2020 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

The 2020 Arkansas Razorbacks football team will represent the University of Arkansas in the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Razorbacks will play their home games at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This will be the first year since War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock opened that the Razorbacks will not play at least one home game in that stadium. Arkansas was scheduled to play the annual Red/White Spring Game at War Memorial in April at the conclusion of spring practice, but the SEC did not approve those plans. Arkansas will play as a member of the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and will be led by first-year head coach Sam Pittman.[1]

2020 Arkansas Razorbacks football
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
DivisionWestern Division
2020 record0–0 (0–0 SEC)
Head coachSam Pittman (1st season)
Offensive coordinatorKendal Briles (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorBarry Odom (1st season)
Home stadiumDonald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium
(Capacity: 80,800)
2020 Southeastern Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
East Division
Florida  0 –0      –  
Georgia  0 –0      –  
Kentucky  0 –0      –  
Missouri  0 –0      –  
South Carolina  0 –0      –  
Tennessee  0 –0      –  
Vanderbilt  0 –0      –  
West Division
Alabama  0 –0      –  
Arkansas  0 –0      –  
Auburn  0 –0      –  
LSU  0 –0      –  
Mississippi State  0 –0      –  
Ole Miss  0 –0      –  
Texas A&M  0 –0      –  
Championship: December 19, 2020
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • Note: Due to COVID-19, the SEC will play a conference-only schedule.
As of August 14, 2020; Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season
Main article: 2019 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

The Razorbacks finished the 2019 season 2–10, 0–8 in SEC play, for the second consecutive year, to finish in last place in the Western Division. After the Razorbacks' tenth game of the season, a loss to Western Kentucky that dropped the Hogs to 2–8, second-year head coach Chad Morris was fired.[2][3] He finished at Arkansas with a record of 4–18. Barry Lunney Jr. finished the season as interim coach[4] and departed the program to serve as the offensive coordinator at UTSA after the season ended.[5]

Personnel

Coaching staff
Arkansas Razorbacks coaches
Sam PittmanHead coach1st
Kendal BrilesOffensive coordinator/Quarterbacks coach1st
Jon CooperTight ends coach1st
Brad DavisOffensive line coach1st
Justin SteppWide receivers coach3rd
Jimmy SmithRunning backs coach1st
Barry OdomDefensive coordinator/safeties coach1st
Rion RhoadesLinebackers coach1st
Derrick LeBlancDefensive line coach1st
Scott FountainAssistant head coach/Special teams coordinator1st
Sam CarterCornerbacks coach1st
Jamil WalkerStrength and conditioning coach1st
Reference:[6]

Recruits

The Razorbacks signed a total of 19 recruits from high school and junior college.

Arkansas also signed six transfers in the 2020 class.

Pos.PlayerFormer schoolYearSource
QBFeleipe FranksFloridaSenior[7]
LBLevi DraperOklahoma Junior[8]
DTXavier KellyClemsonSenior[9]
CBJerry JacobsArkansas State Junior[10]
PKA.J. ReedDukeSenior[11]
PGeorge CaratanMichigan Sophomore[12]

Schedule

The Razorbacks' 2020 schedule will consist of 5 home games, 4 away games and 1 neutral site game. The Razorbacks will host SEC foes Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Tennessee, and Ole Miss, and will travel to face Florida, Mississippi State, Auburn and Texas A&M. The Razorbacks are scheduled to face Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO for their Battle Line Rivalry game.

Arkansas had games scheduled against Charleston Southern, Louisiana–Monroe, Nevada, and Notre Dame, which were all cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13][14]

In August 2020, the conference revealed the 10-game conference schedules that each team would be playing, consisting of the eight conference games already scheduled plus an additional two crossover games (one home and one away). After Arkansas was scheduled to play Georgia and Florida, the top two teams in the East Division in 2019, athletic director Hunter Yurachek stated that Arkansas had "the most challenging schedule in the history of college football."[15]

Arkansas tentative schedule
Home Away Neutral
Alabama at Auburn vs. Missouri[lower-alpha 1]
Georgia at Florida
LSU at Mississippi State
Ole Miss at Texas A&M
Tennessee
  1. To be played at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

References
  1. "Welcome Coach Pittman". Arkansas Razorbacks. 8 December 2019. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  2. Low, Chris; Schlabach, Mark (November 10, 2019). "Sources: Arkansas fires Morris after 4-18 start". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  3. Trainor, Kevin (10 November 2019). "Arkansas announces change in leadership of its football program". Arkansas Razorbacks. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  4. Hutchinson, Andrew (10 November 2019). "HawgBeat - Arkansas fires Chad Morris after 4 wins in less than 2 seasons". arkansas.rivals.com. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  5. Taylor, John (14 December 2019). "Jeff Traylor adds fourth Arkansas staffer to first UTSA staff". CollegeFootballTalk | NBC Sports. Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  6. "2020 Football Coaching Staff". arkansasrazorbacks.com. arkansasrazorbacks. January 23, 2020. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  7. "Florida QB Feleipe Franks Transfers to Arkansas". SI.com. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  8. "Former OU linebacker Draper eager to get to Arkansas". wholehogsports.com. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  9. "Ex-Clemson four-star defensive lineman Xavier Kelly announces Arkansas as transfer destination". CBSSports.com. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  10. "Moving on up: Arkansas lands transfer defensive back Jerry Jacobs from Arkansas State". Saturday Down South. 10 January 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  11. "Arkansas Adds Grad Transfer Kicker AJ Reed from Duke". KNWA FOX24. 7 February 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  12. "Former Michigan punter George Caratan transferring to Arkansas". HawgSports.com. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  13. Talty, John. "SEC moves to conference-only 2020 schedule, pushes back start of season". AL.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  14. Dellenger, Ross. "Sources: SEC Adopts Conference-Only Schedule With Sept. 26 Start". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  15. Olson, Andrew (7 August 2020). "Arkansas AD: We now have the toughest schedule in history of college football". Saturday Down South. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.