Arkansas Razorbacks coach Sam Pittman on players, previewing Saturday's matchup with Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas on Saturday.
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00:00 Hey Sam, having played Missouri State last year,
00:03 does that assist in scouting and getting ready for A&M based on,
00:07 you know, some of Bobby Petrino's tendencies, I guess?
00:10 It might a little bit more, you know, obviously we watched it.
00:13 It might.
00:15 Certainly the fourth down play and things that we've got to put in our mind.
00:21 But, you know, Missouri State's quarterback was mobile as well as what
00:29 Luke is, so, or excuse me, Max is.
00:35 We'll see.
00:38 But yeah, we have looked over that to see what some of his tendencies might have been
00:43 and how they relate to the team that he's coaching this year.
00:46 All right.
00:48 We've seen Hud Clark in some green this week.
00:52 What's his status?
00:52 And maybe could you talk more broadly about how the safeties have played
00:56 and their importance in this game?
00:58 Well, Hudson's had a shoulder banged up a little bit and we just decided,
01:03 you know, we will try to get it totally healed up this week,
01:06 which I think we're close to doing.
01:09 I think we're going to go ahead and have him in green again today.
01:13 Safeties, I think the safeties have played pretty well this year.
01:20 Obviously, in man-to-man coverage, we've had a little bit of
01:26 a little bit of, I won't say problem, but our guys getting behind us have been
01:34 more corner driven than safety driven.
01:37 So, I'm liking how all three of those guys have played.
01:42 And of course, you can call it four with snacks being a haul, but, you know,
01:46 I kind of look at him more of as a linebacker than I do a safety.
01:51 But yeah, I think they play pretty well.
01:53 And I think Clark will be totally healthy for the game.
01:56 Thanks. Otis.
02:00 Coach, I got two questions, one for me and one from Nate.
02:06 Oh, my, Braxton, Jalen Braxton, what has he done well to
02:10 move into contending for a starting spot, I guess?
02:14 He's certainly getting a lot of playing time.
02:16 Yeah, you can certainly count on him.
02:18 He's athletic, he's fast.
02:22 The game's really important to him.
02:24 He's coming along, I mean, he's come fast, you know, as far as that goes,
02:30 looking at, has started a game, played in every, you know, played a lot in each game.
02:35 And, you know, certainly he's going to play a bunch this week as well.
02:40 So, a lot of it is that he came in ready.
02:45 He's a grown, grown young man, you know, but he's just an exceptional
02:51 athlete and doing some really good things.
02:54 And he'll continue to get more and more reps as the season goes on.
02:57 Have you seen him really improve since week one?
03:00 Because he struggled a little over at Little Rock.
03:02 I mean, as you would expect, true freshman, he talked about that a little bit last night.
03:07 Have you seen a vast improvement since that first game?
03:10 Really have.
03:10 And that's usually what happens with playing, you know, you always, you know, if you have a talent
03:19 and then playing builds your confidence on that talent, you kind of turn it loose a little bit
03:23 more or you understand what your responsibilities are a little bit more.
03:28 And you become the person on the field that you're capable of being.
03:35 So, I think that's what happens with every freshman, as you see with Haz, you know,
03:39 he's just getting better each week because his confidence is turning it
03:44 loose each and every week a little bit more.
03:49 Okay, Nate wanted to ask you about restoring the confidence in the defense.
03:53 They played really well to the, he said the last drive Saturday night and then the second half.
03:58 And also he wanted to know, does A&M present any of the similar problems on offense to LSU?
04:04 Absolutely.
04:06 You know, they obviously have Stewart and Aniah Smith and I mean, they're good, you know.
04:14 And so, they have guys that can run by you.
04:18 If they catch it, they're going to be hard to get on the ground.
04:21 Certainly have a really good quarterback in Max Johnson.
04:26 He started a lot of games, started a lot of games in the SEC.
04:29 So, yes, some quite similar situations there because they have really good wide outs and
04:36 a guy that can get it to them.
04:39 Our defense, you know, we played really well for almost a half and then got beat a few times.
04:50 The defense as a whole, if you look at the front and the linebackers played pretty well,
04:57 we just we got beat in man coverage a few times and got beat in some zone coverage.
05:01 That's got to get fixed.
05:06 And I think if we do, I think we can put a full game together.
05:09 Certainly, that's what we're hoping happens this week.
05:11 Thanks, Coach.
05:13 Yeah, Sam, I've got another Isaiah Cetania question, but more on special teams.
