Everything Sam Pittman said at SEC Media Days

Wednesday was Sam Pittman’s turn at the podium for SEC Media Days. The fourth-year head coach offered a lot of insightful information during his time. Pittman covered everything from his new staff, NIL, the transfer portal, another tough SEC schedule and much more.

Here’s a rundown of everything Sam Pittman said at SEC Media Days.

Opening Statement

Greg Sankey introduces Sam Pittman by listing some of Arkansas football’s accomplishments from the last few years. Pittman acknowledges that by telling a story of the time he won a 3A state championship in shot put. His dad told him to stay after and watch the 6A finals. “Parents sometimes have a subtle way of being nice to you, ‘congratulations but you’re still not very good’ that type of thing.”

Pittman talks about being proud of the University of Arkansas and the athletic accomplishments from the last year. Mentions the 15th place finish in the Director’s Cup, the track-and-field championships, basketball’s Sweet Sixteen appearance and baseball’s share of the SEC Championship.

Pittman went on to acknowledge the three players he brought with him to SEC Media Days – KJ Jefferson, Rocket Sanders and Landon Jackson.

“We brought KJ Jefferson, who is on the verge of setting six or seven records and is a great leader for us. He’s our leader, our team leader, and we’re awful happy he is. Rocket Sanders, one thing I’ll say about him is he’s never been in trouble. He gained another 10 pounds and is running faster than he ever has. Landon Jackson is up to 280 pounds and is running over 20 mph.”

Last year’s Liberty Bowl victory over Kansas was brought up and Pittman mentioned how it changed a lot for the program. “To go to the Liberty Bowl and win with nine starters out, it showed a lot about our program.”

Staff Changes and Looking Ahead to 2023

“We have to get some things fixed. I think we’ve had a good offseason,” said Pittman. “We have a lot of situational football to get fixed. I’ve worked on myself, too. Analytics has changed football and I’ve got to get into it a little more than I have in the past.”

“Barry Odom is at UNLV now and Kendal Briles is at TCU. Very grateful and very thankful to those guys for what they did for us, however, they left, and we replaced them.” The new staff additions of Dan Enos, Travis Williams, Marcus Woodson, Morgan Turner and Ben Sowders were all acknowledged.

Pittman then briefly talked about the 2023 schedule and offered some general thoughts. ” Last year someone told me we played seven teams in the top 25, well that’s the SEC. We have a challenging schedule again this year.”

“This year we go to Florida and I don’t believe we’ve ever won at Florida,” said Pittman. “We have Missouri at home and I’m excited, too, about getting BYU at home this season. Kalani Sitake (BYU) is an outstanding coach.”

Pittman talked about his returning players and transfer portal additions that will help Arkansas in 2023. “14 returning starters – four on offense, seven on defense and three specialists. We had 21 high school additions and 19 from the transfer portal. We addressed every problem we felt like we had. The only position we did not feel like we needed to add to was running back.”

That concluded Pittman’s opening statement and he opened up the rest of his time to questions from the media.

Transfer Portal and Defensive Improvement

“The guys we have on our team, I think they’re better and have improved. I think we’re going to be better on the defensive line. We’re going to be able to play a four-man front and we’ll be more aggressive. Between Snaxx Johnson, Dwight McGlothern and others, we should be able to play more man-to-man, be more aggressive and be better.”

Positives and Negatives of Transfer Portal

“I learned my lesson a couple of years ago. We were talking about who we could afford to lose and we need more scholarships. This spring, I said I don’t want anybody on the team to leave. If you think about it, your worst player could be best friends with your best player. If you run his best friend out, you end up losing both of them.”

“We’re not trying to lose anybody off the team. The portal has benefitted us. I think the window is way too long and I think we’re trying to address that as coaches, but I think it has benefitted us.”

Big Plays and Dan Enos’ Offense

“I hired Dan Enos because I think he’s a hell of a football coach. Dan wasn’t dealt the same players at Maryland that we have on our team here. I hired Dan Enos because I thought he was the best play caller I’ve ever worked with. Explosive plays score points, so we’re certainly thinking about that all the time as a staff.”

Texas and Oklahoma in the SEC

“The state of Arkansas is ecstatic about having the chance to play Texas and Oklahoma. The proximity is so good for us. It’s not going to be super tough on fans because Norman and Austin are drivable. We’re bringing two powerful, storied programs into the SEC.

Everyone is excited, and I’m excited. I’m from Oklahoma and I grew up a Sooners fan until I moved and became an Arkansas fan. I think it’s great for the SEC and specifically adding Texas because of the old Southwest Conference rivalry [with Arkansas].”

Offensive Line and Quarterback Depth

“At tackle, we have very talented tackles. Devon Manuel and Patrick Kutas, we like those guys a lot. Ty’Kiest Crawford, Andrew Chamblee and E’Marion Harris we like, but they’re not proven on Saturday afternoons yet. Are they talented? Yes. These guys, I know they can play, but they haven’t yet because we’ve had older guys on the team in front of them.”

Ben Sowders as Strength Coach

“I loved him. I like him as a man, his work ethic, he’s a Christian man – I like everything about him. When we had an opening there, he was the first and only call that I made.”

Travis Williams’ Aggressive Defensive Scheme

“I imagine we’ll see more aggression, but I don’t wanna be that aggressive (alluding to Williams’ defenses at UCF last year). They were in Cover 0 A LOT. When I interviewed him, I said I wanna go after people but every now and then can we leave a guy in the middle of the field back there?” *chuckles*

“Some of those things really help create turnovers and I really like that. I have a lot of confidence in him. We’ll certainly be more aggressive – that’s his nature and his style.”

KJ Jefferson and Dan Enos

“He’s going to fit great. His extra study, off the field, has gone through the roof. Dan believes in him and I think he really believes in Dan. I think this is going to be the best season he’s had.

“I don’t know if run him as much as we have in the past, maybe we throw the ball more than him carrying it. We have to keep him healthy. Obviously, we have Jacolby Criswell and Cade Fortin behind him, but he’s No. 1 for a reason. He’s probably going to throw the ball a little more than he has in the past.”

Remembering Mike Leach

“Man, I couldn’t come close to him (in terms of being an entertaining personality). We miss him, don’t we? Lot of fun, he was honest as the day is long. Somebody asked me if I knew him well and I said no. They asked why I was going to the funeral, then, and I said because he would be at mine. Lot of respect for him and the game will miss him.”

Another Tough SEC Schedule

“I think it’s the gift that keeps on giving. It seems like every year we have a tough four-game stretch, especially in the odd years. Don’t get me wrong, I love the games in Little Rock. That’s where we open the season this year. The key is you have to manage each game separately. So, it’s a tough stretch and we’re going to have to get after it.”

Rocket Sanders and Depth at Running Back

“I think he has success because of who he is. He’s hard working and he’s just an incredible guy. And he’s fast and 240 pounds, so that helps, too.”

“AJ Green, really good player. You look at Rashod Dubinion and Dominique Johnson. Dominique never really had confidence to play much last year because of his knee, but he’s healthy and will be back. I think we’re going to have us a great running back room this year. But the leader of that room is Rocket Sanders, with AJ being right there with him.”