Hogs' QB Competition Is Hot, Will Come Down To Mitigating 'Stupid Things'

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — To the surprise of nobody, doing "stupid things" with the football will cost either KJ Jackson or AJ Hill in the Arkansas QB battle, according to quarterback coach Mitch Stewart.

It's doing the little things right that will either Jackson or Hill the job come Sept. 5.

"Own the ball, own the situation, whatever the situation is that we put you in, whether it's a two-minute, four-minute, redzone, whatever," Stewart said Friday. "Own the situation, and you'll own the team."

Some QB work during today's Razorback football pratice: pic.twitter.com/I8rQs6YgSK
— Samuel Stubbs (@SamMageeStubbs) August 14, 2026

The quarterback battle has inevitably been the biggest storyline surrounding the offseason since the dust settled around the hiring of first-year head coach Ryan Silverfield.

It is still a heated battle, at least according to the Arkansas coaching staff, and with three weeks left until Arkansas' season opener against North Alabama, conversations regarding whether Hill or Jackson will be under center this season are constantly being had.

"It's hourly between me and Crams [offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey]," Stewart said. "Everything they do is getting analyzed. How they meet, how they answer questions, how they talk to the team, how they practice, how they go perform, the whole thing.

"It's a daily conversation, and these dudes like it that way, man. They have not backed down from anything. Any challenge we've thrown at them, they've been more than happy to address it and go full speed towards it."

Friday's practice saw a typical dose of quarterback work being done by Jackson and Hill, as well as freshman Hank Hendrix and transfer Braeden Fuller and Cade Trotter.

Notably, a poor ball from Jackson on a crossing pattern to Jamari Hawkins resulted in an incompletion, while Hill led a receiver out of bounds during a red zone team exercise.

Jackson did score a rushing touchdown during said exercise but did not have a passing touchdown during the drill.

Stewart laid out what Jackson and Hill must do in order to improve as the start of the season looms.

"KJ, we've talked to him about some of his misses," Stewart said. "Some easy completion type deals. At the end of the day, some open throws [he's] missed that we can't afford to miss."

"AJ, just making better decisions and making them quickly. Hell, you guys know in this league, you don't have a lot of time to sit back there and process things. You got to go through your reads, you got to go through your progressions very quickly."

Both Hill and Jackson have three weeks left to impress Stewart, Cramsey and Silverfield enough to earn the starting nod. The competition has been raging since the spring, and it doesn't appear that it will be ending, at least publicly, for at least another week or two.

Such is, as Stewart reminded the media on Friday, evening, the fun of football.

"We went out there and it's 100 degrees out there, but golly, it sure beats sitting on the couch sitting nothing," Stewart said. "It sure beats sitting in an office."

Neither Jackson or Hill will be sitting on the couch this season, but one of them will end up sitting on the bench come September. Which one of them that is is yet to be decided.

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