Arkansas

HawgBeat – Arkansas wide receivers react to departure of Kenny Guiton

Published

1 year ago

December 27, 2023

HawgBeat – Arkansas wide receivers react to departure of Kenny Guiton

Rumors began to surface publicly Tuesday that Arkansas could lose wide receivers coach Kenny Guiton, and a report from FootballScoop on Tuesday evening all but confirmed his departure to take the same position at Wisconsin.

After spending three full seasons at Arkansas, Guiton left a lasting mark on all of the receivers on campus, and that was put on display best by the reactions from his players on social media.

A handful of Arkansas receivers went live on Instagram on Tuesday evening to talk publicly about Guiton leaving, which basically confirmed the reports that are still not official.

Redshirt senior Andrew Armstrong, redshirt freshman Isaiah Sategna and true freshman Davion Dozier all said they received calls from head coach Sam Pittman, likely meaning they learned that Guiton is in fact leaving.

“I’m so sick right now,” Dozier said. “He came to my house, bro. He came to talk to my momma, bro. He’s the reason why I came up (here).”

Dozier is a former four-star recruit out of Moody, Alabama, and he caught just one pass for a 14-yard touchdown in the season-opener against Western Carolina.

Also a former four-star, Sategna didn’t have to go far from home to play for Guiton, as the speedy receiver was a standout at Fayetteville High School.

“If it wasn’t for Kenny, I would not be a Razorback,” Sategna said.

Armstrong came to Arkansas by way of Texas A&M-Commerce prior to the 2023 season, when he led the team with 56 catches for 764 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

Guiton arrived in Fayetteville in 2021 from Colorado State, where he was also receivers coach in 2020. The former Ohio State quarterback followed former Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, who Guiton also coaches with at Houston in 2017-18.

When Briles left for the offensive coordinator job at TCU prior to the 2023 season, Guiton stayed with the Razorbacks to work under new offensive coordinator Dan Enos. When Enos couldn’t make it past eight games without being fired, head coach Sam Pittman turned to Guiton to be interim offensive coordinator.

Guiton’s offense averaged 26.8 points and 370 total yards over a four-game span. The Razorbacks averaged 26.6 points and 327.3 yards per game as an offense in 12 total games this season.

When Arkansas hired new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, Guiton resumed his role as receivers coach. HawgBeat reported the morning of Dec. 20 that an offensive staff change would be coming, but Pittman went out of his way to say in an afternoon press conference on Dec. 20 that he didn’t expect more staff changes.

“Not that I am aware of, no,” Pittman said when asked if he expected other staff changes.

Less than a week later, it came out that Pittman would be losing another staff member. Arkansas had to hire two coordinators and four-new on-field assistant coaches last offseason and now the Hogs have hired one coordinator, one offensive line coach and they will need a new receivers coach this offseason.

Guiton helped Arkansas sign three receivers in the 2024 recruiting class. Four-star Ashton Bethel-Roman out of Missouri City, Texas, highlighted a trio that also featured Bentonville three-star CJ Brown and New Orleans two-star Kross Johnson.

During his time with the Hogs, Guiton also recruited names just as former five-star Jadon Haselwood from Oklahoma, Matt Landers out of Toledo, Andrew Armstrong from Teas A&M-Commerce and even Sategna was a big four-star signee in the 2022 class out of Fayetteville High School.

Arkansas now needs to fill another assistant spot, and HawgBeat has already listed the favorite to land the job on The Trough premium message board.

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Arkansas

Get to know: Arkansas O-line signee Bubba Craig | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Published

8 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Get to know: Arkansas O-line signee Bubba Craig | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Arkansas offensive line signee Bubba Craig is expected to report Fayetteville this weekend for the spring semester.

Craig, 6-6 and 315 pounds, of Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College picked the Hogs over Temple, Liberty, Texas -San Antonio and others.

On3.com industry ranking list him the No. 1 interior offensive lineman and No. 23 overall junior college prospect.

Nickname: Bubba

Favorite thing about playing on the O-line: Moving people

Football has taught me: Patience

My parents stay on me to: Be great at whatever I do

My favorite childhood memory: Building a fort in my yard. It fell over because I was like 10 years old and my siblings and I didn’t know we were doing but ut was still cool.

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Arkansas

How Arkansas addressed receiver position in transfer portal

Published

16 hours ago

January 8, 2025

Press Room

How Arkansas addressed receiver position in transfer portal

Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino lost plenty of production in the passing game to the transfer portal and NFL Draft following the 2024 season.

With starting quarterback Taylen Green set to return for a second season in Fayetteville, the Hogs had to find the 6-foot-6 passer some new weapons. Star receiver Andrew Armstrong is on his way to the NFL, veterans Isaac TeSlaa and Tyrone Broden are out of eligibility, and speedster Isaiah Sategna transferred to Oklahoma.

