Sam Pittman still hoping for Jaylon Braxton’s return

FAYETTEVILLE — Jaylon Braxton is considered Arkansas’ best cornerback, but he was injured against Oklahoma State and hasn’t played since that game.

Sam Pittman was asked on Monday if Braxton will still be out for a few games?

“Yes,” Pittman said. “I don’t think he will be available, not the rest of the year, but I just think it would be, it’ll be at least after the second bye.”

Pittman was asked if Braxton not being available has left the Hog exposed on hitch routes?

“I think some, obviously,” Braxton said. “When your quarterback, they had two sacks coming into the game. Still have two. But that means you’re getting protected. Why? Now, the ball’s getting out. That’s a bunch of it. They’ve got good tackles as well. But, the double move, Hud(son), when he was in there I think three times got him once. But they couldn’t double move the other guys because they were so far off from them. There was no reason, just turn around. That was frustrating. But, I think our kids gave their receivers the respect they deserve but we cannot let people throw the hitch route for eight and 10 yards. It’s like playing catch, so we got to correct that as well. The problem with us, we couldn’t stop the run and so then they had and/or on us and then you saw in the second half a little bit when we were stopping the run at least early, not the last drive which was as disappointing a drive that we’ve had on us defensively.

“But once we started stopping the run, we were able to stop the hitch a little bit faster and they weren’t throwing the hitch necessarily on third and 10. So, it kind of helped us. It all works hand in hand. We know what we have and we got to figure it out on how to stop those hitch routes and I think we will.”

While Braxton hasn’t returned, Hudson Clark did return against LSU.

“I think he’s earned the right to start for us,” Pittman said. “Played a lot of ball out there. Like I said, got beat on a double move, but he didn’t the other times and I think he’s a smart player. He cares about the university and playing for the Razorbacks. He’s got speed and I think he’ll get better and better and he’s tough, I think his back is still hurting him a little bit.”

Arkansas and Mississippi State will kickoff at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday and televised on the SEC Network.