Arkansas
Three position battles Arkansas football needs to settle during fall camp
Who will make the All-SEC Team Defense?
Who will make the All-SEC Team Defense?
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football will begin its fall camp Wednesday evening, with a month of preparation all that remains before a season opener against UAPB in Little Rock.
Bobby Petrino is back, and he’ll be working with a new signal-caller in quarterback Taylen Green. Together, they’ll try to orchestrate a bounceback season for head coach Sam Pittman after a disappointing 2023 campaign that ended with a 4-8 record.
More: Four-star DL Reginald Vaughn commits to Arkansas football over LSU, Ole Miss
More: Five reasons Arkansas football could surprise experts and exceed expectations in 2024
Before the in-state showdown with the Golden Lions — and another grueling schedule in the SEC — there are still roles to be defined and plenty of questions throughout the Razorbacks’ roster.
Here’s a look at three key Arkansas football position battles to watch throughout fall camp.
Outside Cornerback
Jaylon Braxton is an unquestioned starter and primed to be one of the best players on the roster. There are three candidates to join as a first-team cornerback.
Kee’yon Stewart and Jaheim Singletary are two options who transferred to Arkansas prior to last season. Stewart, from TCU, was a starter and consistent performer for most of the spring. At 6-foot, 2 inches, and 182 pounds, Singletary has the ideal frame to be an SEC cornerback, but he hasn’t lived up to his reputation as a five-star high school recruit who began his career at Georgia.
The third option is a fresh newcomer in Marquise Robinson, who produced a fine junior campaign last season with South Alabama, racking up 36 tackles and three interceptions. He was recruited out of the transfer portal to challenge for a starting spot, and he’ll have that opportunity beginning Wednesday.
Defensive End
This is another spot on the defense with one obvious starter and a question mark on the opposite end. Landon Jackson could be one of the best players in the country this season and is a potential first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
His running mate on the edge will likely be either Nico Davillier or Anton Juncaj. Davillier is a product of Maumelle High School who has been inside the program for the last three years. Coaches were impressed with his motor this spring, and he held on to a starting spot throughout the 15 practices across March and April.
Juncaj though will provide stiff competition, especially considering his strengths rushing the passer. He led all of FCS with 15 sacks and finished third with 21.5 tackles for loss last season at Albany. It’s important that Juncaj turns into the player Pittman envisioned when he transferred this offseason, and both players will garner plenty of snaps this fall.
Slot Wide Receiver
Isaiah Sategna feels like the front-runner for this position. Sategna is a local star — ranking as a four-star prospect coming out of Fayetteville High School in 2022 — who provides a big-play threat that’s unique to the Arkansas roster.
However, Jaedon Wilson will be a factor. The redshirt junior consistently received more opportunities than Sategna last season, and he was the starting slot receiver this spring until a hamstring injury.
Andrew Armstrong, Tyrone Broden and Luke Hasz give Bobby Petrino a terrific core of pass catchers, and the slot receiver will round out the group.
Arkansas
OPINION | WALLY HALL: Arkansas will need more than Robinson’s coerced contribution | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
Wally Hall
Wally Hall is assistant managing sports editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock after an honorable discharge from the U.S. Air Force, he is a member and past president of the Football Writers Association of America, member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, past president and current executive committee and board member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, and voter for the Heisman Trophy. He has been awarded Arkansas Sportswriter of the Year 10 times and has been inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and Arkansas Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.
Will Garrett Nussmeier’s size hold him back in the NFL?
LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier will look to impress scouts at the NFL Combine despite size concerns.
Move over, Anthony Richardson. There’s a new quarterback athletic marvel at the NFL scouting combine.
On Saturday in Indianapolis, Arkansas’ Taylen Green broke Richardson’s top marks at the position since 2003 for both the vertical leap and broad jump. Green’s 43½-inch vertical topped Richardson’s previous high by three inches, while his 11-2 broad jump beat the Indianapolis Colts signal-caller’s measurement by five inches.
Then, Green reeled off a 4.36-second 40-yard dash time. That stood as the second-best time for any quarterback since 2003, trailing only Reggie McNeal in 2006 (4.35 seconds). Richardson, for comparison, logged a 4.43-second mark in 2023.
Green didn’t even bother with a second attempt after his initial time.
The testing profile created quite the stir around the 6-6, 227-pound passer, who had widely projected as a developmental option for teams on Day 3.
NFL Network’s Charles Davis said Green told him that no teams had approached him about working out as a receiver, adding that he would not be interested in a position switch.
Green started for the Razorbacks for the last two seasons after playing the first three years of his career at Boise State. Known for his running ability and ample arm strength, Green threw for 2,714 yards and 19 touchdowns last year while adding 777 yards and eight scores on the ground.
It was a banner day for Arkansas, as running back Mike Washington Jr. also stood out among his peers with a group-leading 4.33-second 40-yard dash as well as strong marks in the vertical leap (39 inches) and broad jump (10-8).
Rex Nelson
Rex Nelson has been senior editor and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette since 2017, and he has a biweekly podcast called “Southern Fried.”
After graduating from Ouachita Baptist University in 1981, he was a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat for a year before becoming editor of Arkadelphia’s Daily Siftings Herald. He was the youngest editor of a daily in Arkansas at age 23. Rex was then news and sports director at KVRC-KDEL from 1983-1985.
He returned to the Democrat as assistant sports editor in 1985. From 1986-1989, he was its Washington correspondent. He left to be Jackson T. Stephens’ consultant.
Rex became the Democrat-Gazette’s first political editor in 1992, but left in 1996 to join then-Gov. Mike Huckabee’s office. He also served from 2005-09 in the administration of President George W. Bush.
From 2009-2018, he worked stints at the Communications Group, Arkansas’ Independent Colleges and Universities, and Simmons First National Corp.
Sam Smith’s San Francisco Residency Charts New Course for the Castro
Abbott is ramping up protection across Texas after Iran airstrikes
Miami youth trace Bahamian roots in powerful Black History Month journey
MLB notes: New Red Sox pitching directors looking to keep pipeline flowing
Richard Jackson Obituary | The Denver Post
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Mamdani’s response to Trump’s Iran strike sparks conservative backlash: ‘Rooting for the ayatollah’
Activists hail ‘historic’ EU’s decision on accessible abortion
A long-buried recording and the Supreme Court of old (CT+) : Consider This from NPR
2 Survivors Describe the Terror and Tragedy of the Tahoe Avalanche
Iran fires missiles at US bases across Middle East after American strikes on nuclear, IRGC sites
-
World3 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts4 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Montana1 week ago2026 MHSA Montana Wrestling State Championship Brackets And Results – FloWrestling
-
Louisiana6 days agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Denver, CO4 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Technology1 week agoYouTube TV billing scam emails are hitting inboxes
-
Technology1 week agoStellantis is in a crisis of its own making
-
Politics1 week agoOpenAI didn’t contact police despite employees flagging mass shooter’s concerning chatbot interactions: REPORT