FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said he’s shelving for now the idea of having permanent captains in place to start the season.
Instead, the Razorbacks will begin having four single-game captains starting Thursday for the season opener against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and settle on the permanent captains late in the season.
The age of the transfer portal and other considerations caused Pittman to change his approach to captaincies.
“I do think what we’re going to do is we’re going to name four game-day captains for a while, and I don’t know how long that’s going to be,” Pittman said. “I don’t know if that’s going to be ’till Game 10. I don’t know if that’s going to be during the bowl prep. I don’t know when that’s going to be that we decide who our captains are.”
Pittman said there a few reasons why he decided to change.
“To be honest, I think that we have too many captain-like guys on our team right now to get to four,” he said. “I think let’s let them play a little bit. Let’s see them in the adversity. Let’s see who really is the leaders on a Saturday afternoon.”
Pittman said roster turnover, with 39 new players, plays into the decision as well.
“I just thought that it would be kind of cool if, at the end of the year, if you had 48 guys or you had 36 guys that represented the team as captains,” he said.
Pittman gave the example that some Little Rock area players or a Memphis-based player such as Eric Gregory could serve as captains on Thursday in Little Rock.
“I think it would mean something to those kids and they have the opportunity to walk out there,” he said.
The Razorbacks have traditionally chosen team captains during training camp under Pittman’s watch, but those choices have not always panned out.
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