But now, about five months later, Arkansas has shored up the middle of its defense with a key group of transfers to go along with returner Brad Spence.
It started with Xavian Sorey from Georgia. He was the lone transfer Arkansas signed in the first portal window, and he went through spring with the first-team defense alongside the sophomore Spence. He has remained with the ones for much of fall camp and projects as a starter when the season begins Aug. 29.
Defensive coordinator Travis Williams had recruited Sorey, a former 5-star prospect out of IMG Academy, at his previous schools. When he saw Sorey in the transfer portal, he asked Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann about him. Schumann vouched for Sorey being an “unbelievable player and unbelievable person,” and Williams has found that to be true.
“He’s been awesome,” Williams said Wednesday. “So, so humble. He says all the time, ‘Man, I’m so happy to be here.’ … Watching him progress from the spring to now, he’s taking another step, another leap, because now he’s understanding the defense. In the spring, he was just running around playing football. Now he’s understanding why we’re calling different things.”
Having Sorey as an experienced player who is now well-versed in Arkansas’ defense is crucial. When he joined the team in the spring, the redshirt junior was the oldest linebacker in the room and had the most playing time behind him. Add in a talented younger player in Spence, and Arkansas had a good first-team duo for spring.
“I feel like he brings a lot of knowledge to the room,” Spence said. “He’s been around a bunch of ball, especially from Georgia…. He’ll probably show me something I really didn’t notice.”
But with other young linebackers behind them needing time to develop, the Razorbacks didn’t have much depth.
That led them back to the transfer portal, where they found Stephen Dix from Marshall, Larry Worth from Jacksonville State and Anthony Switzer from Utah State.
Dix is a true linebacker who played in 11 games with 67 tackles for the Thundering Herd in 2023.
“He is that Mack backer in the middle that commands and gets people set,” Williams said. “He looks like a linebacker. He’s put together like a create-a-player out there. That’s what he looks like. Very smart, quiet, but he asks the right questions and he can run. That’s the one thing people don’t know about him is he can run.”
Switzer and Worth are a versatile duo. Both transfers played both defensive back and linebacker at their previous schools. Switzer came in listed as a defensive back, while Worth is on the roster as a linebacker. Both are now primarily playing the opposite position in practice.
At 6-5 and 225 pounds, Worth is a “freak” athlete whose length Arkansas is using as an advantage in coverage. Switzer is adjusting to taking on SEC offensive linemen as a linebacker, but Williams said he’s performing well.
“He’s very, very sharp and he makes checks,” Williams said. “Any little, small movement, he can kind of pick up on what route is coming or what play is coming. If he hears the offensive line say whatever it’s going to say, he’ll point exactly where the ball is going. …
“He’s a kid that played in the backyard, got dirty, one of those kids because he loves football.”
Thanks to its transfers, Arkansas has a confidence in its linebacker unit that couldn’t have been predicted in March. How the Razorbacks use their versatile pieces like Worth and Switzer and what strides the group can make will be a key factor in the defense’s improvement.
Standout freshman
Bradley Shaw, a former 4-star from Hoover, Alabama, has earned praise from teammates and coaches since arriving on campus this summer. He’s played with the second-team defense in practices.
“[He] doesn’t say much; Very mature, very smart,” Williams said. “His high school he came from… They’ve done a great job just coaching him up. He gets it. He has a really good football IQ. It comes easy…. He’s a kid that has a bright future.”
Arkansas has three other freshman linebackers on scholarship: Former 3-star Wyatt Simmons from Searcy, former 4-star JuJu Pope from Mississippi and former 4-star Justin Logan from Georgia. Logan is expected to miss the 2024 season with a shoulder injury, and Pope is expected to miss time early due to a hamstring injury sustained before preseason practices.
In-helmet communication
Coach Sam Pittman has said that the middle linebacker will likely wear the in-helmet communication device for the defense, but both Pittman and Williams have found that the newly allowed technology isn’t a big difference-maker on that side of the ball.
Williams said that while they’ll use the device, they’ll still have to use their more traditional sideline signal system. Offenses, which will have in-helmet communication from the coordinator to the quarterback, move too quickly for a defensive coordinator to make a call down to a linebacker and have that linebacker communicate it to the other 10 defenders. The device is more of an advantage for the offense, Williams said.
“[An offensive coordinator can] see what the defense is in and say, ‘Okay, run this play’ or ‘Throw it to this person,’” he said. “What we have to do defensively is be really, really good at pre-snap disguise and then post-snap movement. But if you just line up, that’s not smart.”
Arkansas’ linebackers
Stephen Dix, R-Sr.
Xavian Sorey, R-Jr.
Larry Worth, Jr.
Kaden Henley, R-So.
Brad Spence, So.
Alex Sanford, So.
Carson Dean, R-Fr.
Bradley Shaw, Fr.
JuJu Pope, Fr.
Justin Logan, Fr.
Wyatt Simmons. Fr.
Walk-ons:
Brooks Both, R-Sr.
Mason Schueck, R-So.
Brooks Yurachek, R-Fr.
Preston Davis, Fr.
Joseph Whitt, Fr.