Most Important Things Tim Cramsey, Ron Roberts Said Ahead of North Alabama

FAYETTEVILLE — Offensive coordinator Tim Cramsey and defensive coordinator Ron Roberts had their first game week news conferences at Arkansas on Tuesday ahead of the Razorbacks' Week 1 tilt with North Alabama. Here are the most important thoughts from both coordinators ahead of the first game of the Ryan Silverfield era.

"This is Year 35, and I still get nervous before every game."

Ron Roberts has spent 35 of his 58 years coaching football in some capacity. He's been a Division I head coach at Southeastern Louisiana and the defensive coordinator at Louisiana, Baylor, Auburn and Florida.

Arkansas is his third SEC school and the 10th college program that he's coached at in some capacity. But make no bones about, the Visalia, Calif., native will still have some butterflies on Saturday, and he doesn't mind.

"This is year 35, and I still get nervous before every game," Roberts said. "I think when it stops, probably time for me to hang it up. I still get the jitters and the bugs and all that stuff on gameday, and that's kind of the part you enjoy. I think once the shooting starts and the kickoff goes, it's been there, done that before. It's time to calm down. I view it more so as a chess game at that point."

KJ Jackson's experience helped him land starting job, will be beneficial

Situational football has been touted by Silverfield and Cramsey as the reason why Jackson beat out AJ Hill for the starting job. It doesn't hurt that Jackson saw significant action in the final two games of 2025, including getting the starting nod against Missouri.

"We said that the battle came down to situational football, and and I think that his experience showed up in those situations," Cramsey said of Jackson. "I'm not painting a picture that AJ did a horrible job in those situations, and I'm not painting a picture that KJ was perfect in those situations. You ain't gonna be perfect at this game. Chicago O'Hare airport type of stuff. But to me, KJ's experience helps.

"Every snap you get in college football, as good of coaches as we think we are, we can't coach experience. And until you're under center [on] Saturdays in the fall in front of a packed house, you don't know what that's like."

Hogs partially know what they're getting with UNA defense

North Alabama's defense features six transfers from the 2025 Memphis team that Silverfield and Cramsey coached. That familiarity will be helpful to the Razorbacks this week.

"We know those those guys are," Cramsey said. "We know what they can do. They're big, physical players."

The North Alabama defense held Samford to only 10 points and -8 rushing yards in UNA's 22-10 Week 0 victory over the Bulldogs.

"They did a tremendous job against the run last week," Cramsey said. "They put Samford behind the sticks, so that's stuff that we can't allow to have happen. The scheme itself, it was good to get in a game in for them for us to see... We have a little bit of [an] idea of what their structure is."

UNA QB Destin Wade presents a downfield threat to Razorback defense

Destin Wade threw a 95-yard touchdown pass to former Memphis WR Xavier Johnson in the Lions' season-opening win over Samford, and the former Kentucky and Colorado QB has a unique skillset.

"He's athletic," Roberts said. "He's big. He's long. He can run [in] a straight line. He's not side to side. He can't make people miss all over the field. He can make all the throws, has a strong arm. Last week, he threw a field side out. There's not a lot of guys who can make that throw. He throws a great deep ball, and that’s why they take the shots with him. That’s kind of built around their whole mentality. They’re going to run the football, they’re going to give you all the formation issues they can to run the football, and then try to hopefully limit your coverages so they can take their shots deep for a big play. That’s kind of their MO."

Hogs want to play 22 on defense in first half

Roberts wasn't shy about discussing Arkansas' plans for depth on Saturday.

"wWe plan on playing 22, probably all in the first half and see how they do, and how much more they get and how soon," Roberts said. "But we’re going to go in and fire. We’ve got 22 guys, we should be two-deep across the board, and we want to try and develop those guys and keep them going and play fresh in this ballgame, and be a huge measuring stick for us coming out, where we’re at."

Arkansas Razorbacks DB Kyeaure Magloire during fall practice | Kyeaure Magloire, Instagram

Saturday could also be an opportunity for several players furhter down the depth chart, especially in the secondary, to see the field.

"I’d say we’re probably going to get to three and possibly four [safeties] and that should be it," Roberts said. "You’ll see 1-2-3, you’ll see Key Magloire in quite a bit. It’ll be the two, Miguel [Mitchell' and [Christian] Harrison, and then Ky Magloire, you’ll see those guys quite a bit. Three-man rotation and then you’ll see Tay Lockett probably come and get some snaps."

Cramsey feels good about Arkansas OL

Arkansas' offensive line is a mixed bag of experience and inexperience. But Cramsey feels good about where the group is ahead of Week 1, even against a UNA front that got plenty of pressure on Samford on Saturday.

"I feel good about them. It’s my job, especially early in the season to make sure we’re protected," Cramsey said. "So all those bad situations I talk about in spring and fall camp, then my job takes over on Saturdays in the fall. We’ve got to put them in the best possible situation. I feel good about them, but at the same time the play calling has got to help out in those situations, how often do we move the pocket? How often do we screen? How often do we put a tight end in front of the best defensive end they’ve got? How often do we chip with the running back? Stuff like that, that’s got to help out in those situations early.

"At the same time, KJ’s got to help the protection by getting the ball out of his hand at a quick tempo, which is something he’s very darn good at. And the receivers got to help in that situation, getting their tails open in a timely manner. So I feel very confident with the tackles we have and we have answers to slow people down, because this week on there’s going to be really good defensive ends coming at us."

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