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Ft. Smith Southwest Times Record
Arkansas football explains quarterback carousel in Georgia loss
- Story byFt. Smith Southwest Times Record
- Arkansas football explains quarterback carousel in Georgia loss
FAYETTEVILLE — It isn't exactly a quarterback controversy, but the job under center is hardly settled for Arkansas football .
The Razorbacks (1-2, 0-1 SEC) played both KJ Jackson and AJ Hill during a 45-17 loss to No. 2 Georgia on Saturday, Sept. 19. Neither player could steer the Hogs away from a blowout loss to the Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0).
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After the game, Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield said his staff had planned on the two-quarterback rotation during its first meetings of preparation for Week 3.
"We had decided, really, on Monday, that that's what we were going to do. The whole plan all along was to get KJ two series, and regardless of how those went, and then AJ, the next 2 series and then make a decision from there," Silverfield said.
Silverfield said the decision stemmed from the quarterback play in the previous two weeks not being good enough for the Razorbacks to execute on offense. After an offseason quarterback competition, Jackson started each of the first two games.
He once again started against Georgia, and the stats say he was the better quarterback between the two. The junior lefty went 20 of 27 for 212 yards with one touchdown. He was under center for all three of Arkansas ' scoring drives, including back-to-back touchdowns during fourth-quarter garbage time.
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Hill was 8 of 14 for 76 yards. He played on four drives and did not lead Arkansas to a score, but four of the six drops came with Hill at quarterback. One in particular proved costly during Hill's first series. Matt Adcock could not haul in a short pass with plenty of running room in front of him, and it led to an eventual punt.
Silverfield said that during the week, he sat down with each quarterback and went over 250 plays his offenses have run across the last 10 seasons to identify certain calls they each were each comfortable with. The goal was to have a menu where each player was comfortable.
The dual-quarterback plan isn't typically a recipe for success, and it didn't work against the Bulldogs. After the game, tight end Ty Lockwood said the players weren't fazed by the rotation.
"We don't really notice that. I think the offense is the offense, system's the system," Lockwood said. "They both run it really well. They're both great players. They come in, we've been doing that since spring ball so we're used to it."
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Silverfield believes his offense made the smallest of strides this week, but he is still demanding better decision-making from whoever is playing quarterback. He thinks Arkansas isn't making the right reads in the RPO game consistently enough to orchestrate scoring drives before the game gets out of reach.
For now, no decision has been made on the future of the position.
"We're going to lean heavy to this tape," Silverfield said. "Obviously, we saw live some good, some bad, and some ugly, and so we got to figure out where we can. I don't want to play the quarterback carousel game, but if alternating quarterbacks gives us the best alternative and best option to win football games, we will do so."
Jackson Fuller covers Arkansas football, basketball and baseball for the Southwest Times Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at jfuller@usatodayco.com or follow him @jacksonfuller16 on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas football explains quarterback carousel in Georgia loss
