Travis Williams fired up for 2024 season

FAYETTEVILLE — It’s just eight days until Arkansas opens the 2024 football season in Little Rock against UAPB.

Travis Williams met with the media following Wednesday’s practice and feels the defense is ready for the season.

“I thought camp went well,” Williams said. “You know how it is, the grind of the camp, you have some days you’re like OK, let’s go, let’s pick it up. But for the most part it’s been a very consistent camp. Guys are doing exactly what we asked them to do. That’s always fun. You can see guys improvement throughout camp.”

A couple of transfers have caught the attention of Williams and Sam Pittman in recent days. Linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. and edge Anton Juncaj are seemingly getting better each day.

“Yeah, so Anton is on the field, you could see when he first got here, you know, we have a lot of defense,” Williams said. “So him just learning the defense and the expectations of Coach (Deke) Adams and different things like that. It was just so much more defense and so much faster than what he was used to. Now he has the defense down and he has the speed of the game down, you can really see his talent out there so you could really see the progress with him.

“Sorey the same way. It wasn’t really the speed of the game because he came from another SEC school it was just him learning the system. Now he’s just comfortable in what we’re calling and now you can really see his athletic ability because he’s not thinking a lot.”

Juncaj came from Albany while Sorey is from the University of Georgia. Juncaj had 15 sacks last season and Sorey was a five-star recruit who started the SEC Championship game for the Bulldogs last year.

At cornerback Jaylen Braxton returns and is being mentioned for some post-season awards. South Alabama transfer cornerback Marquise Robinson is pushing for the other starting cornerback spot. His personality has Williams and all impressed.

“Oh man, love his personality,” Williams said. “He has the swag, he has that confidence. He’s a type of guy, he’s mentally tough now. He is mentally tough and he loves ball. He’s running around… That’s the thing with any position. It really doesn’t matter how talented you are — it matters — but if you have this it doesn’t help you. So his mental toughness and the way he goes about his business is really fun to watch. And it’s a good competition. This is what I tell the guys, this is what everybody needs to understand, the whole days of the first 11 out there… You could be the first person running out there and get 20 snaps and be the person coming off the bench that’s getting 50 snaps. So the days of that… So I tell the guys all the time, if we put you out there, you’re a starter.

“It’s not these charity reps. We put you out there, it means you’re a starter. It means you’ve earned the right to be out there playing for the Hogs. So you can be the first person running out there or you could go out there the second series, just have pride when you’re out there. But those guys are competing and we need all of them. You’ve got to play three, four, five corners just because of the way the league is and we’re asking our guys to play on special teams, as well. So just having those guys with fresh legs is always a good deal.”

A safety who is pushing for extensive time is sophomore TJ Metcalf.

“TJ is a guy I think, probably, one of the guys who made the biggest jump, to be honest with you,” Williams said. “We see him as a starter. He’s going to play. He’s going to play a lot. And he’s earned that right. You watch him work his tail off in the offseason, you watch him while we’re at practice working his tail off as well, so he’s earned that right to go out there and play.

“Like I said, starter or coming off the bench, I don’t really… Man, if you’re playing, you’re a starter. That means I trust you with the paycheck. Right? I’m putting my house note on you if you play on that field. So whether you’re getting 20 reps or 50 reps, I put you out there, I’ve got four daughters at the house. That means it’s important to me. And he’s earned that right, he’s earned it. He’s earned his teammates’ respect, as well. Man, he goes about it the right way. Him and his brother (Tevis Metcalf). It’s a good bloodline.”

The Hogs will return to the practice fields on Thursday.