Arkansas Football: 5 Takeaways from 2017 season

3. The Razorbacks need to find better quarterback play

By the time this season began the Arkansas offense had come full circle. There was a day when the Hogs would run the ball, run the ball and run it once again, but that wasn’t to be the case this year. Sure, they were committed to the ground game, but a senior quarterback was supposed to enable them to field a balanced offense. That never happened.

Austin Allen, brother of former Razorback passer Brandon Allen, was coming off a respectable junior season in which he threw for 3,430 yards, 25 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Admittedly he had less weapons to work with, but his regression from last year to this year was indicative of the giant backwards step that this team had taken as a whole.

Allen battled through injuries during the middle of the season and missed four games. Cole Kelley took over in his stead and helped lead the team to their lone conference win. Kelley finished 19 of 30 for 189 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in that win over Ole Miss.

It was a down year for this offense as a whole, but Allen’s rough senior season came at an especially inopportune time. He ended the year with 1,427 yards passing, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. It will be Kelley running the show next season and he’s got work to do to get this offense back on track.