Jefferson says bond between teammates is strong at Arkansas

Arkansas quarterback, KJ Jefferson has been through a lot during his time in a Razorback uniform. From a 2-10 season to almost transferring before the Missouri game, he’s seen a lot of bad but things are rising.

One thing that’s been mentioned several times is the divisiveness amongst teammates and the locker room. Especially during the 2018-2019 where there was much disconnection between coaches, players and even the athletic department.

Flip the script just a short four years later and the word from Arkansas’ star QB is the bond amongst the team is ‘strong’.

QB1 talkin' the Razorback brotherhood on @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/QrprZcrbNS

— Arkansas Razorback Football (@RazorbackFB) July 19, 2023

There were moments where you would see leaders like Jadon Haselwood pick the head of Cam Little up after a missed field goal against Texas A&M. Arkansas also so their team come together in back to back weeks in a close loss to LSU without Jefferson. Then, they routed a once undefeated Ole Miss team.

After 20+ transfers hit the portal following the 2022 season Pittman has reset the culture of Razorback Football. Coaches undermined Pittman while others had one foot out the door more times than not. All that seemed to bleed over into the locker room and created issues there.

Now, it seems things have calmed down and Arkansas is back to where they were culture-wise in 2021.

“I love the atmosphere in Arkansas,” Missouri transfer Trajan Jeffcoat said. “The coaching staff, Coach Deke Adams, Coach T-Will, Coach Pitt, they welcomed me with open arms. I love the environment here. They cared about me as a person rather than a player. I always wanted that, so I really felt comfortable with the environment here. That was very different from all of my other calls to every other school.”

During the spring Jefferson met with the media about the difference between 2022 and 2023 so far.

“I mean, everybody’s working, coming in on off days, working, helping each other more. I would say that’s the big thing is everybody’s helping each other more. If somebody’s struggling, before the coaches even say something, a player’s already in his ear coaching him up. So things like that just translate over to just for the future, just knowing that we’re on the right path.”

Culture is obviously key to a winning program and it looks like Pittman is ready to get back to that now. That’s a sign of a hungry head coach when he, his staff and players strive to have the bond of brotherhood.