FAYETTEVILLE — The sky might be falling in Fayetteville, but Arkansas DB Khmori House and TE Ty Lockwood are trying to move past Arkansas’ 43-10 loss to No. 17 Utah and look ahead to Saturday’s game against No. 2 Georgia.
That includes an unwavering belief in starting QB KJ Jackson, who has struggled through the first two games of the season and completed only 14 of his 34 passes against the Utes.
Lockwood was asked about Jackson’s struggles during a Wednesday news conference, but House interjected and answered the question first.
“I think KJ’s doing a real good job,” House said. “I think he has to [continue] to get better. It’s his first year starting, so mistakes will be made. We can’t keep reaping on last game. If everybody wants KJ to do good, let’s put a foot forward and help KJ out instead of speaking negative. Negative talk is never going to anybody good, especially when it’s their first year. If we just speak light into KJ, ’cause KJ’s a good player. We’ve seen it all through camp, all through spring.”
“He’s been great,” Lockwood said of Jackson. “It’s the next week. He’s done a really good job being a leader. He’s going to continue to be a leader. We’re keeping his confidence up.”
It’s no secret that the No. 2 Bulldogs enter Fayetteville as heavy favorites. QB Gunner Stockton has completed 28 of 32 passes in Georgia’s first two games, which saw UGA roll to easy wins over Tennessee State and Western Kentucky. Arkansas will be a step up in competition, but it’s hard to see Saturday’s game being much more than a slight inconvenience for the Georgia.
Still, House and the Hogs believe in themselves, even with the No. 2 team in the country coming to Razorback Stadium.
“Georgia is Georgia,” House said. “They’re going to have good players all across the board. At the end of the day, it’s about us. It’s about us. If we do our job, all 11 on the field, everything’s going to be solid, everything will be fine. I think we have a good gameplan going into the weekend, we just have to do our job.”
Despite all the negativity around the program and the apparent boycott of Saturday’s game by many fans and ticketholders, Lockwood is still excited to play in front of what could still end up being a solid crowd.
“A home crowd is a great advantage to have, especially against a team like Georgia,” Lockwood said. “So just having the fans behind us and creating noise for their offense, making it muddy for them, that’ll help us a lot.”
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