FAYETTEVILLE — Texas coach Steve Sarkisian opened his appearance on Wednesday’s SEC coaches teleconference with a long spiel about his commitment to the Longhorns.
Sarkisian, whose team hosts Arkansas on Saturday, said he was making the comments because the topic had been bothering him for the past few weeks.
“People reporting that or insinuating that there is a possibility that I could leave the University of Texas, and that is absolutely false and untrue,” Sarkisian said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
The Longhorns were ranked No. 1 in the preseason, but they lost their opener 14-7 at Ohio State and dropped out of the rankings after a loss at Florida on Oct. 4. Texas was No. 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings last week prior to a 35-10 loss at Georgia.
There have been reports Sarkisian is eyeing a move elsewhere.
“I’ve got two kids enrolled at the University of Texas — one in law school, one on our team,” he said. “I’ve got a third that hopefully decides to enroll at the University of Texas next fall, and my wife and I just had our son here in Austin. This is our home.”
Sarkisian repeated he came to Texas to win championships.
“We’ve built a damn good football program over the five years that we’ve been here,” he said. “We’ve been to two College Football Playoffs. We won a Big 12 championship. We went to the SEC Championship Game in Year 1. We’ve had 23 players drafted in the last two years, which is more than any other school in the country, and our team GPA is at an all-time high.”
Availability report
Arkansas and Texas had scant availability reports Wednesday.
The Razorbacks listed running back Braylen Russell and defensive end Charlie Collins as questionable, while offensive tackle Shaq McRoy (leg) continues to be out. Russell has been in concussion protocols and interim coach Bobby Petrino gave a vague response about his potential to be ready for the game.
Collins rehabbed a leg injury he suffered against Mississippi State and traveled to the LSU game last week, though he didn’t get cleared to play.
Texas listed linebacker Anthony Hill as questionable and receiver Ryan Wingo as probable. Hill reportedly has a broken bone in his hand, and Wingo has been dealing with a thumb injury.
Whose block?
Petrino said with both Wyatt Simmons and Caleb Wooden in position to block last Saturday’s first quarter punt by LSU’s Garrett Chadwick, it was hard to tell who snuffed the ball, which Wooden scooped and returned for a 16-yard touchdown.
“They were both there, so it’s hard to tell if it hit both their arms or didn’t,” Petrino said.
The LSU stats crew initially credited the block to Wooden and then changed it to Simmons, the redshirt freshman from Searcy.
“Throughout the week we’d been drilling it, well really the past three weeks,” Simmons said Wednesday night during an appearance on the “Razorback Football Live” radio show. “Coach Petrino has really been pushing punt block in practices. We’ve done that rep hundreds of times, so going into that and seeing that opportunity show up and being able to pick it, it was just an honor being able to contribute to the team like that.”
Lean on run
On Tuesday night, Arkansas interim offensive coordinator Kolby Smith reiterated Petrino’s position on the about the importance of establishing a good running game in recent weeks.
“We’ve just got to do a great job of controlling the line of scrimmage,” Smith said. “On our combination blocks, inside zone, wide zone, whatever scheme that we do, we’ve got to do a great job of having our O-line and our tight ends play across their line of scrimmage, moving them back 2 to 3 yards.
“If we do that, then we’ve already gained 2 yards before we cross the line of scrimmage. Then we let Mike [Washington] or whoever, Rodney [Hill], is carrying the ball. Let their talent take over after that.”
The Razorbacks are second in SEC rushing with 205.4 yards per game, behind Missouri (241.7). Texas is 12th in SEC rushing (124.1).
Coordinators call
Kyle Parkinson, the Arkansas athletics communications chief, switched things up this week by having interim coordinators Smith and Chris Wilson conduct Zoom interviews Tuesday night. The spot had been reserved for players under Sam Pittman the past few seasons, dating to possibly the covid year of 2020, Pittman’s first as head coach.
However, Parkinson said Petrino came up with the idea of having Smith, the running backs coach, and the veteran Wilson, who had been in a support role, talk to members of the media this week.
Call backup?
Petrino was asked Monday whether the last two games of a non-postseason year could be a suitable time to get freshman quarterback KJ Jackson some reps behind starter Taylen Green. Petrino said he and the staff have discussed it, though he didn’t lean either way in his response to reporters.
“I think we’re just going to see how practice plays out,” Petrino said. “[We will] play whoever we feel has the best chance to let us win.”
Green’s eligibility is over after this season. The fifth-year senior has passed for 2,537 yards, 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has thrown 9 interceptions in each of his seasons at Arkansas. The Texas native has also rushed for 717 yards and 7 touchdowns in 2025.
“There’s no question that he’s had progression from a year ago,” Petrino said. “He’s got to get rid of the interceptions. The unforced ones, which I felt both of them were unforced the other day [against LSU]. You’re going to throw interceptions as a quarterback at times, but those two should not have been.”
Arkansas’ defense encountered a couple of quarterback pairings in recent weeks in Auburn’s Jackson Arnold and Ashton Daniels, Mississippi State’s Blake Shapen and Kamario Taylor. The Razorbacks were in line to face LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Michael Van Buren before Nussmeier was ruled out with an abdominal injury.
The left-hander Jackson played completed a short pass near the goal line against Texas A&M in his only snap since Arkansas’ last win against Arkansas State on Sept. 6 in Little Rock.
Read more on WholeHogSports.com
