HawgBeat – By the Numbers: 8 days until Arkansas football

The Arkansas Razorbacks will take the field for the 2023 college football season in 8 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 8 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 8.

It never hurts to have Georgia native players on your team, and junior defensive back Jayden Johnson fits the bill out of Cedartown High School. Last season, he played 12 games with seven starts, making a career-best 35 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble.

In recent practices leading up to the 2023 season, Johnson has been taking first-team reps at safety. Head coach Sam Pittman named Johnson as one of the hardest-working players he has.

“They’ve always had the athletic ability and some I think they’ve just decided, ‘Hey, let me focus on me and not this, where I’m at the depth chart, this, that and the other,’” Pittman said. “And can I become the player that I should be and I couldn’t rave any more about those two guys. They have totally changed their mindset in my opinion.”

A championship-level quarterback at Greenwood High School, Wilson was the No. 5 overall player in the state of Arkansas according to Rivals. In his first three seasons on campus, Wilson had 67 completions for 740 yards and seven touchdowns.

Following Ryan Mallett’s departure, Wilson provided little-to-no drop off as the starting quarterback. From 2011-12, the All-SEC quarterback combined for 526 completions with 7,025 yards and 45 touchdowns.

He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders, and — after a short stint with the Tennessee Titans — was waived by the Cincinnati Bengals on August 29, 2014.

Frank Broyles’ 18th season as Arkansas’ head coach was a good one, as the Razorbacks finished with a 10-2 record and Southwest Conference co-champions.

One of those victories came against TCU at War Memorial Stadium in Week 4 of the season. After a scoreless first quarter, Arkansas took a 6-0 advantage in the second to lead at the half. The Razorbacks scored again in the third before finally allowing the Horned Frogs to cross the goal line in the fourth.

Arkansas’ defense was too much for the TCU comeback, and the score held for a 19-8 Razorback victory.

Originally starting his career at Georgia, Landers transferred to Toledo before making his move to Arkansas in 2022.

During his lone season in Fayetteville, the 6-foot-5 speedster caught 47 passes for 901 yards and eight touchdowns. The touchdown mark is tied for sixth best in a single season by a wide receiver. His season-high came against BYU, when he caught three touchdown passes on eight receptions.

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