Arkansas football’s defense entered the 2025 season with a number of question marks, but there were two sure things in the front seven – defensive tackle Cam Ball and linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr.
Ball is the rare fifth-year returner who has played his entire career with the Razorbacks. Sorey, a former blue-chip recruit, was a passenger on the Georgia-to-Arkansas express that many ex-Bulldogs, including defensive back Jaheim Singletary, have also ridden. Both redshirt seniors are expected to anchor the Hogs’ defense.
Sorey entered the season with high expectations from the media – the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder is on the Butkus Award preseason watch list and was named to Phil Steele’s All-SEC Third Team. But he placed even higher expectations on himself. His goal?
“To be the best linebacker to ever play the game,” Sorey said on the Hog Pod with Bo Mattingly in the preseason. “I want people to fear me. Just know I’m coming.”
But the first gut-punch of the season for defensive coordinator Travis Williams’ unit came a lot earlier than expected in week one against Alabama A&M, with the Bulldogs marching down the field on a seven-play, 75-yard opening touchdown drive. The Razorback defense failed to put up much resistance, not even forcing a third down on that series.
Arkansas didn’t allow Alabama A&M on the scoreboard the rest of the way, but there were other drives in the first half that saw the Bulldogs moving the ball with relative ease before penalties stalled the offense. The gaudy scoreline did a good job covering up those concerns, but the defense remains something to keep an eye on with tougher tests ahead – even Arkansas State’s offense should not be underestimated on Saturday.
It would have been slightly more understandable if some of the Hogs’ many newcomers were the ones struggling on defense. But according to Pro Football Focus, it was the experienced Sorey who was the caboose of the unit.
Arkansas Linebackers Need to Improve
The Campbellton, Fla., native received a failing 35.9 defensive grade across his 31 snaps, the lowest of any Arkansas defender. After leading the team with 99 tackles last season, Sorey finished with just one tackle and two quarterback hurries against Alabama A&M.
Stephen Dix Jr. (64.3) and Bradley Shaw (55.8) were the other two linebackers who played double-digit snaps. They graded out marginally better, but still left a lot to be desired. Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman acknowledged that the Hogs need more to clean up moving forward.
“We have to have more production out of our linebackers. We need to play better there. We also need to play better on the D-line,” Pittman said at his Monday presser. “After the first drive I thought our secondary settled in. We had six missed assignments there early on the first drive.”
“We’re not playing downhill,” he continued. “We do have guys that can run in there, but they’ve got to play better. They’ve got to get in the right gaps…I didn’t feel the disruption from the front seven that we should have had, respectfully, with Alabama A&M.”
After Sorey’s production last year, he certainly has the talent to deliver better performances moving forward.
In fact, the current owner of the best-ever title Sorey seeks to knock off his perch was right down the highway in the state capital this week.
LT in LR
Lawrence Taylor, the Hall of Fame linebacker widely regarded as the greatest NFL defender of all time, appeared at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Tuesday. During a 12-year career with the New York Giants, Taylor built up an unbelievable resume. Just to name a few of his many, many accomplishments:
- 2x Super Bowl champion
- NFL MVP
- 3x Defensive Player of the Year
- 8x First Team All-Pro
- 10x Pro Bowl
To put things in perspective, one of those DPOY awards came in his rookie season – Taylor is still the only player ever to accomplish that feat.
The former North Carolina Tar Heel standout returned to his alma mater on Monday night to watch the debut of Bill Belichick as a college football coach, a gamble on behalf of UNC as risky as any found on a list by cardplayer.com. North Carolina, of course, was blown out by TCU. He joked that he received a better reception in Little Rock than he did from TCU fans, but the legend left the stadium early during the beatdown – and he wasn’t the only one.
“That was an ass whippin’,” he said. “I was shocked because Bill wasn’t worried about it and was going through stuff like, ‘It’s cool, we’ve got this under control.’”
Belichick was the Giants’ defensive coordinator when Taylor won both of his Super Bowls in New York. The always-stoic 73-year-old retained his usual sideline demeanor even as the stadium emptied out.
It’s only been one game, sure, but Belichick’s North Carolina debut had disaster written all over it – and that’s something former Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles got to take advantage of on national television. The 42-year-old enters his third season in charge of the Horned Frogs’ offense, and he’s come a long way since almost getting run out of town two years ago. TCU poured on 542 total yards on Belichick and his son, Steve, the UNC defensive coordinator.
The strangest moment of the night – off the field, at least – came when Belichick received a sideline visit from his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson. You never saw Mrs. Terri on the sideline at Nick Saban’s Alabama, just sayin’.
Belichick has taken a lot of flak for the age gap between him and Hudson, but that’s a category for which Taylor somehow found a way to usurp his former boss.
In 2011, Taylor pled guilty to sexual misconduct for statutory rape and soliciting prostitution from a 16-year-old victim of a sex trafficking ring. The 66-year-old is still a registered sex offender. So naturally, President Trump chose him to be part of a Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition focused on youth outreach. Sigh.
For Sorey to achieve his goal of being among the best linebackers to ever do it, Taylor is the target. The Georgia transfer didn’t live up to those high aims in week one. Given the way Taylor has so deeply stained his own legacy, maybe that’s not so bad.
***
More Happening in Little Rock
Arkansas and Arkansas State football will meet Saturday afternoon inside Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium for the first time ever. So Best of Arkansas Sports found it to be the perfect time to reach out to several prominent figures for their thoughts on the long-awaited matchup – at least for one side.
More from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, former Arkansas State AD Dean Lee and more here:
***
More coverage of Arkansas football from BoAS:
