All Hogs

Is Jackson giving new staff choice as to whether he is next leader of Arkansas Razorbacks?

Pittman labeled him quarterback of Hogs' future, but what evidence is there he's up to task for Silverfield?
Kent Smith|
Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson (7) runs from the pocket while defended by Texas Longhorns defensive back Jelani McDonald (4) during the second half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson (7) runs from the pocket while defended by Texas Longhorns defensive back Jelani McDonald (4) during the second half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

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Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield has been left to hope former head coach Sam Pittman was right last summer. Redshirt sophomore quarterback KJ Jackson had better be the future of the program.

"I believe in [Jackson] wholeheartedly," Pittman said. last summer "I believe he's the quarterback for us in the future. We're not going out and looking for somebody else when Taylen Green leaves. We got him. He's on campus and we believe in him."

Based on how Jackson closed the season after forcing Taylen Green temporarily to the bench on Senior Day, it seems that is probably the case, but there are still names popping up that have Razorbacks fans interested when it comes to creating a quarterback battle for 2026.

There are a handful of options out there, but odds seem high none of the quarterbacks who would possibly consider Arkansas will come. That's because all the evidence shows the program is moving forward with Jackson whether that's what Silverfield truly wants or not.

Malachi Singleton, Purdue

Former Arkansas back-up Malachi Singleton will reportedly be on the market after spending a year getting experience in the Big Ten under former Hogs defensive coordinator Barry Odom at Purdue. Despite Odom's choice for offensive coordinator bringing along his own quarterback, Singleton still managed to log time in 11 games, including appearances against No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 21 Michigan, No. 22 Illinois, and No. 24 Notre Dame.

He finished the year 38-of-64 passing for 439 yards and five touchdowns. He also had 49 carries for 201 yards, reflecting his highlight moment as a Razorback when he ran in the winning touchdown against No. 4 Tennessee in the biggest win of the Pittman era.

While he was ahead of Jackson on the Arkansas depth chart last time he was in Fayetteville, a season of focused development under Bobby Petrino where the only thing that appeared to hold Jackson back was the size of QB1 Taylen Green's NIL check makes it far less likely Singleton will return no matter how welcomed he would be by the fan base.

If there were still a second portal window where Singleton could bail to find a place he can start so he can gain more experience if he couldn't beat out Jackson, then it might be a possibility, but not under the current conditions.

AJ Hill, Memphis

Another popular option is Memphis freshman AJ Hill. He is a familiar name because he is the highest ranked recruit in Tigers' history as the No. 15 quarterback and a Top 200 recruit overall in the 2025 class as a high 4-star.

For the record, he is not the quarterback who come into a chaotic moment at the end of the Arkansas game and carried nearly 400-pound defensive lineman Ian Geffard 11 yards for a first down and straight into the transfer portal just as the Hogs were about to get the ball back and kick a winning field goal.

That was Arrington Maiden. Hill appeared in games against UAB and NC State where he completed 19-of-32 passs for 223 yards and a touchdown.

There's little reason to expect with all his high school accolades that Hill is looking to sit out another year barring an injury to Jackson to bide his time with Silverfield until his turn comes up. That's just not how life works with the portal anymore, so it wouldn't be wise for Arkansas fans to expect the Hogs to land him despite the ties to the current staff that led him to choose Memphis over Florida.

KJ Jackson, Arkansas

From what little bit was on display by Jackson against the Missouri Tigers to close this past season, perhaps he should have been the present of the program instead of the publicly declared future. He was poised and calm in the pocket, went through his reads, had a quick release, and, most importantly, didn't make passes that left everyone scratching their heads.

Also, unlike Green, who had his own set of skills that could be magical at times, Jackson showed no evidence in his limited time that he gets locked onto a specific receiver. Even though Petrino gave Jackson very uneven opportunities, pulling him after getting warm and focused to slide in Green on Senior Day for a few drives, then dropping Jackson back in randomly after going cold, the season long back-up completed 11-of-17 passes for 126 yards and a touchdown.

When he was in the game, the Hogs felt like they had a chance. A big part of that was Jackson apparently learned a lesson Green never figured out in his two years at the helm.

He could feel the pocket around him and knew how to manipulate it in a positive way. That's why he only took a single sack

However, Green is known as this great runner, and he certainly deserves his flowers. There are times he rips off huge runs that results in points every now and then.

However, while so many Razorbacks fans remember the highlights, the stat sheet shows the full reality. Every now and then, Green gets around the edge when he does his patented run deep in the opposite direction, then turns upfield along the sideline and breaks free.

