KJ Jackson's Biggest Weakness Reared Its Ugly Head on Saturday

Neither Jackson nor his counterpart AJ Hill were impressive during Saturday's practice

Arkansas Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jackson (7) rolls out to pass during the spring game at Razorback Stadium as coach Ryan Silverfield observes. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas QB coach Mitch Stewart said Friday that neither KJ Jackson or AJ Hill were losing the battle for the starting job.

That's an important distinction because, as Smith noted, you want a quarterback to win the job by winning it, not simply winning because he tried not to lose it or because the other quarterback lost it.

During Saturday's practice however, neither Jackson or Hill looked particularly crisp.

What was particularly alarming was that Jackson, the longtime favorite to earn the starting nod, made several errant throws that highlighted what Stewart called his biggest weakness: consistency, especially on easy plays that Arkansas has to have.

With that said, Hill was far from perfect. During the period of practice that media was allowed to observe — though the QB work observed came during a non-shooting period — Hill overthrew a deep sideline throw to track star turned wide receiver Jelani Watkins, as well as throwing incompletions to Jamari Hawkins and Ismael Cisse.

Jackson did throw a touchdown pass to Monte Harrison, though it was a score largely because of an impressive grab from the 31-year-old junior on a ball that was slightly overthrown. Jackson also overthrew Chris Marshall on a go route to the end zone.

Perhaps the most egregious miss by either QB was an overthrow from Jackson on a short curl route to Antonio Jordan, who stands at 6-6 and has a ridiculous catch radius. Jackson sailed the pass over Jordan's head by at least several inches.

That's not to say that both quarterbacks were horrible during Friday's practice. Both Hill and Jackson completed a few passes, and there's no concrete way of knowing how they performed during the rest of practice with no observation ongoing by the media.

It is slightly worrying, however, that both Hill and Jackson are struggling with inconsistency only three weeks away from the start of Arkansas' 2026 campaign. With a starter yet to be named, both QBs are under intense scrutiny, and as Stewart said Friday, everything they do is being watched.

Rest assured, that includes the aforementioned errant throws each made on Saturday afternoon with no pressure in their faces in a relatively relaxed environment.

There's no reason to panic about Hill or Jackson's ability or readiness, but Saturday's practice showing certainly wasn't a great one for either QB.

If the Razorbacks want to see a QB win the job, they'll have to wait at least one more day, because neither Jackson nor Hill appeared to win it on Saturday.

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