05:20 On kickoffs, does he have like a set of rules whenever to follow like, hey, am I going to
05:25 return this, fair catch it?
05:26 Or is it strictly kind of a feel thing for him?
05:29 Well, he has a feel for, you know, hang time and things of that nature.
05:36 But going into each game, it changes a little bit on how deep he'll set in the end zone,
05:45 whether he's at the goal line, two yards deep, three yards deep, whatever.
05:48 And then at that point, we're saying as long as your feel is good, your internal clock is
05:55 good, then bring it out.
05:57 We would like him to bring out everyone that he wants to for most of the time, unless the
06:03 situation dictates something differently.
06:05 We have not always felt that way.
06:09 A lot of it's been because I was afraid we were going to get a penalty, you know, on
06:16 the return.
06:17 But we've been, this is probably as good as special teams as we've had since I've been
06:23 here.
06:24 And so a lot of it has to do with the punters, the kickers and the returners, you know.
06:29 But I also think we were blocking better and things of that nature.
06:33 So most of the games will go in, well, all the games will go into a yard line that he
06:39 stands on and then give him the opportunity to bring it out if he feels like the time
06:45 the ball's in the air, he can get it back to the 25 or better.
06:49 And along those same lines, I mean, with a guy like him, you kind of live with it if
06:54 he, hey, he only gets to the 20 this time, but the next time he could get you to the
06:58 50 or something.
06:59 Absolutely.
07:00 And again, I haven't always felt that way.
07:04 As a matter of fact, this is the first year I really feel like, you know, if he takes
07:09 off, you hold on, you know, and see what happens.
07:12 So yeah, this year we've changed, certainly.
07:16 And to be honest with you, we saw it in practice because he, you know, in the scrimmage, he
07:21 took one back to the house and that certainly helped our feelings about him.
07:25 And of course, the punt return.
07:27 So yes.
07:29 Bob?
07:30 I think you're still muted, Bob.
07:41 Greg.
07:46 Hey, Coach.
07:48 Curious about last year's game.
07:51 I know you talk about trophy games and stuff, but I wonder if you're like, talk about last
07:55 year's game, the way it played out.
07:56 Is any type of motivation, revenge factor, anything, or is it just all eyes forward?
08:01 Have not yet.
08:03 We would certainly use anything that we think that will help us, motivate us to win.
08:11 And a lot of guys will say, well, you shouldn't need motivation.
08:15 You always need as much motivation as you can get.
08:17 So we certainly haven't used that yet.
08:21 But that's some things we certainly could talk about.
08:26 Last six games have been 10 points or less.
08:29 Been a lot of close games, there's overtime games and stuff in this series.
08:33 But Arkansas, since they've been in the SEC, I guess is one in 10 against A&M.
08:39 What are your thoughts on that and just from a historical standpoint with this rivalry?
08:44 Excuse me.
08:48 Well, I would think that the rivalry would mean more to us, you know, because we're one
08:55 of the last 11, certainly I've been on some of them overtime losses and things where the
09:00 game looked like it's ours, just like last year.
09:03 And not able to win it, but it's definitely a rivalry for us.
09:09 You don't see many series lopsided at one in 10, you know, like that, but we did go
09:16 through some rough, rough years as well in there.
09:20 But I just, I think that if we can get a lead, we got to figure out how to extend the lead
09:31 and not try to just hold on to it.
09:33 And I think we certainly tried that last year and I thought there at the end of the game,
09:40 we were going to score.
09:41 I didn't know what the time on the clock was going to be.
09:46 As a matter of fact, I was worried about scoring too fast, but I did at that point, we were
09:51 running the clock and I just wanted to score, you know, and then we had to, Aaron snapped
09:57 that, that killed a lot of that stuff.
10:00 So hopefully decision-making and all that stuff will be as good as it possibly can be
10:06 and we'll come out on top.
10:08 But the rivalry for us has to be more than for them just simply because I don't know
10:16 how much you can truly respect an opponent that you've beaten 10, 11 times.
10:21 And last question, kind of a random one, but I was wondering now that you're four games
10:28 into the season, is there anything about this team, aside from just like the obvious, is
10:32 there anything about this team that has surprised you versus what you maybe thought you had
10:38 in fall camp?
10:39 Well, you know, probably Dabinian has played last week probably better than I thought he
10:52 would.
10:52 I felt like our offensive line would be cohesive by this time, but it's hard because
11:02 we haven't been healthy up there.
11:04 I look for that to certainly improve.
11:07 We are a hard-playing football team.
