A good start indeed for Sam Pittman as the Arkansas Razorbacks outscore opponents 108-21 after two wins. This sets up a mouth-watering encounter against Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss this weekend. During the pre-game conference, Pittman shared, “I’m very pleased with where we are after two games. We certainly know that the competition level is going to rise big time going into a hostile environment over at Ole Miss.” Despite the positive outlook, Pittman has to deal with major concerns for the Ole Miss clash.

On Wednesday, reporter Jacob Davis posted a screenshot of both teams’ injury report. According to the list, the Razorbacks have four players “OUT” for the clash compared to Ole Miss’s one. The Razorbacks will be running without three offensive weapons- the wide receivers trio featuring Monte Harrison, Ismael Cisse, and Antonio Jordan, as well as linebreaker Mason Schueck.

Pittman confirmed, “Monte’s hurt. He broke his foot, and now he has to decide whether or not to have surgery. Either way, he’ll be out for a while — maybe the whole season.” And what about Cisse? Initially, he was put in the category of ‘probably’ out, but here came the clarity. Back in July, Pittman’s wide receiver underwent surgery for torn ligaments in his wrist. 6’0” and 198-pounder will be a costly miss for the Razorbacks.

Pittman, back then, had already raised his concern, “I think it’s a big loss, I do. Who’s going to be the guy? Or who’s going to be the guys? I think we’ll have to wait until fall camp to really figure that out. But I do think we’re big and we have speed.” Unfortunately, the fall camp failed to bring them any good luck. Jordan wasn’t present in spring practices, but joined the team before summer workouts began. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound freshman was believed to be filling Cisse’s place. But even he got injured, suffering a high ankle sprain during practice

Pittman shared the timeline of his return, “I think Antonio’s gonna be, I don’t know, three weeks from now. It was a non-physical (injury). His foot caught in the ground while he was trying to catch a ball, but it was a serious high-ankle sprain. Those are usually about a four-week recovery and especially at that position…I’m still gonna tell you probably three weeks from today.”

Despite these injury setbacks, Sam Pittman’s Razorbacks have started the season with a bang, securing back-to-back victories, even receiving praise from Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin.

Lane Kiffin praises Sam Pittman for nurturing former Arkansas star

While Pittman might be nursing the wound of a 31-63 loss against Ole Miss from last year, a lot of things have changed as they gear up for their first face-off of this year. When Arkansas fell to Ole Miss in 2024, Razorback Stadium’s home sideline featured Patrick Kutas, Luke Hasz, and Jaylon Braxton in red and white. Fast forward a year, and the same trio will be back on that very sideline, only this time wearing Rebel colors.

Losing Kutas to the transfer portal especially came as a big blow for Pittman and co. Kutas played 230 snaps and earned a 71.0 grade from Pro Football Focus, the best mark among Arkansas’ offensive linemen. And salt on the wound was the fact that he joined Ole Miss. Talking about Kutas, Kiffin also praised Sam Pittman for nurturing the prodigy.

“Kutas has done a really good job,” Lane Kiffin said. “[He’s] really a great leader. Really brings great work ethic. A lot of credit to him. A lot of credit to [Arkansas] coach Sam [Pittman], too. When we get guys from certain programs, we can tell that they’ve been trained really well, how they work.” Revenge or repeat? Sam Pittman’s bunch faces Ole Miss, minus the very players who could’ve helped flip the script.