Pittman says more focus and emphasis on situational coaching during camp

Last season Arkansas wasn’t the best in several key pieces of winning football. That was surely noted with a 7-6 record following a letdown during 2022. For the sake of the program, the Razorbacks get to hit the reset button this year and have completely flipped the roster going into 2023.

Situational awareness lacked for the Razorbacks in 2022 and that is something Sam Pittman will crack down on especially going into fall camp.

Whether it be third down, short yardage, getting off the field on defense…goal line offense… those things are in our practice schedule,” Pittman said.

Third down defense

No matter how you put it Arkansas was dreadful last year when it came to defense. The first item Pittman even mentioned was third down. Defensively, the Razorbacks were 13th out of 14 programs in the SEC on third down percentage at 45.03-percent. The term ‘third and Odom’ was coined and popular in 2022 due to the embarrassing display of defense by former defensive coordinator Barry Odom.

Arkansas now has a new DC in Travis Williams who specializes in third down defense. UCF was sixth in the AAC at 38-percent on third down last season and were fourth in conference at 37-percent in 2021.

Stopping big plays

Bad defensive numbers will continue in this piece with the Hogs allowing 90…NINETY…plays of 20+ yards last season. That means the Razorbacks allowed seven of those type of plays per game in 2022. UCF was hardly very good at it last year being ranked barely inside the top-100. However, the Golden Knights were 33rd in the category in 2021.

Being better in the redzone

Another issue the Razorbacks suffered with in 2022 was cashing in during redzone trips. Despite having one of the more prolific offenses from a total yards standpoint, they didn’t punch the ball across the goal line as efficiently. Arkansas scored on a tad above 83-percent of all redzone trips in 2022 but their touchdown percentage was only 66.10. They scored 39 touchdowns inside the 20 but with a top 15 chunk yardage offense that averaged 471 yards per game which ranked 15th in college football it was a letdown.

Finally, the last embarrassing defensive statistic includes redzone defense which Arkansas was terrible in. In fact, the Hogs were 93rd allowing opponents to score 87-percent of all attempts last season. They did get slightly better on trimming teams to just a 64-percent touchdown rate in the redzone.

The Razorbacks did strengthen their defense during the offseason padding depth along the defensive line and secondary. Williams and his co-DC Marcus Woodson have put a focus on playing free and instinctual than playing to just the player’s role.

A more aggressive defense is expected to take the field on Thursday. Will there be improvement in these areas? Pittman has proven his desire to improve before so it shouldn’t surprise if they do step up in production.