When Coaches Don’t Worry They Even Worry About That

Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman previews South Carolina and that weird mindset

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Sep 5, 2022 5:39 PM EDT
Original:
Sep 5, 2022

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Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Sam Pittman worries during the season.

Even when he's not worrying, well, he worries about that trying to figure out something to worry about.

Yeah, that's Pittmanese to the max, but he even summed that up.

"It's weird," he said, laughing, at his Monday press conference.

Sam Pittman-Cincinnati — Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman makes a point with an official during Saturday's 31-24 win over Cincinnati at Razorback Stadium in the season opener. (Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

That's coaches. Which is why the injury situation is something he looks at much more matter-of-factly, probably because there's not a lot he can do about that.

"I’m not real concerned about it," he said. "The game of football, you may lose someone for a week. You may lose someone for a season. It is what it is."

After all that worrying we talked about earlier, the bottom line is coaches do worry a lot ... about things they can control. They deal with what's in front of them, not a lot of hypotheticals.

"You hate it, but it’s a physical sport, and that’s why they pay us a lot of money, so we can get guys ready to play and recruit players for depth," he said. "So, we’ll have to find out on those guys. But if they’re not able to play, we’ll be fine."

Myles Slusher-Cincinnati — Arkansas Razorbacks safety Myles Slusher makes a tackle against Cincinnati's Leonard Taylor that caused some sort of injury where the status is not known. (Ted McClenning / allHOGS Images)

With safeties Jalen Catalon and Myles Slusher knocked out of Saturday's 31-24 win over Cincinnati plus defensive lineman Isaiah Nichols, there were questions.

"We're not ready, really, to figure out exactly Catalon's situation," Pittman said. "We haven't, let's say that, I guess. Slusher's in the same boat and Nichols will be fine."

Running back Dominique Johnson, though, might be able to see his first game action since a knee injury in the Outback Bowl win over Penn State required surgery and he's missed all of spring practice and most of fall camp.

"We’re going to put him out there today and see what he can do," Pittman said. "We were experimenting with him a little bit last week. we were trying to get him ready for the possibility of playing against South Carolina.

"We’re going to ramp up his responsibility and his reps and see what happens. If we feel good about him, and more importantly if he feels good about it, then he’ll play."