SEC Preview: Will The Great Arkansas Turnaround continue?

Although their fans will continue to be made fun of because of the above pic, last year was a turnaround for the Arkansas Razorbacks faithful. After the team installed Sam Pittman as its new coach and Barry Odom as defensive coordinator, the Pig Troupe went an encouraging 3-7 last year, and they were only completely blown out by the uberoffenses of Alabama (52-3) and Florida (63-5). They pulled off a great upset at Ole Miss, and had wins over Mississippi State and Tennessee, and they lost three games by under 5 points.

This was a long way from the awfulness of Chad Morris, who was totally out of his depth in Fayetteville.

So what will 2021 have in store for the Razorbacks?

OFFENSE

After a good year, Feleipe Franks has gone to the NFL (he’s on the books of the Falcons), and second-best WR Mike Woods (619 yards, 5 TDs) has transferred to Oklahoma – a move not loved by the Arkansas faithful.

However, they’ve still got a superstar in Treylon Burks (820 yards, 7 TDs at an average of 16.1 per reception), who is awesome.

We expect RB Trelon Smith to take a bulk of the carries, but TJ Hammonds is more than capable, and we wouldn’t be surprised if freshman Javion Hunt gets some carries, too.

But the key’s going to be at quarterback, and it looks as though dual threat KJ Jefferson’s going to take the role.

He’s going to be happy because every single one of the offensive line is back this year, as well as every receiver apart from Woods – as well as freshman four-star Ketron Jackson, who chose Fayetteville over Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas and Texas A&M (amongst others).

DEFENSE

If we could give out of our defensive Heismans, then LB Grant Morgan would have won it for us last year. Morgan had 110 tackles (40 solo), two sacks, a defensive interception for a touchdown and five passes defended in just seven games (he was injured in the Missouri game). It’s almost abhorrent that he never got a forced fumble.

He’s going to return with 8 more defensive starters who are already used to Odom’s scheme, including the excellently-named LB Bumper Pool, who had 101 tackles and 5 defended passes. That should be some double-act at the linebacker position.

THE SCHEDULE 

Sept. 4 Rice

Sept. 11 Texas

Sept. 18 Georgia Southern

Sept. 25 Texas A&M (in Arlington)

Oct. 2 at Georgia

Oct. 9 at Ole Miss

Oct. 16 Auburn

Oct. 23 Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Oct. 30 OPEN DATE

Nov. 6 Mississippi State

Nov. 13 at LSU

Nov. 20 at Alabama

Nov. 27 Missouri (in Little Rock)

It’s not a far stretch to think that the Razorbacks could go 4-0 in their non-conference games (their second game of the season is an old SWC match-up against Texas (and the Longhorns have a new head coach), and beat Missouri and Mississippi State to get to the magic six wins. But the game against Auburn will be a struggle thanks to Auburn’s defense, and we can’t see the Hogs get anything from Alabama, LSU, Georgia and Ole Miss – the latter who win think would have learned their lesson from last year. 

FINAL FORECAST: 6-6