Defense Provides Pittman Chance to Stay Despite Losses if Willing to Make Tough Calls

Home runs with wholesale change on defensive staff major factor in whether Arkansas Razorbacks likely to make change with Hogs' head coach

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Oct 20, 2023 3:19 PM EDT

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – There were a lot of people who were skeptic this past offseason when Arkansas coach Sam Pittman had to replace essentially the entire defensive staff. After all, it's a big ask for a coach to hit home runs on so many hires on one side of the ball with so much turmoil going on around him like the Razorbacks faced last December.

However, nearly a full year later, those hires may be what save Pittman's job if things don't turn around in the back half of the season. Despite not having access to the level of NIL funds most of the programs against which Arkansas recruits throughout the Southeast and Texas possess, the new roster of coaches have worked miracles in landing elite talent while maximizing high caliber athletes who were brought in with the freshman class and transfer portal, not to mention in returning players such as Landon Jackson.

No one was complimenting the Razorback defense last year. Instead, they were licking their chops awaiting the opportunity to bite into what turned out to be the worst pass defense in all of college football. Now, when talking about Arkansas, the quality of the defense is the first thing opposing coaches want to talk about.

"I think they're playing really good on defense," Mississippi State coach Zach Arnett said after being asked what he thinks makes the Razorbacks tough to play. "They have a lot of impact players right now they got out of the transfer portal. They've rebuilt that side of the ball. They are long and big and physical up front. Their last five games, all but one of them is a one possession, one score game and if the ball bounces the other way or one or two plays go the other way the result can be drastically different."

Someone called earlier today asking who NFL scouts might look at for Arkansas. A few months ago, that answer would have been Cam Little, Raheim "Rocket" Sanders and maybe KJ Jefferson and Beaux Limmer.

Today that answer is much different. At the top of the list was Landon Jackson followed by Dwight McGlothern, Cam Little and a long list of guys on the defensive side of the ball who warrant keeping an eye on as the season progresses.

The defense has run the gauntlet of the most difficult part of the season learning on the fly while being handicapped by an offense that can't stay on the field, yet its still only gives up 201 yards passing per game and 12 touchdown while producing 21 points of its own and nearly 220 yards worth of tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

To put things into further perspective, Alabama only completed 10 passes last week. The Arkansas defense gave up over 31 points per game and nearly 300 yards passing last season, and that's with the weaker part of the schedule figured in and without playing Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU on the road.

And it's not just the pass defense that's better. The Razorbacks allowed 171 yards per game on the ground last year. This season, that's down to 133. That means Arkansas was 50% worse in points given up and passing yards allowed and 29% worse in rushing defense.

That's an obscene level of improvement. It's not something athletics director Hunter Yurachek is going to waste. Too much has been gained on that side of the ball. He's more likely to ask Pittman to throw out his little black book of friends and conduct an assistant coaching search for young, highly motivated offensive minds he may not know personally who can relate to today's athletes and bring modern ideas to the offensive side of the ball like he did for defense.

Much like Deke Adams was an impressive coach who needed to be held over, there's a good chance Arkansas tight ends coach Morgan Turner and and perhaps running backs coach Jimmy Smith can be brought back for continuity, but it seems unlikely Pittman gets to stick around without major changes on offense otherwise.

From a top-down look, offense is the only thing keeping Arkansas from being a nationally ranked team in the conversation for the SEC championship game. Between the defense and the special teams, the Razorbacks are good enough to compete. That's saying a lot considering their NIL disadvantage.

Had Travis Williams and Marcus Woodson not engineered such a drastic turnaround of the defense, Pittman would certainly be staring down the end of the line. However, with two of the three phases performing at a high level and elite recruits anxious to play for this defensive staff, there's potential opportunity for Pittman to still be around next year if he's willing to make a few tough calls.