FAYETTEVILLE — With the midway point of the 2024 season quickly approaching, there’s no denying it now: Arkansas football has a protection problem.
Quarterback Taylen Green has been pressured on 41.5% of his dropbacks through five games, according to Pro Football Focus. That rate ranks second among 27 SEC quarterbacks who’ve had at least 15 dropbacks this year.
It has been an issue in every game except the opener against UAPB, but really came to a head in the Razorbacks’ 21-17 loss to Texas A&M. The Aggies racked up three sacks and eight hurries.
Arkansas football coach Sam Pittman had previously attributed his team’s struggles against the blitz to missed assignments – by offensive linemen, tight ends and running backs – but Saturday at AT&T Stadium was different. In his own words, the Razorbacks were “overwhelmed” and “whipped” by the Aggies.
Naturally, Arkansas fans needed a scapegoat for the problems and the player they settled on was right tackle Keyshawn Blackstock, the transfer from Michigan State. One person leading the charge was former Arkansas tight end D.J. Williams:
Williams also singled out Blackstock a couple of times in his postgame film breakdown for his 4th and Five podcast.
However, Pittman countered that narrative during his weekly Monday press conference. He said he thought Blackstock and left tackle Fernando Carmona actually played better than they did the week before at Auburn, despite PFF tabbing them the lowest-graded offensive linemen for Arkansas against Texas A&M (59.4 and 59.3, respectively).
“A lot of times there’s no place for (Green) to step up, so the pocket’s getting collapsed on him, which makes you look worse at tackle,” Pittman said. “Even the last one that we fumbled the football on, I mean, Carmona had him 11 yards deep. You can’t ask a guy to do more than that.
“He flushed because the front of the pocket was coming at him and the guy got the strip fumble. But I thought our tackles were better. We’ve got to continue to get better, but the front of the pocket is certainly something we’re going to address this week, as well.”
The front of the pocket that Pittman is referring to includes center Addison Nichols, left guard E’Marion Harris and right guard Joshua Braun. Interestingly, they all posted excellent pass-blocking grades on PFF (83 or better), while Carmona had a decent 67.1 mark and Blackstock had an abysmal 36.9.
It doesn’t sound like any changes are coming to the starting lineup, either. Arkansas will likely stick with the same five it has used all year.
“We’re trying to fix it,” Pittman said. “I don’t believe a personnel change right now is going to help us.”
(READ NEXT: Petrino Should Probably Make this Depth Chart Shakeup)
Other Sam Pittman Presser Tidbits
Here are a few other quotes, not verbatim, from Sam Pittman’s weekly press conference looking back at the Texas A&M loss and previewing the Arkansas vs Tennessee game…
- Thoughts on Tennessee coming up: Tennessee is a really good team. Top of the nation in a lot of categories, both offensively and defensively. Very, very stout up front defensively. Have a very good secondary and linebackers. A common theme the last few weeks has been their defensive line being the strength of their defense, much like A&M and Auburn. That’ll be a big challenge for us. Offensively, they do so much. We have to be ready for how fast they’ll go. It starts with their QB. I really like Sampson, their running back. He breaks a lot of tackles.
- On Tennessee center Cooper Mays, whose older brother he coached at Georgia: I love Cooper Mays. He’s done such a good job at center. I love him and his brother. Great family. Looking forward to seeing him.
- On getting healthy this week: We’re going to have to do a good job with some of our key players, mentally, because we’re not going to have them for a couple days – some of them. Hope to get them back Wednesday. It’s a big concern. Most of our injuries are on offense. The ones we’re most concerned about are on offense. The big, physical d-lines have taken a toll on our tight ends. That’s the position I’m most concerned about. We’re going to try to take a little bit off of them today. For us to compete like we need to, we’re going to have to be smart this week.
- On the pressures allowed by the offense: We’ve had so many pressures that we have a confidence problem, we have a QB who’s not confident. There’s times he can stand in the pocket. There’s times when he stands in and gets hit. We tried a lot of quick passing game, as well. The problem early in the game was we lost a running back – Jackson was in and out. R-Dub was suspended (and he’s not any more). Our tight ends, both of them didn’t practice a whole lot last week, so that impacted the run game. To take pressure off our QB and offensive line, we need to run the ball and get the quick game going.
- On health of Hudson Clark/Jaylon Braxton: I don’t feel great about Braxton, but I feel pretty good about Clark. He practiced last week. I believe he could have played if we really needed him to. Stewart went down, he was sick.
- On how Texas A&M contained Taylen Green in the run game: They were messing with him. They were running at him, running at the mesh. They were also sitting there and reading the mesh. I think the looks were a little difficult for him.
- On Tennessee football coach Josh Heupel: Really good dude. I really like him. The guy won the Heisman. I don’t know what I was expecting, but he’s a very humble, very good guy. I like what he does on his team. They’re well-coached and disciplined. They play extremely hard.
- On Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson: He’s bad to the bone. He’s a really good player. Can make you miss or run over you. He can catch. Really, really good player. They use Bishop, too, but Sampson is a really good player.
- On Tennessee transfers Addison Nichols/Doneiko Slaughter: Any time you have a guy that’s starting, he’s the best you have. Especially if you’re not in a rotation. Nichols came in here and is starting for us. He’s been really good for us. Doneiko has played really good ball for us. Those guys coming from their program have helped us.
