Hogs' Sam Pittman Thinks Being Another Underdog Drives KJ

Facing LSU Jayden Daniels could give Razorbacks quarterback KJ Jefferson a chip

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Sep 21, 2023 11:15 AM EDT
Original:
Sep 20, 2023

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — It's been talked about and written to death, but Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson doesn't get an awful lot of respect around the country in relation to his talents. Even coach Sam Pittman knows it.

This week, it's LSU's Jayden Daniels who is getting all the publicity. For Jefferson, that's motivation.

"It would me," Pittman said in his Wednesday press conference. "It would any competitor. Anybody that's considered an underdog — and our entire team is — absolutely, you want to prove you're as good or better than somebody else."

The rest of the press conference was personnel updates. He was asked at one point about the lack of recruiting players lately out of Louisiana. This year's Razorback team has just two and both are transfers in Landon Jackson and Dwight McGlothern.

"We’re still sending some guys," Pittman said. "Some of our guys we had in there aren’t here anymore, so that might be part of the transition. We’re still in there deep with our recruiting staff. For whatever reason, we’ve been pulling a few more out of Alabama instead of Louisiana and I don’t know if it’s because we haven’t done as good a job recruiting there.

"Now, with (LSU) coach (Brian) Kelly or whoever it may be, other schools are going into Louisiana a little bit more, I don’t have the answer. I wish I did, but you’re right, I think prior to me getting here I think obviously Greg and those guys, and Foucha and some of their guys were on our team. I don’t know the answer to that except maybe we’ve had a couple of coaches that had that area and aren’t with us anymore and maybe that’s hurt us."

The Hogs' game with LSU kicks off 6 p.m. Saturday at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge La. You can watch the game on ESPN and fuboTV.