Kitler, Breland Bring Wealth of Experience to Arkansas O-Line

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Caden Kitler and Malachi Breland are both "unc", as the kids say.

Kitler is a fifth-year senior, while Breland is entering his fourth season of college football. Both players will be expected to act as leaders on an offensive line and an offense as a whole that saw plenty of turnover this offseason.

Breland came with head coach Ryan Silverfield and offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey from Memphis, while Kitler is entering his second year at UA after coming to Fayetteville by way of UCF.

That unique blend of experience — Kitler's at Arkansas and in playing with right guard Kobe Branham and Breland's under a Cramsey offense and a Silverfield regime — could be invaluable for the Razorbacks this season.

"Me and Kobe have that connection from last year," Kitler said. "A lot of scheme stuff transferred over pretty well. Malachi, coming from Memphis, knows the offense really well. So, us three in the middle, we've been communicating really good. I'm sure Coach mentioned this morning, [Malachi] corrected me on a call in the walk-through.

"To this day, I still mess up sometimes, but it's good having a guy that's been in the offense to get me straight sometimes."

Breland spent all three seasons of his collegiate career so far at Memphis under Silverfield and Cramsey, making him a de facto tutor for the Arkansas offensive line as it prepares for the season.

"I've been in the system for so long, so it's kind of like second nature to me," Breland said. "Certain calls, stuff like that. I know this is what we gotta do. Certain adjustments, I already know it, so I just try to do as best I can relaying it to everybody else, whether it's the older guys, younger guys, anybody really."

Malachi Breland (6’5 332) Arkansas

✅ Thick frame throughout
✅ Finishing mentality
✅ Almost 1,400 career snaps played entering the 2026 season
✅ Good movement skills for his size
✅ 77.6 pass blocking grade in 2025 pic.twitter.com/EZmXpBI5Va
— Bengals & Brews (@BengalsBrews) June 25, 2026

The heat was a much-discussed topic on Thursday, as temperatures broke 100 degrees in Fayetteville. But fall camp hasn't only been physically demanding in the trenches due to the heat, as Arkansas' offensive and defensive lines have been giving each other a battle.

"We got some real physical guys on both sides of the ball," Kitler said. "It's been [a] very physical camp so far. Planning to get even more physical as the next couple days go on.

"The battle's been great. Carlon [Jones] has been a great guy to go against. He beat me in a rep today and I talked to him about it. I said, 'Hey, what did you see from me? What made you go to that move?' When I beat him it's vice versa."

Needless to say, Kitler and Breland won't be hospitable to their opponents' defensive line once the season begins on Sept. 5.

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