- On Tennessee’s quick starts: If they get going on you, they’re hard to stop. They go so fast, you can’t sub. The corrections have to be made on the sideline. To start like that, they’re well-prepared on both sides of the ball. We have to match that.
- On WR Andrew Armstrong: He’s certainly on the NFL list now. They guys come in and want to talk about him. If you want something bad enough, you have to go work to get it and that’s what he’s done. He’s also grown as a young man. I’m really proud of him for that.
Watch the full Arkansas football press conference here:
Arkansas Football Injury Report
Here’s the latest on several Arkansas football players who are dealing with injuries ahead of the Arkansas vs Tennessee game…
- S Hudson Clark (back): Went through pregame warmups, but didn’t play against Texas A&M after being deemed a game-time decision… Pittman said he “feels pretty good” about him being able to play this week
- CB Jaylon Braxton (tendinitis): Missed three straight games and Pittman doesn’t sound particularly optimistic about his availability for Tennessee
- TE Andreas Paaske (concussion): Missed the last two games because he’s in concussion protocol… Pittman is unsure if he’ll be able to return this week, but said it’s “very doubtful”
- TE Luke Hasz (back): Appeared to tweak his back against Oklahoma State and Pittman finally acknowledged the injury publicly after the Texas A&M game, which he exited while holding his back following his lone reception
- TE Ty Washington (undisclosed): Got dinged up in the Auburn game and was listed on last week’s SEC availability report before playing against Texas A&M, but Pittman mentioned he was concerned with the health of his tight ends and that he and Hasz didn’t do much at practice last week
- WR Khafre Brown (undisclosed): Missed the last few games with an undisclosed injury, but was also limited throughout the offseason
- OL Patrick Kutas (back): Has yet to play this season
- DB Miguel Mitchell (undisclosed): DNP the first four weeks… Not clear if it’s injury related or not… Pittman said previously that he’s “out for right now”
- DB Jaden Allen (knee): Pittman said the freshman had “cartilage repair” done on his knee and that he’s not expected to play this season.
- LB Justin Logan (shoulder): After being limited and wearing a green non-contact jersey during the spring, Pittman said he probably won’t play this season.
- OL Zuri Madison (ACL): Missed the spring and will miss the 2024 season with a torn ACL suffered in a scooter accident.
Arkansas vs Tennessee Depth Chart
Here is the official depth chart for the Arkansas vs Tennessee game, from the UA’s game notes…
Offense
| POS | First | Second | More |
|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Taylen Green | Malachi Singleton | KJ Jackson Blake Boda |
| RB | Ja’Quinden Jackson | Rodney Hill | Braylen Russell Rashod Dubinion Tyrell Reed |
| TE | Luke Hasz | Ty Washington | Var’keyes Gumms Andreas Paaske |
| WR-Z | Tyrone Broden | Jordan Anthony -OR- CJ Brown | Davion Dozier |
| WR-X | Andrew Armstrong | Monte Harrison | |
| WR-W | Isaiah Sategna | Isaac TeSlaa | Khafre Brown |
| LT | Fernando Carmona Jr. | E’Marion Harris | |
| LG | E’Marion Harris | Brooks Edmonson | |
| C | Addison Nichols | Amaury Wiggins | |
| RG | Joshua Braun | Ty’Kieast Crawford | |
| RT | Keyshawn Blackstock | Joe More |
Changes from last week:
- There are no changes to the offensive depth chart.
Defense
| POS | First | Second | More |
|---|---|---|---|
| DE | Landon Jackson | Quincy Rhodes Jr. | |
| DT | Cam Ball | Keivie Rose | Danny Saili |
| DT | Eric Gregory | Ian Geffrard | |
| DE | Nico Davillier -OR- Anton Juncaj | ||
| LB | Brad Spence -OR- Stephen Dix Jr. | Alex Sanford | |
| LB | Xavian Sorey Jr. | Anthony Switzer -OR- Bradley Shaw | |
| NB | Doneiko Slaughter | Tevis Metcalf | |
| CB | Marquise Robinson -OR- Jaheim Singletary -OR- Kee’yon Stewart | ||
| S | TJ Metcalf | Hudson Clark | Ahkhari Johnson |
| S | Jayden Johnson | Larry Worth III | |
| CB | Jaylon Braxton | Selman Bridges |
Changes from last week:
- There are no changes to the defensive depth chart.
Special Teams
| POS | First | Second |
|---|---|---|
| K | Kyle Ramsey | Matthew Shipley |
| P | Devin Bale | Sam Dubwig |
| KO | Devin Bale | |
| LS | Ashton Ngo | Max Schmidly |
| H | Devin Bale | Sam Dubwig |
| KR | Isaiah Sategna | Rodney Hill |
| PR | Isaiah Sategna | Bryce Stephens |
Changes from last week:
- There are no changes to the special teams depth chart.
How to Watch Arkansas vs Tennessee
Date: Saturday, Oct. 5
Location: Razorback Stadium (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Kickoff time (TV): 6:30 p.m. CT (ABC)
Commentators: Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), Holly Rowe (sideline reporter)
ESPN FPI: Tennessee has an 82.2% chance to win.
Odds/Betting Line: Tennessee, -14 | O/U 60.0 (BetSaracen)
***
More coverage of Arkansas football and Arkansas vs Tennessee from BoAS…
