FAYETTEVILLE — Given Braylen Russell’s track record, it’d be understandable if the Arkansas football coaches opted to treat him with kid gloves.
The running back infamously entered and withdrew from the transfer portal twice last December following his freshman season, but that didn’t stop running backs coach Kolby Smith from calling him out after a mediocre spring.
“We did not have the explosive runs,” Smith told reporters Friday. “We did not finish. We didn’t have the right reads, the speed on tracks – none of that was where it needed to be.”
Part of the critique is because Smith and the rest of the Razorbacks’ coaches know Russell’s potential as a heralded recruit coming out of Benton.