Sam Pittman emphasizes confidence in Braylen Russell after 175-yard outing
Ja’Quinden Jackson was not able to suit up for Week 9’s matchup between Arkansas and Mississippi State.
This forced Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman to turn to freshman RB Braylen Russell for Saturday’s game. Prior to the game, Pittman told Russell not to “make me look like a fool.”
Well, it turns out Pittman had nothing to worry about. The freshman was fantastic against the Bulldogs, rushing for 175 yards on just 16 carries, an average of 10.9 yards per carry.
After the game, Russell made a point to find his coach and tell him “I don’t think I made you look like a fool, Coach.”
“I asked him last night, don’t make me look like a fool… in the locker room, he said ‘I don’t think I made you look like a fool, Coach.’”
Sam Pittman on his confidence in RB Braylen Russell #WPS
— Pig Trail Nation (@PigTrailNation) October 26, 2024
Arkansas has struggled a fair amount this season, but there have been obvious flashes for brilliance, especially on offense. Pittman noted postgame Saturday that the Razorbacks have to continue to build around QB Taylen Green, who accounted for 6 touchdowns – 5 passing and 1 rushing.
But a lot of Green’s success stems from what Jackson and now Russell have been able to do on the ground. Sure, it was Mississippi State, but there’s a lot of promise moving forward at that position.
Arkansas is back in action next weekend against Ole Miss.
175 yards from a freshman and his HC says he has confidence in him. Well, that was too easy to say.
I think you misread that. All week he was saying that he was going to feed the ball to the freshman and the kid balled out. If he didn’t have confidence in him, he wouldn’t have started him. Of course the media is really bad at taking sounds bits and moving them around to make them sound different than they are.