Every Position Battle That Will Define Arkansas Razorbacks' 2026 Season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — There are position battles in football that are somewhat arbitrary and ambiguous where a team has enough depth to slot in anyone at a given position.

But there are also those that can define a team's season. Here are three position battles that will define Arkansas' 2026 football season under first-year head coach Ryan Silverfield.

WR1: Chris Marshall vs CJ Brown vs Jamari Hawkins

Marshall is a former five-star prospect. Brown is a junior who spent the last two years at Arkansas. Hawkins, like Hill, followed Silverfield and Cramsey from Memphis to Arkansas.

Receiver by committee is not a bad thing, and Arkansas certainly wouldn't mind if all three wideouts played at an All-SEC level this season. But it's important for a quarterback to have a consistent top target they know they can go to, especially on third down and in the red zone.

There's not necessarily a wrong answer or an assumed one for this role, but it's important that Arkansas has a WR1 by the time September rolls around.

CB1: Jahiem Johnson vs La'khi Roland

Again, there's nothing wrong with a secondary being run by committee. But it's been a while since Arkansas had a true No. 1 lockdown cornerback (no offense to Julian Neal) who opponents knew would be a consistent threat to their top receiver.

Like receiver, there doesn't seem to be an inherently wrong answer as to who should win this battle. Johnson picked off four passes at Tulane last season, while Roland intercepted three at Maryland.

Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts will need to have a defensive back that he knows can match up with some of the best receivers in the SEC on a weekly basis. Playing a whole secondary by committee may work, but trying two or three DBs against a team's No. 1 receiver usually means things have already gone very poorly.

RB2: Cam Settles vs. Jasper Parker

There's no disputing who will be taking the lionshare of carries at starting running back between Braylen Russell and Sutton Smmith.

Settles was a pleasant surprise this spring and has added weight to his frame in order to run moe betwwen the tackles. The Little Rock native saw plenty of action during fall camp and only fueled his hunger to see the field more during spring practice.

He had nine touches for 72 yards and a touchdown during the Red-White Spring Game in April, and could be someone to watch out for.

For Parker, he had six touches for 27 yards in the scrimmage after joining the team as a former 4-star transfer from Michigan. He is very capable of running between the tackles, and showed he wasn't afraid to line up against loaded boxes in high school in a traditional triple option style offense.

Parker offers playmaking ability out of the backfield as a pass catcher, which will certainly help his case for playing time in Cramsey's scheme. Anywhere between 3-to-4 running backs receive 30 carries in a single season so it'll be interesting to see how those are split in a what is expected to be a deep room this fall.

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson (7) gets ready for the snap during spring practice at the Arkansas Razorbacks practice facilities. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Quarterback: KJ Jackson vs AJ Hill

This has been the most talked about battle on the depth chart this summer, and for good reason: it's a fight for the most important starting role on the team.

Hill brings continuity in the system from his time at Memphis with Silverfield and offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey. Jackson is entering his third season at Arkansas and played meaningful snaps in Arkansas' last two games of 2025, both of which were against above-average SEC teams. That experience shouldn't be discounted.

At SEC Media Days, Silverfield maintained that the QB competition is still ongoing. That shows that while it's assumed that Jackson — who has long been the favorite to land the job — will take the first offensive snap of the season on Sept. 5, Silverfield is intent on getting this decision right.

Arkansas fans have seen how getting the quarterback answer wrong can quickly lead to a season devolving into chaos (see 2019, specifically). There are 10 other players on an offense, but without the right quarterback, no team is winning anything of value.

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