What Utah head coach Morgan Scalley said about Arkansas

Visit our homepage for the best deal on the market! All new members get 75% off your first year. That means for just $30 ($2.49/month) you get a complete year's access to the top Razorback coverage including transfer portal intel, scoops from The Trough premium message board, plus all of the latest from On3's top national analysts. Don't miss out, sign up today! Arkansas will face its first road test of the 2026 season in a late kickoff against the No. 21 Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City this weekend. The contest is a matchup of first-year head coaches as Head Hog Ryan Silverfield leads Arkansas into battle against Morgan Scalley's Utes. Scalley has been a part of the Utah program in some fashion for more than two decade. Below is what Scalley said about the Razorbacks ahead of Saturday's 9:15 p.m. CT kickoff on the ESPN. Q: How do you prepare for a sufficient upgrade in talent? Scalley: I would say the preparation doesn't change. The preparation has to be the same. We know that we're going to see an upgrade in talent. Coach Silverfield, so much respect for him and what he's been able to do at Memphis since 2019 for the things that he's done. Guy's been coaching longer than I have, and you know, very good coach, bringing with him a couple coordinators that are very well respected. Fun fact, too, their offensive coordinator (Tim) Cramsey, born on the same date as me, October 8, same birthday. Isn't that awesome? Go Libras! Ron Roberts, the DC, born October 9. So not on the same day, but anyway, I thought that was a pretty cool deal. You watch that team and they are they are big up front. So that's, again, going to be the challenge, right? Is is that battle up front, both on the offense and defensive sides? They've got a very twitchy, athletic edge rusher in 35 (Steven Soles) as a transfer from Kentucky. They're more of an odd front with Coach Roberts coming from Florida and then on the offensive side of the ball, very stout up front. Quarterback's a dual threat guy, so another dual threat quarterback that will face with some backs that have some juice and some speed at wide receiver. So this will be a very good challenge and we are excited for it. ALSO READ: Arkansas depth chart for showdown at Utah Q: What do you see in KJ Jackson's abilities? Scalley: He's just a bigger guy. And so, you know, much like Caleb Williams, when you are facing those bigger quarterbacks, you can drip off. You are coming with a lot of speed. You really got to be able to break down and and tackle thick. It's not like you can trip him up that easy. He can throw the ball. He's shown the ability to do both with the starts that he had last season. So, this is a guy that they don't do a whole lot of dedicated QB run game with him, but they have it in their arsenal. We have seen that from what Coach Silverfield did at Memphis. So we've got to be able to prepare for both. Q: How do you feel about defensive tackle depth against an SEC team? Scalley: Well, with Michael Tauteoli getting healthier and you saw our rhino tight ends (heavy package) get in there, but you know both those guys started out at d-tackle, so they can play d-tackle. It's, you know, for the most part like riding a bike I think for those guys so I thought they did well. You look at Semi Taulanga and Sione Motuapuaka both showed some really good stuff in that game. Semi comes down, sniffs out a screen, makes a great tackle being relentless and running to the ball. I feel good about that depth, I really do. Talk about this with other die-hard Arkansas football fans on The Trough, HawgBeat's premium message board.