Nutt takes Hogs fans behind scenes in alternate Arkansas Razorbacks' universe

This is the second in a series of articles based on conversations with former Razorbacks football coach and player Houston Nutt.

Arkansas coaches have enjoyed great success when it comes to recruiting talented running backs, many of whom continued their careers in the NFL.

That list is long but today's question is this: Which Arkansas team suited up the best combination of running backs in a single season?

While there have been many outstanding tandems, the answer is a no-brainer. It's the trio of Razorback runners who were all drafted by the NFL following the 2007 season.

Any Arkansas fan worthy of their Hog hat knows that threesome was Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis.

But what if they hadn't stayed together? What if Jones and Hillis had an easy route to escape the long shadow cast by McFadden's greatness?

What if Jones, who gained over 1,100 yards as both a sophomore and a junior, wanted his shot at being the top back for another major school?

What if Hillis knew he'd be on the cover of Madden NFL 12 in 2011 and chose to leave Fayetteville to accelerate his progress and make his mark with another college team?

Houston Nutt, who coached the talented trio nearly two decades ago, figures he couldn't have kept the band together if today's college football rules were in place.

He's referring to NIL money and the transfer portals, two every year. That's a wicked combination which allows players to be paid and switch schools each year, but also tears teams apart and ruins the rhythm of building a program.

"The way the game is right now, it's a little disappointing the way things are going," Nutt said. "It's a tough job right now with NIL, the transfer portals. That's a tough gig, man."

Nutt coached the Hogs from 1998 through 2007, the final season at Arkansas for McFadden, Jones and Hillis. He would've liked those guys to get NIL money, but he wouldn't have been a fan of college free agency.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach Houston Nutt during the 1st quarter against the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, on Dec. 2, 2006. | Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

"When we went to Destin (Fla.) to the spring SEC meetings, I remember Steve Spurrier, (Phil) Fulmer, myself, Mark Richt and Jackie Sherrill, and we all wanted the players to have money," Nutt said.

But combining the cash with the easy opportunity to switch teams means Pandora's box is wide open and coaches are often at the mercy of their players' whims and salary demands.

"Think back to when I had Darren McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis and how long could I have kept those guys on the same team with what happens today?" Nutt asked.

Not long was my answer. Not long.

Of course, what goes around comes around. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman — with the help of newly hired offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino — was able to lure Taylen Green to Fayetteville.

Green is about to begin his second year as the Hogs' starting quarterback after transferring from Boise State and accepting big bucks to be a Razorback.

Taylen Green
OFF The HighLights w/TranceBates
College QB SpotLight #Arkansas #Razorbacks #SEC #CollegeFootball26 #NFL pic.twitter.com/GLFOe5IE9D
— TranceBates (@OTHwTranceBates) July 29, 2025

McFadden is shaking his head, wondering how much money he would've commanded after a sophomore season when he was first-team All-American, SEC Offensive Player of the Year, winner of the Doak Walker Award as the nation's best running back, and runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

For an encore, he repeated every one of those feats as a junior and was picked No. 4 overall by the Oakland Raiders in the 2008 draft.

He had lots of company at the ceremony as Jones and Hillis were also drafted. Jones went in the first round to the Dallas Cowboys and Hillis in the seventh round to the Denver Broncos.

By then, Nutt had resigned at Arkansas and was the Ole Miss coach. It was the second time he'd left the Razorbacks, having transferred to Oklahoma State following his sophomore season, his second as a reserve quarterback for the Hogs. He was also a back-up for two years at OSU.

Transferring can be a fresh start, Nutt admits, but not always.

"I've helped a lot of guys transfer," he said, "but when you transfer to multiple schools I just think we're going down the wrong path.

"That's the world we're in right now and I'm just having my popcorn and Coke on the sideline and just watching. I don't know how you can sustain all this."

Asked for his solution on fixing the transfer problem, he didn't hesitate.

"The first thing is I'd let 'em have a one-time transfer. I'd give 'em one," Nutt said. "Football is the best game in the world and one thing it teaches you is about perseverance. When you get knocked down, it's OK as long as you get back up.

"But when you have the ability to transfer each and every year — every time something doesn't go right — I think we're losing one of the greatest lessons we can learn in football."

Fixing the money matter is even more complicated. Revenue sharing, which begins this school year and affords $20.5 million for payments to athletes, will help, but schools with the largest NIL budgets still have the edge.

Nutt acknowledged that more players will get a slice of the money pie, but knows how tough it's been on coaches with limited NIL budgets. And he still sees a disparity that can often hurt team morale.

"When you look at it now, you've got NIL, which really isn't Name, Image and Likeness," Nutt said. "There's just several players, maybe one, two or three that are making really big money, and then you look at your left guard, middle linebacker or back-up safety and what do they have?

"I just think it's a tough locker room. I think it would be a very difficult locker room to keep everybody together. What's tough about NIL is the horse has already left the barn. But I'd put a ceiling on what each player can get."

The player who likely would've commanded the highest NIL deal coming out of high school back when Nutt was coaching the Hogs would've been Springdale High quarterback Mitch Mustain.

He was the 2005 Gatorade, USA Today and Parade Magazine National Player of the Year and the QB on virtually every prep All-American team.

Mustain was 35-1 as a three-year starter for Springdale High. As a senior, he led the Bulldogs to a 14-0 record, a state championship, and the No. 2 national ranking while throwing for 3,817 yards and 47 touchdowns with six interceptions.

He was 8-0 as a freshman starter for Nutt's Hogs, but was pulled in several games. He was 69-for-132 passing (52.3%) with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

With Nutt preferring to run McFadden and Jones, Mustain chose to transfer to Southern California.

"There were a lot of times I'd help a kid transfer because it wasn't working out and maybe he'd be a better fit at a lower division or 1AA," Nutt said. "Maybe there were too many at the same position or whatever, I'd try to help them out.

"Now if it was a freshman, I'd always try to talk them out of it. I'd say it's too early, you've only been here three months, go through spring [practices]. I'd always try to talk them out of it. Like Mitch Mustain, I didn't want him to leave. I told him, 'Hey, you need to stay. You even got to play as a true freshman. Hang in there.'"

When frustration and the opportunity to leave coincide, lots of players don't hesitate, especially now.

"It's always quick," Nutt said. "Everything always looks greener on the other side; the grass is always greener. I'd try to talk 'em out of it if there was potential, if I thought they had a future with us. Sometimes they listen to the wrong people and get bad advice."

These days, and another change from the past, makes it legal for players to have agents, representatives to negotiate on their behalf with their school, or another suitor behind the scenes.

"Now, if you fast forward and you're coaching in today's world, you work hard to try to get 'em to stay," Nutt said. "But now you're talking about money, a whole different ball game. You talk about change, big change and much more difficult in trying to keep your players.

"'Hey coach, you're paying me $250,000. I just got an offer for $300,000. Can you match it? I want to stay, but for that $300,000. I'm probably going to have to go.' Now you get in this negotiating war and it comes back to money."

Little loyalty. The name on the back of the uniform means more than the name on the front, and if players are good enough or work it well enough, they leave college as a millionaire even before the NFL draft.

"Then you look around the country, you don't even need a Senior Day anymore," Nutt said. "You haven't been there that long. It's really not your school — the school and that jersey with the name on the front — well, you played for three of 'em or four of 'em.

"Which Senior Day is it and what school do you really belong to? That's the thing that's sad to me."

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