Spring ball ends Saturday, Hogs feeling better about linebackers

FAYETTEVILLE — After seeing four linebackers enter the transfer portal from last year’s team that position was obviously a question mark heading into the spring.

As the Red-White game on Saturday marks the conclusion of spring drills the team exits feeling much better about the linebacker position. Travis Williams, Arkansas’ defensive coordinator, also coaches the linebackers. Sam Pittman likes what he has seen from Xavian Sorey Jr., a transfer from Georgia, Brad Spence, Brad Carson and Alex Sanford.

“Xavian Sorey has is a good linebacker, a good player,” Pittman said. “Just answering in a nutshell, it would be those three freshmen linebackers that have come along and have played better than what I have thought they would have at this point.”

Williams also likes how the linebackers have progressed.

“Yeah, so what’s the fun thing about it is these guys are getting every rep to get better,” Williams said. “Every guy that you named: Sorey’s doing good. Dean’s doing good. Spence is doing good. Alex is doing good. (Kaden) Henley has come along. Henley’s done some good stuff at practice. And Brooks Both is another one.

“But adding Sorey has been really good for us. His athletic ability and just being able to … he’s a guy that’s played a lot of ball.  The other guys haven’t played because they were freshmen last year. They’re going into their sophomore year. The only reason people don’t know about them is they haven’t played. It doesn’t mean they’re not good enough. So it’s been good to kind of see those guys grow. The whole room is getting better. And like you said, Brad Spence is doing some really good things for us as well.”

Williams detailed what Sorey has done well. At Georgia in 2023, Sorey had 19 tackles, 15 solo, a sack and one pass breakup.

“Very athletic,” Williams said. “Very athletic. He’s such a good person. Like, he’s so happy to be here. He’s so humbled to be here. He’s, ‘No sir,’ Yes sir.’ He gets to the ball, he’s athletic. You’ll see him getting better and better each practice and I’m glad we got him.”

Williams landing Sorey for the Razorbacks is an example of if you don’t first succeed, try again.

“When I was at Auburn, I recruited him like heavy, and he came down to me and Glen Schumann at Georgia,” Williams said. “Both of us were recruiting them and I know his whole family. So, when he was in the portal, I already knew kind of what I was getting. So, a lot of times when you in the portal, you don’t know the parents, you don’t know nothing.

“But I knew I was getting a very athletic player; knew I was getting a good person. Now we had to battle for him because everybody in America wanted him. I’m glad we got him. When you have that prior relationship, that’s the one good thing about the portal. You could recruit guys and if you don’t get them the first time around, you get them the second time around and you already have that background.”

Of the young Razorbacks, Spence is the one who played last season. He had 16 tackles, seven unassisted, an interception he returned 85 yards for a touchdown and recovered a fumble. Williams asked if Spence could lead this year’s team in both tackles and sacks since they may move him around some in the new defense?

“Oh wow. I’m just trying to get him to play,” Williams said laughing. “That’s a great question. You said lead in sacks and tackles, but I’m just trying to get him lined up. He can do so many different things well, but at the same time, for me, what I did was say, ‘Okay, he can play the Buck, he can play the Money, he can play the Mack, he can play the Sam backer.’ He’s played all of those, but you sit back and say, ‘Okay, let’s put him at one position and let him learn this and then now we can put him over there in some different situations.’ But man, he’s still learning, he’s still growing. If he happens to lead the team in sacks and tackles, that’s awesome, but I’m just getting him lined up right now.”

Sanford agrees the spring has helped this young group get better.

“Really just help us mature,” Sanford said. “Not just as football players, but as men, especially under Coach T-Will. Really just help us grow as men first. That’s what he wants to teach you first. Grow as a man. Grow with you mental, then, football.”

Sanford admits he learned from Chris “Pooh” Paul and others while sitting last season.

“Last year, I really just learned how to actually play linebacker, you know what I’m saying?,” Sanford said. “Especially in this different defense, cause when I was in high school we ran this 3-3 stack. So, when it comes to college, we were in a totally new defense. Just sitting back and watching the older guys and learning from the older guys, it was a pretty new experience to me. Then, not having all the reps that I thought I had coming into college and stuff like that, again, it was just a new experience. It was a good learning experience.”

As older linebackers hit the portal one after another, Sanford said he knew it was opening up an opportunity for him.

“Something like that,” Sanford said. “I felt something like that. The first thing that hit my mind when everybody hit the portal was, ‘man, it’s getting real.’ At that time, I was thinking in my mind, ‘step up. Step up with the other guys. Help the other guys step up and the other guys are going to help you step up.”

Dean struggled some at times last fall, but has had a very good spring.

“I’ve been happy with this spring overall,” Dean said. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot from last year up to now. Our coaches, since we have a younger room, they’re going and putting us in harder roles that we need to go and be in, which is good for us because it tests us and makes us have to grow up faster, and they just go in and trust us because we’re always in there every day. Learning the playbook. Doing as many things as we can do, so it just shows that they have trust in us and we’re pushing ourselves to be the best.”

Dean was asked about the expectations for the linebackers this fall?

“Really, in the linebacker room, none of us really look at our age,” Dean said. “We all are young, really Sorey is our old guy in the room, but I think we see the opportunity that we have in front of us and we’re just trying to get better each and every day. Take as many good reps as we can in practice. Making every rep like a game rep. And then again like I was saying, just coming up here on our off days. Getting in the playbook. Watching extra film. Doing little things like that so we don’t look like young guys in the field, because we don’t feel like we’re young guys, and we’re going to be put in the roles on our team that our age doesn’t really matter.”

Dean talked about how a year has made a huge difference for him.

“A big thing for me was, obviously, I had a good spring ball last year, and then fall camp, things didn’t go how I wanted it to,” Dean said. “I got put on the scout team during fall, and I feel like over that time, at first I was kind of mad about it, but then I used it as a growth opportunity to work on the techniques with my hands or certain things with my tackling form that I needed to work on. It helped me just focus on those sorts of things. I just feel like from then to now, I feel like with the playbook, I’ve really been learning that playbook a lot better and just working on those things that I had the opportunity to work on last season and in the offseason up to this year. Just working on being more physical and better with my hands.”

The Hogs will hold the Red-White Game on Saturday beginning at noon in Razorback Stadium. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+ with Justin Kutcher and Dan Mullen on the call. Admission is free with gates opening at 11 a.m. and fans entering gates 1, 14 and 16 on the east side of the stadium. Fans are encouraged to park for free in lots 46, 47N, 47W, 55, 56, 56B, 56D, 60, 62, 72, 73, 73A, 74, 74 B & C and the Meadow Street Parking Garage.