Along with those departures, younger prospects Dazmin James and Davion Dozier also elected to hit the portal, which left plenty of recruiting for Petrino, receivers coach Ronnie Fouch and head coach Sam Pittman.

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Armstrong led all Southeastern Conference players with 78 receptions for 1,140 receiving yards in the regular season, but it was really a one-man show with him all season.

TeSlaa added 545 receiving yards and Sategna was second on the team with 37 catches. At 6-foot-7, Broden could never break through as a true difference maker, as he caught just 15 passes for 197 yards and barely played late in the year.

Of the players the Hogs are set to return at wide receiver — Jordan Anthony, CJ Brown, Krosse Johnson, Bryce Stephens, Monte Harrison and Shamar Easter (moved from tight end to receiver for Liberty Bowl) — the production from 2024 only combined for a total 18 receptions, 243 yards and one touchdown.

Incoming freshmen such as Warren (Ark.) product Antonio Jordan and Missouri City (Tx.) four-star Ja’Kayden Ferguson are intriguing prospects, but it was clear the Hogs needed to add talent in the transfer portal.

So far, the Razorbacks have signed five transfer portal wide receivers. Three of them put together very solid seasons in 2024 for their respective programs, while one — former four-star and Pine Bluff native Courtney Crutchfield — redshirted and the fifth, Ismael Cisse, was a contributor at Stanford.

Arkansas Wide Receiver Production

Note: Courtney Crutchfield is not part of the table, as he did not record any statistics in 2024.

O’Mega Blake (6-foot-2, 180 lbs) began his career at South Carolina, where he spent three seasons and caught 20 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns. At Charlotte in 2024, Blake caught five passes for 205 yards and three scores in the Nov. 23 win over Florida Atlantic.

Hailing from Fresno State, Raylen Sharpe (5-foot-9, 165 lbs) is very familiar with Petrino. Sharpe spent 2022-23 at Missouri State, where Petrino was head coach from 2020-22. Sharpe caught 73 passes for 991 yards and seven touchdowns at Missouri State in 2023.

Kam Shanks (5-foot-8, 180 lbs) will more-than-likely be the favorite to return punts after leading the nation with 329 punt return yards and two punt return touchdowns this season. Shanks caught five passes for 31 yards and one score in the Sept. 14 loss at Arkansas.

After being committed to Arkansas for nearly seven months out of high school, Courtney Crutchfield signed with Missouri and redshirted after appearing in just two games in 2024. He was rated by Rivals as the No. 2 overall recruit and No. 1 wide receiver in the state of Arkansas in the 2024 recruiting class.

The latest addition to the class, Cisse signed with the Razorbacks on Monday evening following a visit over the weekend. He logged 381 snaps as a freshman in 2024, per Pro Football Focus. Cisse is a former three-star recruit out of Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colorado.

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Arkansas

Arkansas Hoping to Combat ‘Randomness’ from Ole Miss Offense

Published

23 hours ago

January 8, 2025

Press Room

Arkansas Hoping to Combat ‘Randomness’ from Ole Miss Offense

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Overshadowed by Arkansas’ 52-point offensive performance was the difficulties the Razorbacks had stopping Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier, who scored 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting, including five threes in a 24-point loss against the No. 1 Volunteers.

Now, the Hogs must deal with a quartet of guards against No. 23 Ole Miss. All four can score in the “randomness” of coach Chris Beard’s system. The Rebels’ top four scorers, Sean Pedulla, Jaylen Murray, Matthew Murrell and Dre Davis are all listed as guards and average double figures.

“These guys run motion,” assistant coach Chin Coleman said. “It’s all random and it’s all different and so, while they’re moving and cutting and screening, you’re going to have to guard every kind of screen there is in the game of basketball. That motion is unpredictable. The freedom of movement, cutting, screening. It’s hard to scheme against. It’s hard to scout.”

Arkansas also must contend with an Ole Miss team that wins the turnover battle on both ends of the floor. The Rebels commit the ninth-fewest turnovers in the country (9.3) and are third-best in turnover margin (+7.0).

“We want to stay on the attack and make plays for one another and not have a lot of live-ball turnovers,” Coleman said. “Those are the ones that we can’t defend against. We want to make teams play against our set defense, which is one of the best in the country. If we can do that and not have live ball turnovers, we’ll be fine.”

Tennessee forced the Razorbacks to commit 15 turnovers, picked up 10 steals and turned it into 13 points. Ole Miss ranks fourth in the SEC at 10.2 steals a game.

Tipoff between Ole Miss and Arkansas is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday and will be broadcast on ESPN2.