However, more often than not, against SEC speed, he just takes a big sack or the Hogs get called for holding. That's why, against Missouri, even though in fans' minds Green was the better runner, it was Jackson who dominated the rushing stat sheet and it wasn't close.

Once the game, and the season along with it, wrapped against the Mighty Drinkwitzes, Jackson had four carries for 14 yards. It's not overly impressive, but with only a single sack for three yards in losses, it shows he was able to be a steady presence who could generate 2nd & 7 instead of running the Hogs out of a possession.

Meanwhile, Green ran eight times for a net of four yards. Sure, he had a solid run of 11 yards that got people excited, but his antics cost the Razorbacks 23 yards in lost yardage and that doesn't even include the penalties generated by his particular style of scrambling.

After it being clear all season that a major part of the reason why the defense wasn't successful, especially during the Travis Williams portion of the season, was Petrino's either unwillingness or the offense's inability to play complementary football with Green under center. The Hogs were short-staffed along the defensive line, something that was obvious to the most blind person way back during the spring, which meant the offense needed to sustain drives as long as possible.

Instead, Arkansas produced three to five play drives that either resulted in quick strike touchdowns, quick three and outs, or back-breaking turnovers, often executed in less than a minute. When Jackson took over, that spastic style of play drifted away, setting not only the offense up for success as the front line wore the Missouri defense down, but it allowed a rested defense a chance to show what it could have been doing all along.

Jackson burned roughly five minutes off the clock before hitting Omega Blake on a 16-yard touchdown pass to tie the game 7-7 in the first half. It was a 72-yard work of art painted in a steady 16 plays.

However, it wasn't a score that held for long. That's because a rested defense held Mizzou to a series of short yardage plays before linebacker Bradley Shaw scooped up a fumble and ran it back 32 yards to put the Razorbacks ahead 14-7 at the turn of the second quarter.

Despite missing well over a quarter watching Green play the rest of the half, Jackson came on in the third quarter and after using a drive to warm up, took the Hogs down the field to the Missouri 24. He took his only sack of the game, a three-yard loss, early in the drive, but immediately responded with a 22-yard pass to Raylen Sharpe on 2nd & 13.

Unfortunately for the Razorbacks, the field goal was no good, but the drive did take up nearly five more minutes, allowing the defense to rest even more. The defense responded by holding Missouri to a net of three yards on seven plays, proving Jackson can play the complementary style of offense that was needed to help the defense be successful.

Then, after a rested defense handed the offense the ball back, Green took over once again and went two yards in 55 seconds, throwing the defense right back out there. This time the Razorbacks gave up points on a field goal after a long Missouri drive of 61 yards on 12 plays that ate nearly seven minutes off the clock.

The point became quite clear. Jackson can produce as much if not more than Green when it comes to points and was definitely the medicine any doctor would have prescribed the Razorbacks' defense. His ability to slow down the game and keep a reasonably talented, yet incredibly shallow depth of players highlighted by Cam Ball and Quincy Rhodes was exactly what was needed, along with his steady hand and head that avoided turnovers, to squeeze out several wins this season.

The sample size is limited, but one has to wonder if NIL wasn't the major factor in Jackson not getting significantly more time. Perhaps that's why Pittman was oddly selling his back-up quarterback so hard before the season even started, declaring him the next quarterback after Green.

He appears to have been telling fans what he couldn't say. A coach doesn't go against a major booster when it comes to on-field decisions in a lot of cases, but there was a lot there to think Pittman may have been washing himself of the call, although it should be noted he openly supported Green as best he could also.

The overall point is anyone who comes in is probably looking at driving in the passenger seat for a season, which is why Hogs fans shouldn't expect anything splashy from the portal at the quarterback position. If Trevor Jackson or Grayson Wilson decide to stick around, that role will fall to him before his own battle hits next spring.

The good of this means instead of investing a ton of money into another high end quarterback come portal season, the Razorbacks will have plenty of cash to spread around at the other 21 positions that need love and care, plus a few four-stars of their own looking for a place to start over and shine.

So, whether fans like it or not, and the evidence shows chances are they like it, it's the KJ Jackson era. The question now is whether Silverfield can get the production from him Petrino was able to produce.

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Kent Smith
KENT SMITH

Kent Smith has been in the world of media and film for nearly 30 years. From Nolan Richardson's final seasons, former Razorback quarterback Clint Stoerner trying to throw to anyone and anything in the blazing heat of Cowboys training camp in Wichita Falls, the first high school and college games after 9/11, to Troy Aikman's retirement and Alex Rodriguez's signing of his quarter billion dollar contract, Smith has been there to report on some of the region's biggest moments. 

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