October 21, 2026 at 4:15 p.m.
by Christina Long
FAYETTEVILLE — As the saying goes, winning cures everything, and last week’s 31-21 win at Vanderbilt was a shot in the arm for the Arkansas football team.
The Razorbacks’ 14-game SEC losing streak was the second negative streak to end this season, following its 12-game skid against FBS opponents that ended with a 34-6 win over Tulsa on Sept. 26.
Arkansas coach Ryan Silverfield hopes his first SEC win with the Razorbacks provides momentum to build on the field, within the fan base and on the recruiting trail.
“I think that win, for me, had absolutely nothing to do with my own emotions or feelings,” Silverfield said Wednesday. “Yes, I’m happy, but more so, truly, for the fans. … The fans, people are like, ‘That was monumental. We needed that.’ The players that were part of this thing last year … it’s almost like a sigh of relief for so many people.”
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With no game on Saturday, Silverfield and his staff get extra time to prepare for a Halloween night game against Missouri. But they’ll also be on the recruiting trail this week visiting some of their existing commitments. Getting to do so coming off a win is much more favorable than after another loss.
The Razorbacks have lost commitments from two recruits in the 2027 class since the season began and have 22 remaining.
“We’ve always had a solid base of the guys that want to be here and that we want here,” Silverfield said. “I think that some of the players that are committed to us are just, ‘Man, it’s just fun to watch and see the improvement.’ … Our coaches are going to go on the road, and we know how much this logo means to our fans, but also to the recruits out there. When we walk into these high schools, we’ve got a lot of momentum heading right our way.
“And, again, the future is so very bright here. A lot of people want to be a part of what we’re building.”
Arkansas has five SEC games remaining, almost all of them against teams in the bottom half of the conference standings. One win over last-place Vanderbilt doesn’t make the season a smashing success, and Silverfield knows there’s more to be done.
“This one is huge, and guess what? The next one’s more important,” Silverfield. “The next one’s going to be more important. But I’m just proud, I think more than anything, of the resiliency of the guys.”
Names not called
Silverfield was asked Monday about two players who came in with high star ratings but have yet to contribute: “Jack” Jamonta Waller and wide receiver Courtney Crutchfield.
Crutchfield is in his second season at Arkansas after transferring from Missouri. The former 4-star prospect out of Pine Bluff has played 82 offensive snaps in three seasons of college football, including 16 this year. He has not been targeted this season.
Waller, also a former 4-star, transferred to Arkansas after one year at Auburn. He has yet to see the field on defense this season and has appeared on special teams twice, including in the win over Vanderbilt.
Steven Soles has started five of six games he has played in at Jack, with Charlie Collins starting the other two games.
“It’s hard to go out there and play four Jacks,” Silverfield said. “And then you look at the wide receiver position, and we talked about some of these other guys that stepped up. … The nice thing is there’s depth at those positions, and sometimes it’s hard to crack that depth.”
Waller specifically got a late start. He missed the spring while still recovering from a foot injury that ended his first season early. Silverfield said he has improved since being able to practice in August but hasn’t played with enough consistency to crack the rotation yet.
He said he has some of his staff studying “the miss rate of 4-stars,” but added, “Those two are not misses. They compete. They do some really good things.”
KJ’s progress
KJ Jackson played one of his best games against Vanderbilt. He accounted for 309 yards of total offense, second only to his 338-yard performance against Tulsa, which included a career-high 58 yards on the ground.
He was without an interception for the third time this season and second week in a row, and his 67.7% completion rate was far better than his average of 59.8% entering the game. Even beyond the numbers, he looked more comfortable leading the offense than he had in some of Arkansas’ losses.
“[Jackson is] taking steps in the right direction every single game,” Silverfield said. “Whether it’s trusting the progression, trusting the eyes, making great decisions with the football, taking the checkdowns, throwing it away, not sitting back in the pocket when it’s not there. I challenged him this week to get 5 yards on a run. I think he did a better job of escaping north and south, and continued to trust the pocket.
“So as he continues to understand the offense, as we continue to understand him, I think we’re seeing those steps in the right direction.”
Rush out
After Arkansas’ loss to Tennessee, during which Gavin Rush punted 8 times for an average of 40.2 yards, Silverfield threatened a change at punter.
“The punting is not close to where it needs to be,” he said after the game. “It’s unacceptable. Call it what it is. We’ve got a coach on our staff that works specifically with punters, and we told him [Rush] has to punt better or we will make a change there.”
Rush started the win over Vanderbilt, but after punts of 35, 39 and 22 yards, he was pulled at halftime.
Jesse Ehrlich, a fifth-year transfer from Cal Poly, took his place. The left footer punted twice for 51 and 42 yards.
“Usually I try to follow my words up with action,” Silverfield said Monday. “We weren’t punting the ball like we needed to, effectively, in certain parts of the season, [and] obviously early in that game.
“Jesse came in and did a pretty darn solid job. Right now, Jesse’s the starting punter, and Gavin’s going to back him up, and we’ll see what happens. Like with everything, especially the specialists, you hope they don’t have the ups and downs, but sometimes it’s week-in and week-out, day-in and day-out. But we feel confident in Jesse and what he’s able to do.”
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