It's Imperative That Silverfield Has No Reservations About QB1 After Week 1

Even if Head Hog disagrees, less is more when it comes to QB room

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson (7) throws the ball during spring practice at the Arkansas Razorbacks practice facilities. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Quarterback roulette may be even less fun than its Russian counterpart.

Arkansas fans have lived through it before, most notably in 2019, when the Razorbacks started five different quarterbacks over 12 games. Both Nick Starkel and starter Ben Hicks played in Week 1, though it was Starkel who came on Arkansas' first series of the second half against Ole Miss the next week.

Not to jog fans' memories of a 2-10 campaign led by Chad Morris, but that quarterback experiment famously went up in smoke.

Silverfield disagrees with the old adage that if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. He looks at it from the standpoint of talent: both KJ Jackson and AJ Hill have potential to win the starting job, and Hank Hendrix, Cade Trotter and Braeden Fuller have all been doing good things in practice.

But there will be a starter named for Arkansas' Week 1 contest against North Alabama at some point prior to Sept. 5, and they need to be the same player who starts the next week against Utah in Salt Lake City.

Silverfield was asked Monday if the Razorbacks' game against North Alabama could be seen as a final audition by Jackson and Hill for the permanent starting job.

"Ideally you want to have that for sure starter named," Silverfield said. "In a perfect world, we name a starter, that guy lasts all the way through however long we get to play football this year. In a perfect world, you get to keep all your quarterbacks and keep working to improve. We know college football's a little bit different.

"Now, we know things can happen. Obviously, if a guy ever is coming out of a game and it's not due to injury, you hope it's not due to poor performance. Maybe it's because a guy's done so well he deserves a chance to also showcase what he's capable of."

The above situation is certainly what Arkansas fans are hoping for in the future and the present. The battle between Jackson and Hill, if it truly is a battle and not a smokescreen, has been raging for months now.

That's either a sign that the two QBs are neck-and-neck or a red flag that neither player has been able to separate themselves.

The latter was the case in 2019, when Hicks, Starkel, John Stephen Jones, KJ Jefferson and Jack Lindsey all got the starting nod at some point.

With Jackson perceived by many as the Week 1 starter, Hog fans should hope that remains so throughout the season and only exits the game in garbage time.

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