FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson and wide receiver Andrew Armstrong said Tuesday they're ready to let it loose for new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kenny Guiton.
The Razorbacks will unveil their new offensive look Saturday in an 11 a.m. game at Florida.
"It's been great," Jefferson said on a post-practice video conference. "Everybody is bought in. Everybody is excited to go out there and play for Coach Guiton.
"He's excited as well to have an opportunity like this one he has coming up. ... Everybody is buying in to the process of what he's trying to get done with the offensive side. ... It's been a great environment."
Guiton moved into the new role from his position as wide receivers coach the day after the Razorbacks' 7-3 home loss to Mississippi State when Coach Sam Pittman fired offensive coordinator Dan Enos. Offensive analyst Derek Kief moved up into an on-field position coaching the receivers.
"It's pretty much the same with me," Armstrong said when asked how things have changed. "But from a standpoint of Coach Guiton coming in, he's more of a laid-back coach.
"He played the [quarterback] position, so he knows what to expect. He kind of just lays back and let's us do our own thing. But when he needs to coach us, we're very coachable."
Swamp memories
Arkansas defensive end Trajan Jeffcoat, a transfer from Missouri, has played at Florida three times in his career, including last season, when the Gators edged the Tigers 24-17 on Oct. 8.
Jeffcoat, who is a defensive captain along with Landon Jackson, had one tackle in that game.
"It's pretty cool, to be honest," Jeffcoat said on Tuesday. "The Florida fans are real hype, but that's just more motivation for us. I'm looking forward to it."
Jefferson was an All-SEC redshirt sophomore when Missouri dropped a 41-17 decision at Florida on Halloween night in 2020 wen he accounted for two tackles and two hurries.
Florida defeated Missouri 38-17 on Nov. 3, 2018, during Jeffcoat's true freshman season. He participated in the game but did not post a defensive statistic.
Kenny in the box
New offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kenny Guiton is slated to work Saturday's game from the press box rather than on the sideline, which was his first indication to Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman last week.
Derek Kief, who has been promoted from an offensive analyst to receivers coach in place of Guiton, will work from the sidelines.
"He didn't think he would be comfortable on the sideline after he initially thought that's where he needed to be," Pittman said Monday. "I think part of that has to do with Kief."
Guiton, 32, a quarterback at Ohio State (2009-13), will work his first game as offensive coordinator.
"Any coordinator to me that is especially young will be much better upstairs," Pittman said. "But I gave him that opportunity to decide what he wanted to do and he changed to wanting to be in the box."
More for veterans
In many years, coaches on bye weeks will scrimmage with their younger, less-experienced and scout team players to get a fuller picture on their development.
The Razorbacks were not in a good position to do that last week, based on a change at offensive coordinator and other factors.
"I think two years ago we had a freshman, sophomore, young [players] scrimmage, and I remember we had a knee injury in that time," Pittman said. "And I'm thinking, 'Man, I wish we wouldn't have done that now.'
"But last week was more of run-throughs on Tuesday and Wednesday and then we practiced on Thursday, so really it was more about ... and it had to be that way because of the new coordinator just changed this week. So we weren't able to get the young guys in view quite as much as we normally would in a bye week."
He's No. 1
Florida edge rusher Princely Umanmielen visited the Razorbacks a few years back and held an Arkansas offer, but the Manor, Texas, product signed with the Gators during the 2019-20 recruiting cycle.
"They had offered me when [Coach Chad] Morris was over there," Umanmielen told reporters in Florida on Monday. "They was in it early. I had went there for a camp my sophomore year, but I had never went back."
Umanmielen plays what Florida calls its "Jack" position and the 6-4, 255-pound junior, who wears No. 1, has developed into one of the SEC's best pass rushers.
"No. 1 is exceptional," Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman said. "He has a nice spin move and things. We really have to ... we can't let him just wreck our game."
Umanmielen, who has 7.5 tackles for loss and 3 sacks to go along with 11 quarterback hurries, told local reporters he's had a somewhat frustrating year.
"I've seen posts saying I have the highest win percentage or one of the highest win percentages in college football," he said. "I get to the quarterback. As soon as I get there, he just throws the ball away. So many quarterback hits. It's a little frustrating.
"Even though I'm not getting sacks, I've been affecting the quarterback throughout the games."
O'Brien cut
Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson did not make the cut to the final 35 of the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, which was announced Tuesday.
SEC quarterbacks among the 35-member Davey O'Brien class of 2023 are Georgia's Carson Beck, Missouri's Brady Cook, LSU's Jayden Daniels, Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart, Florida's Graham Mertz and Alabama's Jalen Milroe.
Among that group, Daniels was the only SEC player on the final 10-man watch list for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, also released Tuesday. The other nine: Oklahoma's Dillon Gabriel, Notre Dame's Sam Hartman, North Carolina's Drake Maye, Michigan's J.J. McCarthy, Oregon's Bo Nix, Washington's Michael Penix Jr., Florida State's Jordan Travis, Washington State's Cam Ward and Southern Cal's Caleb Williams.