Arkansas Football: 5 reasons the Razorbacks will struggle in 2017

4. Inexperienced targets for Austin Allen

If they were healthy (and that’s a big if), Austin Allen had the luxury of some of the most experienced pass catchers in the SEC last season. This season he’ll have to make do with some extremely green hands.

The 2017 Razorbacks will be without the services of Drew Morgan, Keon Hatcher, Jeremy Sprinkle, Dominique Reed, Rawleigh Williams III and Cody Hollister.  To put that long list into number, Arkansas needs to find a way to replace 183 catches, 2,477 yards and 18 touchdown receptions. Wow.

Surely, there must be some held coming back? Not really. Senior Jared Cornelius will be the leader of the very young receiving corps, but his health is in question as the 2017 season begins. Cornelius finished fourth on the team in receptions last year, catching 32 passes for 515 yards and four touchdowns.

Arkansas has one other returning player that caught at least 10 passes last season, tight end Austin Cantrell. 10 passes isn’t a very high bar. That pretty much sums up how high the ceiling is for this unit in 2017.