Wide receiver key position for Razorbacks during spring drills

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas lost several key wide receivers from the 2024 team and replacing them remains a key to how good the 2025 offense can be.

Arkansas will hold its eighth spring practice on Thursday with wide receivers still trying to impress Sam Pittman and his staff. Pittman was asked Thursday if he has found the go-to receiver?

“Well, I’ve been high on (Raylen) Sharpe ever since he came here,” Pittman said. “And then you have those guys that we spoke about, what (O’Mega) Blake and (Ismael) Cisse, (Kam) Shanks. A guy who’s not catching a lot of balls bit is doing a lot of good things, is Rohan Jones. You know, he caught one the other day in our kill the clock two minute drill. But I anticipate him catching a lot of balls. He’s very, very talented. So those guys would be — you have CJ (Brown) adding into that mix, Krosse Johnson’s done some nice things — but I think probably those first four that I talked about, I’m thinking that they’re going to, somebody will emerge.

“You know, it’s just like Andrew Armstrong. You didn’t know what you really had. You didn’t know. He had a pretty good junior year. We thought he was going to be a good player in the time that his junior year and his senior year, to me, he mentally changed. I mean, he was a lot, because he got hell knocked at him a few games, got back up, came back in as soon as he was cleared and had a 1000-yard season. We’re looking for somebody like that, and I believe they’re on our team. We’ll have to find them on a Saturday afternoon.”

Blake has previous SEC experience having played at South Carolina prior to Charlotte. Blake was one of Arkansas’ key targets in the portal.

“I thought it’s like anything,” Pittman said. “Sometimes we forget that when we played or when these guys play, that there’s always a learning curve, not necessarily an athletic curve. It’s a learning and at times you’ll see him play a little slower than what, let’s say a one-on-one. Because he’s always looked really good in one-on-one. For the last three practices, he’s really showed up. So, he just likes playing football. Caught a really nice pass. I think … Madden (Iamleava) was the one that threw it to him, but his head was here and he went back the other direction in a one-on-one drill. So, I think his confidence is growing and certainly our confidence is growing in him as well. Over the last three practices, I think he’s really had good practices.”

Cisse came to Arkansas from Stanford where he made several big plays before opting to transfer.

“Well, he’s gotta be a big part of our offense,” Pittman said. “I think he’s earned that in a way that he’s practiced to this point. And he’s a mature guy that goes about his business, doesn’t say a whole lot, but he’s a big, physical guy. Not necessarily, he’s not overly tall, you know, he is not 6-5, but he’s big. He is physical and he can catch the ball really well. So I see him being a big part of our offense.”

Pittman also addressed how he and the staff determine who the wide receivers are who get reps with quarterback Taylen Green.

“Well, the ones that get open and catch it would be number one criteria,” Pittman said. “Know what they’re doing. I’m being– It’s a good question. I got that in me sometimes. But no, it was a good question. You have two of our better receivers, in my opinion, play the same position. So you’re looking at how are we going to get Sharpe and Shanks on the, you know, how are we going to get them on the field at the same time. And of course, we just put in our five wides, as y’all saw Tuesday. But you have to have- I don’t think you can throw out five not tall guys, as we talked about last time. But you also can’t put somebody on the field that’s not as good as somebody on the bench. So that’s part of what we’re trying to figure out. I think there’s some guys emerging, like a Blake, like Cisse, like a CJ Brown, I think some of those guys are starting to make plays out there on the outside. And I’m sure I’ve missed somebody, but I think that’s where you’re looking at it. How do you get your best three, four at times, on the field?

“If you go four out there, you could put Sharpe and Shanks on the field at the same time and not have any problem with it. But once you go down to three, you start to go, ‘OK, who’s my 12 personnel wide receivers? Who are they? Who’s my 11 personnel wide receiver? Who’s my 10? And who’s my empty guys? So we’re still trying to figure that out right now, but I could — I’m not going to — but I could probably tell you five that I — maybe six — that I’d go, ‘OK, those are the guys that we’re going to put on the field if we played a true game on Saturday.’”

A wide receiver who was on the team last year was Jordan Anthony, but he has been with the track team all spring. Pittman was asked where he fits in with the football team?

“I don’t know,” Pittman said. “I think we’ll go down that path as it moves on. I think he’s doing so well in track that we’ll kind of cross that bridge when it comes. I know they’re awful proud of him, and they should be, for what he’s done in track. So I think we’ll figure out whether there’s football in his future, or not, just probably depending on a lot of things. One of them I’m certain would be how well he does in track, and I think he was the fastest guy in the 60 in the country. We’ll cross that a little bit later. I’m probably not ready to answer that yet.”

Arkansas will hold its spring game on Saturday, April 19, at 1 p.m.