Former Razorback defensive end Jake Bequette joins The Morning Rush! Bequette discusses his time with Razorbacks and Patriots, his new position currently serving as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, the current state of CFB, and more! Check it out now!
Pittman on first fall camp practice as head coach Monday as Hogs get started
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman talked with the media after completing his first real practice Monday afternoon as a head coach.
Pool on defense ‘ahead of last year’ after first fall practice under Pittman Monday
Razorbacks linebacker Bumper Pool talked after Monday’s opening fall camp practice about how virtual meetings helped team be prepared.
Boyd on development of running backs behind him, how offense looks
Hogs running back Rakeem Boyd likes the youngsters behind him and Feleipe Franks looks like an guy with experience running the offense on first day.
Interesting revised schedule lineup for Hogs provides some opportunities
Arkansas kicks off the Sam Pittman era at home inside Razorback Stadium on Sept. 26 against a familiar foe for the new head Hog.
The storyline will be Pittman going up against the No. 4 Bulldogs that he coached on the offensive line for the last four years, but the rest of the schedule provides even a little more intrigue.
Mixed around that opener and facing Auburn with former head coach Chad Morris and the annual Gus Malzahn drama will be games with Mississippi State and Ole Miss.
Of course the games in the middle count, too, and there is another program with a new coach in Missouri the Hogs play the weekend after Thanksgiving.
Then Alabama comes to Fayetteville to wrap things up. By then who knows what will be happening but it was the safest thing for the league to do in terms of interest for games that could be cancelled with the global pandemic.
For the first time since 2009, Georgia comes to Fayetteville, the first of six teams ranked in the Coaches’ preseason poll on the Razorbacks’ schedule.
The Hogs will hit the road for a pair of games following the opener, visiting Mississippi State (Oct. 3) and No. 11 Auburn (October 10) before returning home to face Ole Miss (Oct. 17). After four games, Arkansas enters the bye week Oct. 24 before taking off for No. 13 Texas A&M and visiting College Station for the first time since 2012 on Halloween.
Tennessee visits Fayetteville on Nov. 7 in the Volunteers’ first trip to Arkansas since 2011. The Hogs take on a pair of preseason Top 10 teams in back-to-back weeks with a visit to The Swamp and No. 8 Florida on Nov. 14 then return home to take on defending national champion and No. 5 LSU on Nov. 21.
Arkansas’ final road game of the season comes at Missouri on Nov. 28 but the game against the Tigers will not be the regular season finale for the first time since 2013.
The Hogs instead will end the regular season the following week in Fayetteville against No. 3 Alabama.
Dates and TV network designations will be announced at a later date by the Southeastern Conference.
Date – Opponent – Place
Sept. 26 – No. 4 Georgia – Fayetteville, Ark.
Oct. 3 – at Mississippi State – Starkville, Miss.
Oct. 10 – at No. 11 Auburn – Auburn, Ala.
Oct. 17 – Ole Miss – Fayetteville, Ark.
Oct. 24 – OPEN
Oct. 31 – at No. 13 Texas A&M – College Station, Texas
Nov. 7 – Tennessee – Fayetteville, Ark.
Nov. 14 – at No. 8 Florida – Gainesville, Fla.
Nov. 21 – No. 5 LSU – Fayetteville, Ark.
Nov. 28 – at Missouri – Columbia, Mo.
Dec. 5 – No. 3 Alabama – Fayetteville, Ark.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
All four new league coaches will start against best in first seasons
Every new coach that comes into the SEC says they want to be in the league because they want to play the best. … and Sam Pittman has said it repeatedly.
He’s not alone. Publicly that’s what they all say.
But the four new guys this year didn’t expect to be playing Top 10 teams in the first week and that wasn’t the plan, but the coronavirus has caused a wholesale change across just about everything in college sports.
When the league announced the opening games of the new schedule on Monday afternoon, Pittman, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Mississippi State’s Mike Leach and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwich all got teams at the top.
The league didn’t hand out many favorites in the opening weekend of games. The lack of transparency on choosing cross-divisional opponents last week was ridiculous.
Opening week, though, is clear as a bell. The league wanted to showcase the top teams in the league against the new coaches.
As I suspected when all of this got tossed up in the air a couple of months ago, one of the best storylines for an opening week matchup was putting Georgia against Arkansas.
Pittman may not have more insight on any one team in the league than the Bulldogs. He was Kirby Smart’s right-hand man the last four years.
Georgia is ranked No. 4 in the coaches preseason poll.
Missouri gets Alabama, ranked No. 3.
Leach and the Bulldogs go to Tiger Stadium for what will likely be a night-time celebration for No. 5 LSU after a national title run last year.
Ole Miss hosts No. 8 Florida that reportedly is having internal issues kicking off fall camp Monday. According to a report at Sports Illustrated, several players were holding out of the first day of drills, and it was confirmed by coach Dan Mullen.
And the Rebels, at least on paper, get the best matchup.
None of the four new coaches in the league will start off with an opponent below eighth and three are playing Top 5 teams.
Welcome to the league, guys.
Remember, though, that’s why you wanted to be here.
ON HALFTIME: O’Garra on lack of interest in any kind of parity in college sports
Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara talked with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis on ESPN Arkansas on how pro sports encourage parity, but college sports seems to fight it.
Hogs will open season against Georgia on Sept. 26; full schedule at 6 p.m.
Now we know who Sam Pittman can start planning to coach his first game against for Arkansas on Sept. 26 against Georgia in Fayetteville.
It will be a team he’s familiar after coaching the offensive line of the Bulldogs for four seasons before landing his dream job with the Razorbacks last December … and his first real practice with his team was Monday afternoon, opening fall camp.
The Hogs have not played the Bulldogs since a 45-32 loss 2014 in Little Rock.
The remainder of the schedule will be announced on the SEC Network at 6 p.m. Monday evening.
The rest of the SEC’s opening games Sept. 26 will be:
• Alabama at Missouri
• Florida at Ole Miss
• Kentucky at Auburn
• Mississippi State at LSU
• Tennessee at South Carolina
• Vanderbilt at Texas A&M
GAC’s Prewitt on decision by DII to shut down all fall sports until end of year
Great American Conference commissioner Will Prewitt on Halftime with Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis about the decision to shut down sports.
Joe changes mind, putting name back in mix for NBA Draft
A couple of weeks ago, Arkansas basketball fans were trying to figure how far they could go in the NCAA Tournament this year, but Isaiah Joe threw a curve ball into the mix Monday morning.
The Fort Smith shooting guard released a statement on Twitter he’s putting his name back into the NBA Draft.
“Due to the COVID-19 virus and the unprecedented cancellation of fall sports by several major college conferences in the past week, I believe it is in my best interest to forego the remainder of my college eligibility and re-enter the NBA draft in time for the league’s Aug. 17 deadline for underclassmen to declare.
“My announcement on Aug. 1 to return to school for another season as a Razorback was made with whole-hearted excitement and sincerity, but a lot has happened in a short period of time since then to increase the uncertainty that college sports will be played this season.”
Most of the news surrounding the virus has been on the rapidly-approaching football season but the Pac 12 has cancelled everything through the calendar year so Joe obviously re-thought things.
