Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Arkansas Razorbacks students paint their chests for newly hired offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino during a game against the Duke Blue Devils at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 80-75. Mandatory credit: Nelson Chenault-USA TODAY Sports. Bobby Petrino returned to the SEC and returned to Arkansas this weekend, a reminder that college football is stranger than fiction.
Petrino, 63, has this habit of resurfacing in old haunts.
Improving the offense and coaching the Razorbacks quarterbacks is more important than the boomerang mission before — and then back to — job opportunities at Carroll and Louisville.
But for Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, there’s no reason not to be excited about pulling Petrino back to Fayetteville. Pittman can coach for his job, and his sole motive is to win. This requires a more combustible offense than the 2023 iteration.
“When I got on the phone with him, his enthusiasm to come back to Arkansas and leave in a better way than he did before was very important to him,” Pittman said last month at SEC Media Days. “I wanted expertise in calling plays. I know he knows alumni. I know he can help us in the NIL. I know he knows our state with (high school) coaches. I know he knows Texas and California. It’s a lot of benefits.”
Petrino literally crashed out of his last chance with Arkansas, but he’ll be back in the headset calling — from the sidelines — Thursday night when the Razorbacks and Arkansas-Pine Bluff kick off the 2024 season in Little Rock.
Petrino said he has not had much time to think about whether he will participate again in the game setting in Fayetteville. He will have some time. Arkansas gets a major test at No. 17 Oklahoma State next week before home on Sept. 14 against UAB.
“We’re still working on that part of our identity,” Petrino said of his mistakes entering Week 1.
A flashback of sorts to the Arkansas offense is welcome. The Razorbacks are 13th in the SEC in total offense in 2023, averaging 326.5 yards per game.
Fans of the new age will remember there were pretty good times when Petrino last called Arkansas home, finding success behind quarterbacks Tyler Wilson, and Ryan Mallett, and later in Louisville with the current Baltimore-area resident, Lamar Jackson. In 2016, when Jackson won the Heisman Trophy, Louisville averaged 532.7 yards per game. They did even better the next season (Jackson finished third in the Heisman voting).
Much of his new identity is on a mission with Petrino’s newest pupil this season, Boise State transfer quarterback Taylen Green. He gave no thought to Petrino’s past sins or punishments and, like Pittman, focused only on how the relationship can help today and tomorrow.
“He’s trained, it’s crazy how much knowledge he has and how much understanding I’ve gained just from talking to him and taking it all in,” Green said.
Here are some other faces you’ll see in college football during opening weekend:
–Miami (Fla.) TE Cam McCormick
No NCAA football player has had more seasons at the college level than McCormick, who enrolled at Oregon in 2016 in the same freshman class as current Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Northern Illinois linebacker Kyle Pugh (2015-22) played eight seasons.
A redshirt season and devastating injuries threatened to derail McCormick’s career. He missed two full seasons (2019, 2020) at Oregon with a broken foot that limited him to two games in 2018, and injured his foot in 2021 at the start of his sixth season.
He would eventually move to Miami to rejoin Mario Cristobal, Miami’s current head coach, and had eight catches in 13 games last season.
McCormick, 26, is expected to match up to 37 career games on Saturday when the Hurricanes play Florida.
“Work hard, compete. It’s going to be tough,” he said of his mentality at the start of the fall season. “Every day is not going to be a good day. How are you going to move on and process that?”
–Miami has another name most familiar to football fans in quarterback Cam Ward, a transfer from Washington State who became a popular portal target after finishing fourth in the nation with 311.3 yards per game, tops among all the returning quarterback.
He became more popular with the Hurricanes. Cristobal said in April that Ward spent “every waking moment” in the football office to deepen the bond with his teammates and master the offense at an above-and-beyond level the coach has not experienced.
“Trust and trust are earned. It’s not just given,” said Cristobal. “What he’s done is he’s earned — he’s earned — the trust of the people around him because of the time he’s invested and the fact that he’s an alpha. And your quarterback has to be an alpha.”
–One pass rusher Ward should not dodge is Ole Miss edge Prince Umanmielen, a transfer from Florida is expected to make a big impact.
Umanmielen had 7.5 sacks last season and is considered a top-five player on the roster along with another defensive line addition, former Texas A&M defensive end Walter Nolen.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said he’s excited to see his defensive linemen perform this season and finally checked them out Sunday in the NFL.
“This is a huge year for me,” Umanmielen said of his NFL prospects. “I just come every day, show up and go to work. Try to be consistent and try to be professional every day to make sure I don’t take these days off.
–Field Level Media
