Bobby Petrino rides back into the SEC and returns to Arkansas this weekend, a reminder that college football is stranger than fiction.
Petrino, 63, has this habit of resurfacing at old haunts.
Heading up the Razorbacks’ offense and coaching quarterbacks feels more significant than previous boomerang missions out of — then back to — employment opportunities at Carroll and Louisville.
But to Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, there was no reason not to entertain pulling Petrino back to Fayetteville. Pittman could be coaching for his job, and his sole motive is winning. That will require a more flammable offense than the 2023 iteration.
“When I got on the phone with him, his passion about coming back to Arkansas and leaving it a better way than what he did before was very important to him,” Pittman said last month at SEC Media Days. “I wanted his expertise in calling plays. I knew that he knew alumni. I knew that could help us in NIL. I knew that he knew our state with our (high school) coaches. I knew that he knew Texas and California. There were so many benefits.”
Petrino literally crashed out of his last chance with Arkansas, but he’ll be back on the headset calling plays — from the sidelines — Thursday night when the Razorbacks and Arkansas-Pine Bluff kick off the 2024 season in Little Rock.
Petrino said he hasn’t had much time to think about what it will be like to be involved in a game setting in Fayetteville again. He’ll have some time. Arkansas gets a major test at No. 17 Oklahoma State next week before its true home opener Sept. 14 against UAB.
“We’re still working on parts of the identity,” Petrino said of where his offense stands entering Week 1.
A flashback of sorts for the Arkansas offense might be welcomed. The Razorbacks were 13th in the SEC in total offense in 2023, averaging 326.5 yards per game.
Fans of a recent age will remember there were pretty good times when Petrino last called Arkansas home, finding success behind quarterbacks Tyler Wilson, and Ryan Mallett, and later at Louisville with a current Baltimore-area resident, Lamar Jackson. In 2016, when Jackson won the Heisman Trophy, Louisville averaged 532.7 yards per game. They were even better the next season (Jackson finished third in Heisman voting).
Much of his new identity rests in the shared mission with Petrino’s latest prized pupil this season, Boise State transfer quarterback Taylen Green. He gives a hang about any past-life sins or judgments against Petrino and like Pittman, has zeroed in only on how the relationship can help today and tomorrow.
“Being coached by him, it’s crazy just how much knowledge and how much understanding that I got just from talking to him and just taking everything in,” Green said.
Here are a few other familiar faces you’ll see in college football on opening weekend:
–Miami (Fla.) TE Cam McCormick
No NCAA football player has more seasons at the college level than McCormick, who enrolled at Oregon in 2016 in the same freshman class as current Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Northern Illinois linebacker Kyle Pugh (2015-22) played eight seasons.
A redshirt season and devastating injuries threatened to derail McCormick’s career. He missed two full seasons (2019, 2020) at Oregon with a broken leg that limited him to two games in 2018, and hurt his foot in 2021 at the outset of his sixth season.
He would eventually transfer to Miami to rejoin Mario Cristobal, current Miami head coach, and had eight catches in 13 games last season.
McCormick, 26, is expected to suit up for his 37th career game Saturday when the Hurricanes play Florida.
“Work hard, compete. Things are going to get hard,” he said of his mentality at the start of fall camp. “Every day is not going to be a great day. How are you going to move on from that and process that?”
–Miami has another name most college football fans recognize in quarterback Cam Ward, a transfer from Washington State who was a popular portal target after finishing fourth in the nation with 311.3 passing yards per game, tops among all returning quarterbacks.
He’s become even more popular with the Hurricanes. Cristobal said in April that Ward was spending “every waking moment” in the football office to deepen bonds with teammates and master the offense at an above-and-beyond level coaches hadn’t experienced.
“Trust and confidence is earned. It’s not just given away,” Cristobal said. “What he has done, he has earned — earned — the trust of the people around him because of his time invested and the fact that he’s an alpha. And your quarterback needs to be an alpha.”
–One pass rusher Ward won’t have to dodge is Ole Miss edge Princely Umanmielen, a transfer from Florida expected to make a big impact.
Umanmielen had 7.5 sacks last season and was considered a top-five player in the portal alongside another defensive line addition, former Texas A&M defensive tackle Walter Nolen.
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said he’s excited to see his defensive linemen perform this season and eventually check them out on Sundays in the NFL.
“It is a really big year for me,” Umanmielen said of his NFL outlook. “I just come every day, show up and go to work. Try to be consistent and try to be a pro every single day to make sure I’m not taking any of these days for granted.”
–Field Level Media
