Is Petrino playing mind games with Razorbacks to pull off winning season?

One Arkansas player says interim coach has already changed some things during bye week

Arkansas Razorbacks offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino on the sidelines against the Tennessee Volunteers at Razorback Stadium on Saturday night. | Michael Morrison-Hogs on SI Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The last thing Arkansas interim coach Bobby Petrino wants on the minds of his players is what will happen next for them.

While it's easy to take their ball and enter the transfer portal in trying times, Petrino had an old trick up his sleeve playing mind games to keep his team's attention.

There is no better story about Petrino's time at Arkansas the first go around than the mental mayhem he caused pitting former quarterbacks Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson against each other.

"If you showed up a couple of minutes late for a meeting or missed a meeting, part of my biggest development was I played a lot in practice with the No. 1 team as threats most of the time during the week," Wilson told 103.7 The Buzz in 2023. "So my development at quarterback was largely because Petrino, most of the time, would use a little bit of that salt and pepper to stir the pot a little bit."

Petrino's message to his players this go around is the need to get used to change and successfully adapt when it happens.

"Your whole life there’s going to be change,” Petrino said. “Our attitude and positivity in how we handle that will determine how quickly we improve.”

While some animosity might 've come through those fall camp battles, it ultimately proved how good the Arkansas coach was at getting the most out of his players.

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback Tyler Wilson (8) looks to pass the ball against the LSU Tigers during the second half at Tiger Stadium. LSU defeated Arkansas 41-17. | Crystal LoGiudice-Imagn Images

"Petrino loved to use me as that thorn in his side," Wilson said. "He was far more talented than me in terms of throwing the ball, especially early on in his time at Arkansas. I got a little better. He pushed me to get better. That's the thing I respect most about our time together."

While the 64-year-old veteran coach hasn't shown quite the same fire over the past 1.5 seasons in Fayetteville, he hasn't really been the head guy of a FBS program in 10 seasons.

Since his promotion following the firing of Sam Pittman, things have shifted a bit toward old times with some Razorbacks embracing the change.

“It was more of a ‘he talks, we listen’ dynamic,” Arkansas safety Caleb Wooden said on 103.7 The Buzz’s The Zone Wednesday afternoon. “The practice style is definitely different. It’s more of an NFL approach. We’re lifting more, too. Instead of twice a week it’s three times a week.”

While the current landscape of college football allows student-athletes the opportunity to come and go as they please, Petrino hasn't seen a single player opt to enter the transfer portal like Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech have.

It's possible that the current group of players respect Petrino's leadership and program values given his pattern of success. The Razorbacks' 105-man roster seem to have completely bought in with plenty to play for moving forward.

Arkansas Razorbacks defensive back Caleb Wooden taking a break during preseason practices on the outdoor fields in Fayetteville, Ark. | Andy Hodges-allHOGS Images

"A time to enter right now is really, does nobody any good," Petrino said Monday about the 30-day transfer portal window due to Pittman's firing. "It's not where they can transfer and go play and do that. I think all the players need to understand, like the coaches, they've got nine weeks to really brand themselves and show their quality of play on the field.

"Some guys will be going into the NFL and these nine weeks will determine how they do that, where they go in, how they're slotted. Some guys will transfer in the portal, and these nine weeks will see how they get paid going into the portal, and then some guys will stay here, and their futures will get better and better because of how they handled these nine weeks."

Arkansas players will have plenty of opportunities to showcase themselves before the end of the season with road games against Tennessee, LSU and Texas ahead of them.

Not only are the marquee road games available for taking, the Razorbacks have Texas A&M, Auburn, Mississippi State and Missouri to make some noise and play the role of spoiler for another team's College Football Playoff hopes.

"I’ve got a number of things to talk about, but No. 1 thing is you have to get used to change," Petrino said. "Your whole life, there’s going to be change. How we handle that, our attitude on how we handle that, our positiveness on how we handle that, will determine how quickly we improve. We’re going to improve. That’ll determine how quickly we improve."