CJ Brown, Razorbacks Not Worried About Loud Environment At Kyle Field

FAYETTEVILLE — Crowd noise? What crowd noise?

Over 100,000 fans are likely to crowd into Kyle Field on Saturday evening to watch Texas A&M (2-2, 0-2 SEC) play Arkansas (2-2, 0-1 SEC), but junior wide receiver CJ Brown isn't worried about the noise the Hogs wil experience when they're on offense.

"I've been in the SEC a long time," Brown said. "I mean, it really shouldn't, I wouldn't say affect how we operate as an offense. Like, we've been dealing with this stuff. You know, every away game is loud.

"So just having proper communication, getting signals in, or with quarterbacks giving us proper communication, I think is going to be good for us."

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back La'khi Roland (4) defends a pass intended for Utah Utes wide receiver Larry Simmons (12) during the second half at Rice-Eccles Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The crowd in College Station on Saturday will be nearly twice of what Arkansas played against in Salt Lake City against Utah, when over 51,000 Utah faithful clearly had an impact on the Razorbacks in their unspirited 43-10 loss to the Utes.

Needless to say, Arkansas must perform better in a hostile environment on Saturday if it is to pull off its first SEC win since October 2024.

"Just making sure that we have elite communication," DB Shelton Lewis said. "That started on Sunday when we practiced, just making sure that we know the checks and calls. Whether it’s hand signals or just looking at each other, just knowing, that’s what we’ve got to do. And also, getting extra time in the film room to know our assignment. It’s not about the other team or the crowd."

During fall camp and in the lead-up to the Utah game, the Razorbacks utilized the speakers on top of the Walker Pavillion, which would blast an atrocity described as crowd noise. It could more aptly be likened to the Cyclops scream in "The Odyssey."

Georgia Bulldogs running back Nate Frazier (3) runs with the ball against the Georgia Bulldogs Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Shelton Lewis (2) during the first half at Razorback Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"If you listen close, there’s people heckling in there, too," offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey said of the noise on Sept. 8. "Not like your personal names, but you can hear people heckling. So there’s a miserable crowd noise that goes over the speaker that gets up to 100 decibels on our practice field.

"And then my man Coach Franklin straps a speaker almost the size of this table and he goes and stands right next to the quarterback, so while the quarterback and me are trying to talk on C2P, he’s got rap music playing on that."

Brown might not make a very big deal of it, but Arkansas' offense, which is yet to put together a completely well-rounded performance this season, will have to be able to cut through the noise on Saturday.

Sign up to our free newsletter, and follow us on Facebook, X (Twitter) for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google