HawgBeat – By the Numbers: 13 days until Arkansas football

The Arkansas Razorbacks will take the field for the 2023 college football season in 13 days when Western Carolina visits War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on Saturday, September 2 for a 3 p.m. CT kickoff.

Here at HawgBeat, we will count down the days until head coach Sam Pittman and his team run through the “A” for the first time.

With 13 days remaining, we will take a look at a current player, former player, some interesting scores, highlights and other miscellaneous things in Razorback history tied to the number 13.

The senior safety transfer from Baylor totaled 115 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, two sacks and four interceptions in his time with the Bears. The 6-foot-2 Wilmington, North Carolina, native earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors in 2022 after recording 82 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception.

Walcott is a likely starter for the Razorbacks going into the 2023 season and will play a large role in flipping the secondary from a putrid 2022 campaign.

The quarterback that set the tone for the Sam Pittman era at Arkansas, Franks was a massive improvement from anyone former head coach Chad Morris threw on the field.

In his lone season with the Razorbacks, the 6-foot-6 signal caller broke the single-season school record for completion percentage (68.5%) while passing for 2,107 yards and 17 touchdowns in an all-sec schedule.

Against Auburn, Franks completed 22 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns. Versus Texas A&M and Tennessee, the Crawfordville, Florida, native threw three touchdowns each.

On May 3, 2021, Franks signed with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent. During his NFL debut in week 11 against New England, Franks threw an interception on his first pass. The Falcons moved Franks to the tight end position in 2022 before waiving the former Hog on August 3, 2023.

A rough start to the season by way of back-to-back blowouts from USC and Oklahoma State was remedied after a tight victory against Iowa State. Going into the fourth matchup of the season versus TCU, the Razorbacks were looking to get to .500 overall.

Star running back Dickey Morton, linebacker Danny Rhodes and quarterback Mike Kirkland led the Frank Broyles-led Razorbacks into a tight-knit defensive battle with Arkansas coming out on top 13-5.

The legendary Razorback return man and running back finished his collegiate career with 13 games of 100+ rushing yards.

During his freshman season in 2005, Jones had two 100+ yard games against Missouri State (137 yards) and Lousiana-Monroe (102 yards). He followed that up with five more 100+ yard games in 2006, versus Auburn (104 yards), Southeast Missouri State (106 yards), Lousiana-Monroe (141 yards), LSU (137 yards) and Wisconsin (150 yards).

Jones capped off his career with six additional 100+ yard games against Troy (129 yards), Kentucky (133 yards), North Texas (132 yards), Chattanooga (141 yards), Ole Miss (101 yards) and South Carolina (166 yards).

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