Pittman Reverses Course on Razorbacks O-Line After One Game
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Last week, coach Sam Pittman thought he had found answers by shuffling his offensive line around. However, the group continues to find itself in a season-long rut. Pittman struck a very different tone in his weekly press conference on Monday.
Pittman made three changes for the game against Ole Miss, most notably moving sophomore Patrick Kutas from right tackle to center. After just one game, he will no longer be snapping the ball for the Hogs on Saturday against Alabama.
"I think he tried his ever-loving heart out," Pittman said. "He played the best he could. But we probably need to move him back out to tackle. He’s young. Probably there’s a lot of things going on in there. We felt like that was the way to go and (it’s) probably not the way to go."
Indeed Arkansas' performance against Ole Miss gave little reason to believe that Pittman had pushed the right buttons. If anything, it probably made things worse. After going the entire A&M game without a penalty, the pre-snap woes returned against Ole Miss. All five Arkansas offensive penalties were pre-snap penalties, four on the offensive line.
"We've got to get better," Pittman said. "Our penalties, continue to work on that. We've just got to keep the noise going all the time, I believe. That might help."
All five players along the offensive line were back to their original positions before the Ole Miss game at practice on Monday (left to right along the line, Andrew Chamblee/Devon Manuel, Brady Latham, Beaux Limmer, Josh Braun, Kutas). The refs flagged senior captain Latham for two more false starts against Ole Miss, and Pittman seemed at a loss for words.
"He’s jumping," Pittman said. "I don’t know how else to say it. He’s flinching whenever they say move. Not all the time, but he’s had several. … I don’t really know how to answer that one."
No matter who plays where along the offensive line, they'll have their hands full again 11 a.m. Saturday Oct. 14 against Alabama inside Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The game will be televised on ESPN and fuboTV.
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