FAYETTEVILLE – University of Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said last week that a fast start this season will be key for the Razorbacks.

Conversely, he said he would be worried if the Razorbacks lost early.

He addressed this scenario during his speech at the Hawgs Illustrated Sport Club luncheon on Wednesday.

“We have to get off to a fast start, that’s part of it,” Pittman said. “My biggest concern is if we lose a game, can we put it away again? And that has a lot to do with staying off social media and avoiding the negative talk.”

“Because if we lose a game, that’s inevitable and we can’t let that affect our football team. We’ve talked about it a lot now, but I think we need to start quickly and I think we’ll be able to do that. And that doesn’t mean we have to win every one of the first four or five games.”

The Razorbacks open Thursday in Little Rock against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, then travel to Oklahoma State to host Alabama-Birmingham. They play their first two SEC games on the road – at Auburn and against Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas.

That means Arkansas will play one game on campus in its first five games, with the odd start offset by five of six home games over the course of eight weeks following the game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

“We have to play well,” Pittman said of the top five. “We have to be well prepared and play well. Because our first test will be when something doesn’t go the way we want it to and how we deal with it. But we’ve already talked a lot about that.”

“It’s a fine line how you approach it because sometimes you have to deal with failure and you don’t want to do that. But I think we’ll bounce back if anything… when and if we need to, and I just like the toughness of our team, the mentality part of our football team.”

“I’m really excited about this group and I’m also excited about the coaches.”

House note

Defensive coordinator Travis Williams said second-year safety TJ Metcalf is among the players who has improved the most since last season.

“One of the guys that’s made the biggest jump, to be honest,” Williams said. “We see him as a starter. … He’s going to play a lot and he’s earned that right. You see him work in the offseason and you see him work in practice, too.”

Williams said if he determined someone was good enough to play, he would consider them as a starter.

“Man, if you play, you’re a starter,” Williams said. “That means I trust you with the paycheck, right?”

“I’m putting my house note with you when you play on that field. Whether you do 20 reps or 50 reps, I’m sending you out there, I have four daughters in the house. That means it’s important to me.”

FCS: passed

Arkansas offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino would prefer if the SEC and other Football Bowl Subdivision schools didn’t play Football Championship Subdivision teams.

Petrino expressed this opinion last week when asked what mindset the Razorbacks should have going into Thursday’s season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

“I don’t really like the matchup,” Petrino said. “I don’t think that’s really what we want in college football. I’ve always been of the opinion that major conferences should just take money and give it to the FCS and that everyone should have a more competitive schedule so college football can keep going.”

Petrino has seen both sides of the FBS versus FCS issue, leading Missouri State to an 18-15 record between 2020-22, including a 38-27 loss at Arkansas in 2022 in a game in which his Bears led 27-17 in the fourth quarter.

Petrino said former Georgia coach Mark Richt was a strong advocate for all of college football in coaches’ meetings.

“He was the person who championed college football at every level,” Petrino said. “He had a lot of really good ideas about how we could keep college football going at all different levels, not just the very highest level.”

“I think you play these games in the FCS because you need (the guaranteed money). One thing about it is that football hasn’t gotten a lot of the money. It’s taken care of all the other sports, so it’s just a necessity. They could fix it and just give them the money.”

What freedom?

Offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino had to smile when a reporter asked him about center Addison Nichols’ comment that the quarterback and linemen at the line of scrimmage had the freedom to adjust their decisions.

“Addison, huh?” Petrino said with a grin. “He doesn’t really get it yet. He has the freedom to do exactly what we tell him. That’s always the freedom we give the quarterback.”

Tough guy

Coach Sam Pittman said safety Jayden Johnson practiced Wednesday after undergoing dental work earlier in the day.

“He had a root canal and came and practiced all day,” Pittman said on his radio show. “You don’t have to, but that’s what a good leader does. He practiced really well. I just love him.”

Johnson, who appeared on the radio show with offensive lineman Josh Braun, was asked by host Chuck Barrett about the root canal and the pain he felt during training.

“I didn’t feel it,” Johnson said. “Hard.”

Johnson said the painkillers wore off around 1 p.m., but he was ready to train again three hours later.

“He and I have a history together: He came, believed in me, the football team and his coaches and stayed with us,” Pittman said of Johnson, who played for four years. “A really unique situation.”

Catch quotas

Sportsbooks aren’t optimistic that any Arkansas player will come anywhere close to being the SEC’s top receiving yards player this fall.

Senior Andrew Armstrong, the Razorbacks’ returning leader with 56 catches for 764 yards and five touchdowns, has the best odds to make the team at 80-1 during training camp, according to BetOnLine.ag, tied with Isaac TeSlaa (34-351, 2). That puts him 31st in the SEC, well behind favorite Luther Burden (3-1) of Missouri, according to odds released on August 13.

Other SEC players with odds of 20-1 or better to lead the league in receiving yards include Ole Miss’ Tre Harris (7-1) and Antwane “Juice” Wells (8-1), Georgia’s Dominic Lovett (11-1), Oklahoma’s Deion Burks (18-1), Missouri’s Theo Wease (18-1) and the 20-1 trio of LSU’s CJ Daniels, Texas’ Isaiah Bond and Tennessee’s Squirrel White.

Teammates now

Linebacker Stephen Dix and defensive end Anton Juncaj, who joined the Razorbacks after spring ball, faced each other a year ago.

Dix and Marshall beat Juncaj and Albany 21-17 on September 2, 2023 in Huntington, West Virginia.

The game was Marshall’s season opener and Albany’s second game.

“I think he’s a great player,” Dix said as he and Juncaj sat down for media interviews last week. “It’s crazy because we played each other in our opening game last year.”

“I forget how we stumbled upon it, but at some point I realized he was in Albany last year when he told me that we actually played against each other in our first game last season.”

Dix made six tackles and Juncaj three.

Different taste

According to offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, running back Rodney Hill has “a slightly different touch” with his contribution to the passing game.

“He’s got a great start and is a great receiver out of the backfield,” Petrino said. “Really good hands. Not only were we able to throw the ball to him short and make runs with it, but he can also run down the field and track the ball.”

“He tracks the ball effortlessly and adjusts to it. That’s one of the hardest things for a running back to do, but he looks like a receiver does it. I find that exciting.”

Hill, a redshirt sophomore, had five catches for 83 yards and ran 50 times for 190 yards at Florida State last season.