Hogs Take Committee Approach at Wide Receiver

No single receiver on roster can replace Treylon Burks

Author:
Andy Hodges
Publish date:
Jul 21, 2022 10:35 PM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas is hoping they can replace Treylon Burks' numbers by combining several players' stats.

That's called a committee and those usually don't work out well.

"We're going to have to do it by committee," Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman said Wednesday at a rather subdued SEC Media Days in Atlanta.

Treylon Burks-Titans OTA — Tennessee Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks makes a catch during drills during OTA workouts in Nashville.
Tennessee Titans wide receiver Treylon Burks makes a catch during drills during OTA workouts in Nashville. (George Walker IV / USA TODAY Sports)

The Hogs picked up some guys like Jadon Haselwood and Matt Landers through the transfer portal to go with Ketron Jackson, Warren Thompson and Bryce Stephens.

It's okay if you don't remember all those names. There are also Isaiah Sategna, Sam Mbake, and Quincey McAdoo.

"Still yet to be determined whether they can help us or not," Pittman said.

Right now, Sam likes everybody. Which means no one is really standing out. You don't have to have star-quality receivers, but you don't see many teams win these days without one or two.

"We look like a wide receiver group," Pittman said. "We run like a wide receiver group."

Sam Pittman-Spring 02 — Andy Hodges / allHOGS Images

Can they get open, though? That was the problem in the Outback Bowl against Penn State.

Quarterback KJ Jefferson is in everybody's list of best signal-callers in the SEC, but he'll only finish the season there if somebody can get open and catch the ball.

He and Burks were freshmen roommates. They had a working knowledge with each other and it came together for both of them last season.

Burks is now with the Tennessee Titans. Jefferson is still in Fayetteville hoping he can make it work as well with several others and it really doesn't matter what he says publicly.

He'll have questions until Sept. 3 when we all find out.

"KJ is going to have to get comfortable with where these guys are going to be," Pittman said. "He has to get comfortable with their speed, how they run their routes. That was certainly the number one thing offensively that was concerning."