Arkansas Football: Sam Pittman has a weapon that no one is talking about

Sam Pittman has a weapon on his staff that no one talks about.

His new assistant coaches have been hitting on all cylinders lately. Marcus Woodson and Travis Williams are taking the recruiting trail by storm. With seven four-stars and nine recruits total, they have generated one of the best starts to a recruiting class Arkansas football has seen in the modern era.

Dan Enos is nationally known as a quarterback whisperer and his work with KJ Jefferson was already showing in the Red-White game. Morgan Turner’s past speaks for itself, but he has already made an impact by retaining one of the top tight ends in the portal, Var’keyes Gumms.

However, there is one coach that nobody seems to celebrate, and he just happens to be one of the few returning staff. He’s recruited well in a position that Arkansas has historically done poorly, turned that position around in one year, and the players love him. That coach is Deke Adams.

DL Production

Arkansas has had five defensive line coaches in six seasons, Adams being the lone holdover. It’s no wonder why Arkansas has had trouble at DL lately; the position hasn’t had consistency in years. In his one year with Arkansas, however, Adams has managed to change the trajectory of the DL.

In 2021, Arkansas’s defensive front ranked 80^th in sacks with 25 for the season. But in 2022, the group rose to No. 7 in the nation with 42 sacks, nearly doubling the previous year’s number. Drew Sanders was to thank for 9.5 of those sacks, but Jordan Domineck—a transfer from Georgia Tech—was second on the team with 7.5 sacks.

Adams still has a long way to go in stopping the run. Arkansas ranked 94^th in 2022 with 170.5 ypg allowed. Part of that equation begins with recruiting.

DL Recruiting

Historically, Arkansas football has been bad at recruiting D-linemen. Granted, the last five-star Arkansas signed was McTelvin Agim in 2016. But since then, it’s only signed three four-star DLs out of high school. Collin Clay and Mataio Soli signed in 2019, but Clay transferred a year later to Oklahoma State, and Soli left in 2022 for sunshine and beaches at the University of Hawai’i.

With Adams in charge, that seems to be a thing of the past. The one other four-star recruit is Quincy Rhodes Jr. who committed under Adams. Rhodes hasn’t stepped on the practice field yet but could have an impact as a true freshman. As future classes go, Arkansas looks to be in good shape. The two highest-rated recruits in 2024 are both DLs. Kavion Henderson and Charles Collins are .93 and .92 four-stars, respectively.

As far as transfers go, Adams has been just as successful. He’s brought in the aforementioned Jordan Domineck as well as Landon Jackson, Trajan Jeffcoat, John Morgan III, Terry Hampton, and Anthony “Tank” Booker Jr.

Pittman has hit on nearly all his hires and Adams is no different. He has been the unsung hero of the team, especially after the secondary’s performance last season. Make no mistake, Williams and Woodson are doing wonders with recruiting. However, it’s not a coincidence that the two highest recruits are DLs. If Arkansas can manage to keep Adams around for a few more seasons, he could lay down a foundation for years to come.