11:13 The smart, us playing smart has been something that has surprised me because I did not think
11:24 that we wouldn't play smart.
11:27 And we sometimes, you know, with all these pre-snap things, we're not playing smart.
11:32 But I felt like most of it, I knew what we had.
11:39 Our wide receivers are playing better than I thought they would in the spring, probably
11:48 about what I thought they would once fall camp concluded, to be honest with you.
11:52 Thanks, Coach.
11:54 Bob, you're up.
11:56 Bob.
11:56 Hey, Sam, I think I got it figured out.
11:59 I don't know what was going on there.
12:01 But hey, KJ is tied with Matt Jones for, I guess, most touchdowns accounted for passing
12:07 and running.
12:07 I don't know if you ever got to see Matt play or watch film with him, but if you had any
12:11 thoughts on Matt and the kind of player he was, and then maybe what it says about KJ,
12:15 he's on the verge of breaking the record that Matt's held for a long time.
12:20 Matt Jones is an incredible competitor.
12:23 I mean, that's what I remember about him and gave you a chance to win, sort of like KJ
12:28 gives you a chance to win each and every week.
12:31 And both of them were very strong, making things happen sometimes, not out of nothing,
12:40 but out of almost nothing and making big plays.
12:44 And KJ, to be able to have an opportunity to break that record shows how valuable and
12:54 how important he is to our football team and what kind of a competitor and athlete he is
12:59 too.
13:00 But both of them, great, great leaders and great competitors from what I saw of him.
13:05 Thanks.
13:07 Jackson.
13:13 Yeah, Sam, you mentioned last week that you kind of you had plans to give Devin Bale some
13:18 reps at punter.
13:19 Of course, he only punted at once.
13:20 I'm just wondering if that plan is in place again, or if maybe Max is a success on special
13:26 teams, he's going to handle the punting duties against Dana.
13:29 Jackson, that one there, I wouldn't be surprised if Devin, he punted extremely well yesterday.
13:36 I wouldn't be surprised if he gets his opportunities to go out there.
13:42 I trust him.
13:43 It depends, you know, obviously depends on how Max is doing as well.
13:49 But there may be a situation where we put him out there and he, you know, he's awful
13:55 good at, you know, putting the ball inside the 10 when we get in that field zone territory.
14:04 So he can punt and I wouldn't be surprised at all if he doesn't punt some for us tomorrow
14:10 or on Saturday.
14:12 Thank you, Sam.
14:13 Daniel.
14:15 I was wondering on offense and on defense, just the players who maybe aren't getting
14:22 as many reps as they want.
14:24 Do they have, do they know specifically what they have to do in order to get on the field
14:29 more?
14:29 Is that specifically communicated?
14:31 Yes.
14:33 And then I was wondering, do you draw on kind of your own experiences to motivate the team,
14:41 given going into a game like this, having lost back to back, I guess.
14:44 Back to back with the A&M, you mean back to back games?
14:50 Yeah.
14:51 Yeah, I mean, you always, anything that you could motivate your team and relate to what
15:01 we're getting ready to do, you draw from past experiences and we try to show it on
15:07 the, if we can get video or we can get something that relates, we try to show it to them in
15:13 picture form or on video form of what that motivation might be.
15:19 So absolutely, I think that's the advantage of some guys being older.
15:23 They've experienced a lot of different things and you can draw from that in your past, past
15:28 experiences.
15:29 Here with me being here now, seven total years.
15:35 Obviously, this will be the seventh time we played A&M, so there are things to allude
15:41 back to for the team.
15:43 Absolutely.
15:43 Thanks so much, coach.
15:45 Wrap us up, Hutch.
15:48 Yes, Sam, your four games in, so the four game redshirt rules is starting to come into
15:53 play.
15:54 I remember last year, Ty Washington came and talked to you.
15:57 Is there anybody that's come and talked to you or anybody you might kind of pull back
16:00 on from the freshmen?
16:02 We sat down and talked about it as a staff and probably not right now.
16:09 There might be a guy or two that you would want to talk about that hasn't got to that,
16:14 either by injury or hasn't played yet.
16:18 Excuse me, by injury or hasn't, wasn't injured and only played in a game or two.
16:24 There may be talk about two to maybe three of those guys.
16:30 Not as many question marks right now this year, but nobody's come talk to me like Ty
16:36 did last year.
16:37 There's probably two guys that we're looking at to kind of figure that out, but they just
16:44 haven't played enough.
16:46 This would not be five for either one of those two.