Hogs feeling effects of college football becoming NFL model

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams corrected himself mid-sentence. Roster construction in the 2025 is a never-ending jigsaw puzzle.

"It’s kinda — not even kinda — it is the NFL model," Williams said.

Coach Sam Pittman was open last week about the secondary needed help in terms of numbers.

"Our numbers in the secondary aren’t very good," Pittman said. "They’re not horrendous or anything like that, but we need to add three or four back there, minimum. Depends on how far the money stretches."

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Jaheim Singletary during drills at spring practice inside Razorback Stadium. | Nilsen Roman-Hogs on SI Images

Ah, the pesky money. As the entire NCAA world waits with bated breath for the House v. NCAA settlement to cross the finish line in a California courtroom, Williams specifically understands the challenges of putting together a defensive group. Often times the defense is forced to react to massive amounts of money spent on the offensive side of the ball.

Similar to how top-tier NFL quarterback will now set you back over $50 million a year, the money in college athletics is more free flowing than ever before.

Duke quarterback Darian Mensah made headlines in December with one of the largest NIL deals in the new era of college athletics. The package unofficially valued at $8 million, according to CBS Sports.

"If you don’t have a quarterback, you don’t have a chance," Williams said. "If you’re going to protect the quarterback, you’ve gotta get somebody the can get to the quarterback. So whatever all these teams are spending money, if it’s a left or right tackle, you better have a defensive end."

The portal has also changed the way coaches go about handling their rosters throughout spring. Any player is at risk of leaving the team in the spring portal window, something that was unfathomable even a few years ago. When asked who was potentially an under-the-radar standout, Williams was candid about why he remained intentionally vague.

"I would answer your question about five years ago and tell you," Williams said. "With the portal, I don't know if I should even answer that. Flying under the radar, it may sneak up. Everybody on defense."

Health issues have forced Arkansas to push the scrimmage back from Thursday back to Saturday.

Despite all of this, the core of coaching the team remains the same. Williams has seen his unit improve in the 10 practices so far in the spring, seeing improvement across all three levels of the defense.

"If you’re a football coach, coach football," Williams said. "Don’t complain. It is what it is. At the end of the day, nobody cares anyway. So defensively, like I talked to the staff, let’s go out there and coach and get better.

"They actually have gotten better. Now we have to go get some more pieces and different things like that but I’m very pleased with just the growth of the defense overall."

Arkansas will replace the originally scheduled scrimmage with a light practice Thursday with the scrimmage now slated for approximately 10:25 a.m. Saturday. The annual Red-White game creeps ever closer, scheduled for April 19 and is open to the public.

Hogs feeling effects of college football becoming NFL model

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