What we know and don’t know about Arkansas football’s future offense under Bobby Petrino

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It’s getting more normal but still surreal to say that one week ago, Bobby Petrino was hired as the Arkansas football offensive coordinator.

Petrino’s first seven days on the job have included key recruiting trips, adoration from the Razorbacks faithful and an emotional press conference that had the former head coach holding back tears. After a 12-year separation, the honeymoon phase is in full force.

But nine months from now, Arkansas will need to prove that reigniting the Petrino flame helps produce more victories on the football field. As the surprise of the the hire wears off, here’s what we know, and what we don’t know about the Petrino offense going into next season.

We know Arkansas will pass more in 2024

Immediately after the Arkansas season, Pittman said one of his biggest priorities in the search for a new offensive coordinator was finding someone who knew how to run the football. Petrino has had success on the ground, but his offenses pick up chunk plays and hurt defenses most through the air.

From 2021-22, Arkansas ran for 6,038 yards and threw for 5,832 under Kendall Briles. Those were the best two offenses under Pittman’s watch, featuring good balance with a lean toward the run game.

But Petrino has never coached a college offense that produced more rushing than passing yards in a single season. At Texas A&M this year, the Aggies gained 3,148 passing yards and 1,697 rushing.

Pittman wants to be physical — and the play-action pass is a staple of Petrino’s offense — so the run game will still be critical to Arkansas. It just won’t be the measuring stick of success as it was under Briles, and the measurement of failure it was under Enos.

We know Arkansas will be more versatile

Speaking of Enos, his time at Arkansas didn’t last a full season. A big reason why the hire didn’t work was his unwillingness to adapt. Despite a struggling offensive line and a quarterback who didn’t quite mesh with the offense, Enos still wanted to assert his style on the Razorbacks. Things that were practiced at the request of Pittman weren’t implemented on Saturdays, and that’s a poor way to manage any offense.

More: Arkansas football transfer portal tracker 2023: Who is joining, leaving the Razorbacks

More: Arkansas football hiring Bobby Petrino as offensive coordinator

During his introductory press conference, Petrino promised the opposite approach.

“I don’t think it’s about plays. I don’t think it’s about what you do. I think it’s about how you use the players that you have,” Petrino said. “How you get the ball to a Jarius Wright. Joe Adams. How you get the ball to Dennis Johnson and how you work the different situations of the game. So what I love to do is utilize players, and then be good at the situations of the game.”

That mindset could be especially valuable in the new landscape of college football where rosters can be overhauled each offseason. Petrino has proven he doesn’t need to adhere to a strict philosophy to construct an explosive offense.

We don’t know who the quarterback is

There was a report from 247sports.com last week that KJ Jefferson planned on entering the transfer portal, but Jefferson quickly took to social media and said he had not made a decision. As of Dec. 6, Jefferson still had not made any announcement on his future.

If he comes back, Jefferson slides in as the starting quarterback. Petrino will be his fourth offensive coordinator in three years, but there’s potential to use Jefferson in similar ways to Lamar Jackson at Louisville. That could be very appealing for a player with NFL aspirations.

But if he decides to leave, either for the NFL Draft or into the transfer portal, there should be an open quarterback competition next fall. Jacolby Criswell has impressed in flashes, but he’s also never won a starting quarterback job. Arkansas needs to go into the portal and find a competitor, while also giving Malachi Singleton in opportunity.

Petrino has molded quarterbacks with completely different skill sets in Ryan Mallett, Tyler Wilson and Jackson. Whoever wins the job could dictate what type of offense Arkansas uses in 2024.