Xavian Sorey Jr. making quick, smooth transition to Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE — Former Georgia linebacker Xavian Sorey Jr. has made his presence felt at each practice and on Saturday finished with unofficially 10 tackles in first major scrimmage of the spring.

Sorey, 6-3. 224, was playing at Georgia, but apparently saw a bigger opportunity for him at Arkansas. The Razorbacks lost four linebackers to the transfer portal and Sorey has stepped in and playing well. Sorey has felt welcomed at Arkansas.

“It’s been pretty smooth, man,” Sorey said. “The guys on the team, they’ve embraced me and we’re all just bonding. It made it easier for me.”

The linebacker is young around Sorey, but that doesn’t concern him.

“I feel like if you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” Sorey said. “Age, it really don’t matter. Freshmen play all across the country. Those are smart guys, and they’re good football players. So just go out there and play ball.”

One of the young linebackers who has impressed Sorey is Brad Spence. Spence played as a true freshman last fall for the Hogs.

“Brad, he’s smart,” Sorey said. “I’ve said it in an interview before, but Brad has been a smart, physical player. That helps him out a lot, and it helps us out. We’re all still learning, everybody in the room. The old guys, the young guys. So we’re still learning day by day. But we’re putting it together.”

Cornerback Jaylon Braxton seemed to think the defense got the better of the offense on Saturday. Sorey agree?

“I just think we had a good day,” Sorey said. “I feel like we’ve got to watch the film, because you know how that goes. You think you had a good day and watch the film, and it says otherwise. And you think you had a bad day and watch the film and you had a good day. So we’ve just got to watch the film … I feel like the energy was there, though. The energy definitely was there.”

Arkansas has five scholarship running backs. All have had good moments at times during the practices. Sorey was asked if any of them impressed him?

“Really all of those guys, man,” Sorey said. “I kind of feel like those guys have a chip on their shoulder just like everybody. They all run hard. They’ve all got their different touches to the game. They might do something different than the other one, but they all run hard and they’re tough to tackle.”

Utah transfer Ja’Quinden Jackson proved tough to tackle on Saturday scoring on an 11-yard run where he broke various tackles.

“Jackson, he’s a tough running guy, so he’s hard to bring down,” Sorey said.

Sorey admitted he has some lofty goals for the defense.

“Not let nobody score on us,” Sorey said. “That’s the main goal. Nobody in our end zone. That’s it.”

Sorey credited Travis Williams for recruiting him to Arkansas, but has been impressed by the entire Arkansas staff on defense.

“I feel like they’ve all embraced me being a new guy here with open arms,” Sorey said. “All the coaches have coached me. Coach T-Will is my position coach, but all the coaches have coached me since I’ve been here. Gave me little pointers and stuff. Coach (Marcus) Woodson, all those guys, just embraced me. And they make it easier for me being here.”

Sorey said playing for Williams is everything he thought it would be.

“Oh yeah, yeah, It’s everything that I knew it would be,” Soreys said. “He didn’t tell no lies. Just make it easy, the whole process transitioning here, it’s all been easy and smooth. Everybody has been kind of helping me and leading me in the right direction to be successful. That’s all I can ask for.”

Arkansas will return to the practice fields on Tuesday. They will hold the spring game on Saturday, April 13.