A Look At The Arkansas Razorbacks Offensive Line Room
030824-sam-pittman-spring-practice-andy
Sam Pittman and staff have made it aware that their offensive line was struggling last year. For the most part, you could blame Arkansa's losses on the lack of getting blocks up front. With coach Cody Kennedy leaving to go coach at Mississippi State. Pittman turned to Eric Mateos from Baylor to help the hogs in the trenches.
Sam Pittman and Eric Mateos have been on a roll with getting recruits for the trenches. Arkansas has 6 incoming freshmen who are all 6’3 and above and all weigh in close to 300! Arkansas is in the right direction for getting protection for their quarterbacks in the future
Arkansas has added 3 big guys to improve their trenches from the transfer portal. Razorbacks has added Fernando Carmona a big left tackle they got in the transfer portal from San Jose State University. While at San Jose State, Carmona received an honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference honoree. He played a total of 765 snaps with a pass block grade of 81.0 and a run block grade of 78.9!
Next, the Razorbacks added another lineman to win in the trenches! Addison Nichols, a center who transferred from Tennessee. Although Nichols was a redshirt freshman last year he got to see the field quite a bit. Nichols mainly played PAT (point after touchdown) and field goals for Tennessee.
Pittmans last big transfer portal lineman is a 6’5; 325lbs right tackle! Junior Keyshawn Blackstock transferred to Arkansas from Michigan State. While at Michigan State Blackstock only played in 4 games.
With Pittman gaining 3 good transfer O-linemen, he has 2 returning who will be starters. Patrick Kutas and Joshua Braun are both returning and could be starters for the Razorbacks. Kutas will be playing left guard but we could also see a rotation at left guard with Ty’Kieast Crawford. Crawford who is a senior played in 9 games last year and only allowed 2 sacks.
Have the Razorbacks fixed their problem with their offensive line? Last year the O-line gave up 47 sacks with 338 sack yards, averaging 3.92 sacks per game. With all 5 projected starters, the line will be in good hands. All 5 linemen are over 6’5 and 300 pounds!
If the Razorback's offensive line can do their job, the sky is the limit for this offense! As many people know it all starts with the offensive line. If the offensive line crumbles the offense won't be doing much on Saturdays.