Arkansas’ offense will look different but the same as 2023 spring practice winds down

The list of quarterbacks that current Arkansas offensive coordinator has coached, developed and sent off to the NFL is almost to a point that cannot be counted on just your fingers. Dan Enos returns to Fayetteville with plenty of pieces at his disposal to create an explosive offense that begins with KJ Jefferson.

Returners to key positions quarterback and Raheim Sanders (running back) lead an Arkansas offense that was trending as the best offense in program history before injuries began to pile up especially for Jefferson.

Name a better 1-2 punch in the backfield that Jefferson and Sanders:

Right now, no one can say there is one especially with the amount of experience the two have.

There will be new elements added to the offense with more plays under center has been rarely seen since Enos wasn’t retained by Chad Morris in 2017. Sanders said that will be something he and his teammates will have to get used to this spring.

“I feel like being under center, as well, is going to be a different type of thing for me and the running backs, but I feel like it’s going to help me in the long run,” Sanders said.

At the end of the day it’s still just football and the players in the program have to execute what they’re asked to do. There’s always going to be similarities in offenses in some way and offensive lineman Brady Latham eluded to that during media availability last week.

“It is different than our last offense, but it’s still football and things are still similar. We’ve been working on it and running it really well and it’s been working really good out at practice. It’s still inside zone, outside zone, stuff like that, but just a little bit different twist,” said Latham.

Twists like more under center play which is new but still seeing the zone reads and quarterback choices in the option game will still be alive in the playbook but may not be called on as much. It was also mentioned by Sanders that Arkansas could employ more twin back sets this season. With a running back room as deep as the one they currently have would be deadly for opponents.

Questions abound about Jefferson’s ability to throw more accurately on intermediate routes especially those that attack over the middle of the defense. Like the video from the Razorback Football twitter account above, Enos coaches his quarterbacks up to be technically sound. Becoming more of passer instead of a thrower would make Jefferson a more appealing prospect when it comes to NFL organizations in next year’s draft.