rushers, but he probably doesn’t want to have to rely on blitzing to get pressure on the quarterback.
Rhodes is a strong-side end, meaning run fits are probably more important, but Arkansas needs to be able to threaten the pocket from both end positions. If the Hogs do end up using more of the 3-2-6 Dime that we saw several times, then Rhodes would be the only end on the field, so he’d really need to do it all to be a star.
Xavian Sorey (LB): Don’t be a Liability in Coverage
Xavian Sorey was one of the stars of the Liberty Bowl, recording 10 tackles, including a couple of big hits that led to failed fourth downs for Texas Tech. It was a continuation of a successful first season after transferring from Georgia. Sorey led the team in total tackles and total stops (tackles that prevent a successful play). He graded well as a run defender and contacted the quarterback seven times (two sacks, five hits) on 14 pressures.
But Sorey has to get better in coverage. Opponents picked on him in 2024, finishing 23 of 32 for 274 yards and two touchdowns when going after Sorey, and his 163 yards after catch allowed were second-most on the team.
At the other linebacker spot, the Hogs made an in-season switch, swapping the struggling Brad Spence (16 of 20 for 161 yards) for Stephen Dix Jr. (11 of 16 for 69 yards) in the starting lineup. That forced opponents to flip their focus from Spence to Sorey, and he had some rough games down the stretch, including allowing Texas’ Quinn Ewers to complete 6 of 8 passes for 76 yards against him.
Ian Geffrard (DT): Drop Some Weight
Ian Geffrard is a big boy. The 6-foot-5 defensive tackle is listed at 388 pounds. He played 191 snaps as a redshirt freshman this year, mostly at nose tackle. With Eric Gregory out of eligibility and no big portal signings so far, Geffrard is likely due for a bigger role in 2025. He started the Liberty Bowl and saw 20-plus snaps four times this year, all of them in the back half of the season.
Geffrard’s immense size means that many teams simply cannot move him. His highest-graded game (per PFF) came against UAPB, whose FCS-level offensive linemen had no hope of moving a nearly-400-pound nose tackle. But better competition led to diminishing returns. His lowest-graded performances came against the best offensive lines, like LSU and Texas, who had athletes on the offensive line with the size and strength to neutralize his raw size. Technique also matters. Missouri’s offensive line has been praised for very good technique, and Geffrard struggled in that game as well, with the Tigers running right at him, producing a season-worst defensive grade of 48.
Geffrard could probably stand to come down a bit in weight in order to enhance his mobility. SEC defensive linemen can’t just be big. They have to be able to move, too. Geffrard has flashed good potential through two seasons, but if he wants to be a playmaker, lighter but quicker might be better.
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What does the 2025 Arkansas football roster look like? Check out our tracker:
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