Arkansas Razorbacks were set to open their 2026 football season with two firsts on the schedule. New head coach Ryan Silverfield and a young live mascot, Tusk VII, were supposed to make their first game-day walk at the same time. Only one of those debuts will happen.
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Tusk VII will miss the Razorbacks’ opener against North Alabama because of extreme heat. The young feral hog was lined up for his first official appearance as the school’s live mascot. The call was about the animal’s safety.
Forecasters had a high near 100–102°F. The heat index was expected around 106–107°F during the 3:15 p.m. kickoff (local). The National Weather Service also had a heat advisory over the area.
Born September 17, 2025. Tusk VII is still under a year old. Officials accepted the vet’s recommendation because of that age and the heat together.
“Looks like Razorback Nation will have to wait a little longer for my game day debut!” The @Tusk_UA account posted hours before the game. “At the advice of my veterinarian, I’ll be sitting out today’s game due to the heat.”
“I’ll see y’all soon. WOO PIG!” the tweet further read.
Tusk VII had spent his first year at the Stokes Family Farm in Dardanelle, growing and learning from his father, Tusk VI. Official plans had him taking over mascot duties in the 2026 football season. The September 5 opener against North Alabama was the date. Coverage now points to the September 19 conference opener against Georgia as the next real chance.
The Stokes family has raised every official Tusk at the farm. After Tusk left the zoo and Tyson set up, the animals moved to the farm around 2006. The Tusk Fund, started in 2008, helps pay for care, travel, and housing.
That long care chain is why the heat call landed the way it did. The handlers and the university are charged with protecting the live mascot. Tusk is usually at every home football game in Fayetteville or Little Rock. He also goes to selected road games.
On September 2, 2023, Tusk VI missed the opener against Western Carolina at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock after Stokes died on August 18. On October 18, 2025, Tusk VI missed, or at least skipped, his usual pregame appearance against No. 4 Texas A&M in Fayetteville. Heavy rain, thunderstorms, and lightning led UA athletics to cancel HogTown and other pregame activities.
The opener is the first football meeting between Arkansas and North Alabama. It is also North Alabama’s first game against an SEC opponent since a 1959 loss at Vanderbilt. North Alabama should not be mixed up with Southern Arkansas University, a different school with a long series against the Lions.
The game was also Silverfield’s first as Arkansas head coach. He arrived after six seasons as head coach at Memphis. Silverfield got his first Saturday, but Tusk VII did not.
Why this hog’s family line still matters
The Razorback name is older than the live hog. After a 1909 win, coach Hugo Bezdek called his team a “wild band of razorback hogs.” Students voted in 1910 to drop Cardinals and take Razorbacks.
The numbered Tusk line started with Tusk I in 1997 after David Bazzel, a former Arkansas player, pushed to bring back a proper live mascot. In 1994, he went to athletics director Frank Broyles with the request. Bazzel then asked Keith Stokes, then president of the Arkansas Pork Producers Association, to find a wild hog.
Stokes found one near Greenbrier. That animal became Tusk I in 1997. Later, Tusks have come from the same bloodline. They are male Russian boars picked because they look like the feral “razorbacks” Bezdek talked about.
Tusk I (1997–2004) spent his first four seasons at the Little Rock Zoo, then at a Tyson Foods farm in Springdale. He sired Tusk II and died in 2004. Tusk II (2005–2010) was the son of Tusk I and Tusk III (2010) was Tusk II’s brother and served one season after Tusk II died.
Tusk IV (2011–2019), son of Tusk II, was born February 20, 2010, and retired after the 2019 baseball season. Then, Tusk V (2019–2022), son of Tusk IV, was born April 19, 2018, and died January 15, 2023, of natural causes. Tusk VI (2023–present) is the brother of Tusk V and son of Tusk IV. Tusk VII is the son of Tusk VI.