Arkansas putting pieces together at defensive tackle

When Sam Pittman concluded his press conference on Saturday following the second and final scrimmage of 2025 fall camp, any worries the fanbase previously had about the interior defensive line amplified when the answer to a question was delivered by Arkansas‘ sixth-year head coach.

“We’re thin (at tackle),” Pittman said. “We may have to look at somebody else, but we believe in our young freshmen we do, whether they’re ready or not right now, we’ve gotta go have an honest conversation about that, which we already have. We need another big over there and a guy that’s a veteran.”

Pittman included that he and his staff would “have to figure that one out between then and Monday” and he reiterated the depth concerns at the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday.

“I am not really worried about any position, I am worried about depth at the position,” Pittman said. “We have got good players, but probably where we are still developing depth is the defensive line. We have to because it is a beast in there.”

Where do the Hogs look after Davie Oke’s injury?

A knee injury to senior d-tackle David Oke, an Abilene Christian transfer, was what prompted the question Pittman responded to regarding all the Razorbacks will have to figure out between the defensive ends.

Along with fifth-year senior Cam Ball, who is coming off of elbow surgery, Ian Geffrard and Danny Saili have earned most of the praise throughout fall camp at defensive tackle. Oke was a name defensive coordinator Travis Williams mentioned earlier in camp who was still learning the system, but is “a guy who brings a lot of experience for us.”

Williams spoke with the media on Monday and stressed that, regardless of age or experience, everyone has to be prepared when their name is called. That could even mean freshmen Kevin Oatis or Reginald Vaughn may be getting in the mix.

“I mean, we signed them all to play, so all of those guys got to step up,” Williams said. “We’ll get Oke back in the future, very soon, so I’m not down on that. That’s just some camp stuff that happens, and you know, now it’s time for us to see the next man up and we’ll get Oke back as soon as possible.”

Other than Quincy Rhodes Jr., the name on the outside that has been heard the most recently is Justus Boone. Boone, along with Division II transfer Frank Mulipola have each been repping at defensive end but are options to slide over.

“We have different packages for those guys to possibly move inside,” Williams said. “Frank is coming along. Frank is a guy, man, he’s learning football. One thing I like about Frank, his effort. 100 mph. Now we gotta get him lined up in different places, but he’s a guy that comes with great attitude and great effort. We’ll figure out where we want to put those guys right.”

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