Arkansas’s new defensive coordinator is already noticing something a lot of coaches notice once camp starts: things look different once the intensity turns up.
Ron Roberts took over a Razorbacks defense that was about as bad in 2025 as any other teams in the SEC.
Arkansas allowed opponents to score on 52.8% of every possible scoring chance against Power 4 teams, the worst mark in the conference.
The Hogs finished last in the SEC in scoring defense at 33.8 points per game, last in total defense at 425.2 yards per game and last in turnovers gained with just nine all season.
Veteran college football reporter Chris Low described the unit’s mental state on the Chuck and Bo Show, saying the defense had been “beaten down unlike I’ve seen a defense in this league get beaten down in a long time.”
Roberts isn’t interested in dwelling on any of that. When he met with reporters after the first practice of fall camp, he made clear the past doesn’t matter to him.
“You can’t rest on the good stuff,” Roberts said. “I’ve been there too, and you can’t say, ‘Oh well this is where we’re at. We’re going to break them.’ That was last year. I don’t care.”
Having been around for a few decades, he’s probably learned what Lou Holtz told us reporters before the 1978 season that the success of 1977 with an Orange Bowl win over No. 2 Oklahoma didn’t mean a thing going forward.
Part of the reason now that last year truly doesn’t matter is because almost nobody from that group is still starting.
Roberts said 10 of Arkansas’s 11 defensive starters will probably be new faces this fall, with preseason All-SEC defensive end Quincy Rhodes as the lone holdover.
Only four Razorbacks defenders even logged 10 tackles a year ago.
Roberts wants his new group focused on what it can control instead of what happened before he arrived.
“We control how well we practice, control how hard we work and we can control our alignment, our assignment, our responsibility and do those things,” Roberts said. “So whatever it is we’ve got to get to work.”
Shorter camp doesn’t slow the message
Arkansas is working with a tighter fall camp window than usual since classes start Aug. 17, about a week earlier than normal.
That means the Razorbacks won’t practice in full pads until Aug. 11, so five of the first 10 practices happen without players fully geared up.
Roberts said that setup makes early evaluation tricky.
“There’s the guys that can do all that stuff and then when the lights come on and the pads start clicking they can’t make the play,” Roberts said. “We can get a lot of communication done but when you get to truly evaluate them is when the pads come on. Can they finish the job?”
Even without full pads on day one, Roberts liked what he saw enough to compare it favorably to the spring.
“I think we came out after summer and we started a heck of a lot farther ahead than we left when we were in spring,” Roberts said. “So that was better than anything we did in the spring.”
Senior defensive lineman Hunter Osborne wanted to see the tape before agreeing.
“I’m going to have to watch the film first before I make a comment on today and how it compares to other days,” Osborne said. He credited the group’s offseason work for whatever progress showed up, saying the defense spent the summer “being together, communicating with one another, being vocal and coming across as a whole defense and just trying to make everything align as one.”
Depth chart still taking shape
Roberts said that during the Red-White spring game he had roughly 17 players he trusted for Arkansas’s two-deep, a list that needs 22 names.
He wants that number up to 22 or 24 quickly with the nation’s toughest schedule on the way.
“There’s probably 24 to 25 guys we’re looking at who are probably going to get a chance to get in,” Roberts said. “Putting the pads on makes things get real and see how they perform.”
He credited the extra effort players put in over the summer, from meeting on their own time to asking questions, for building his confidence in the group heading into camp.
Rhodes remains the centerpiece up front after racking up eight sacks and 15.5 tackles for loss last season. Roberts thinks there’s more coming.
“I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg of what he’s capable of doing,” Roberts said. “And we’re going to need him to take a bigger role of being a dominant football player on Saturdays.”
Battles at every level
Along the defensive line, Roberts said five interior players have earned real trust with three more fighting for a spot.
At linebacker, junior Bradley Shaw has already been tabbed as the “green dot” player who wears the communication device, with Roberts praising how coachable and smart he is.
Ja’Quavion Smith joins Shaw as a clear top option, while several others compete behind them.
In the secondary, Roberts named Khmori House, Christian Harrison and Miguel Mitchell as his safeties if the season started today, with four or five more players still pushing for time.
Whatever the final lineup looks like, Roberts already knows what he wants opponents saying about his defense once the Razorbacks open the season Sept. 5 against North Alabama.
“That they were tough as hell,” Roberts said. “I want it to be hard for people to find a way to get a first down. Hopefully they’re going to say that we’re very fundamentally sound and we play extremely hard.”
Key takeaways
- Arkansas returns just one starting defender, Quincy Rhodes, from a unit that finished last in the SEC in scoring and total defense in 2025.
- Ron Roberts says the defense entered fall camp noticeably ahead of where it stood during spring practice.
- Roberts wants the two-deep expanded from about 17 trusted players in the spring to 22-24 as camp continues.
