Razorbacks find hidden gems right under their nose in Liberty Bowl showcase

With all the opt outs and attrition to the transfer portal, the 2024 AutoZone Liberty Bowl presented opportunities galore to discover a string of pearls hidden all season in the Razorbacks' collective snout. Let's take a look at some of the gems uncovered in Arkansas' 39-26 victory over Texas Tech Friday night in Memphis.

"We've got good players. Just because you guys don't know about them don't mean that they are not good players. Now you know about them a little bit. We have more depth than what possibly you may have thought."

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman

5 backups who shined in the Liberty Bowl

1. RODNEY HILL

The first one to jump out was sophomore halfback Rodney Hill. Hill earned the team's No. 2 spot on the depth chart to start the season, but lost his position due to injuries early on. By the time he got healthy down the stretch, senior Rashod Dubinion was out of the dog house and freshman Braylen Russell had emerged along side HB1 Ja'quinden Jackson.

With only Russell – still rusty from his on-again-off-again flirtations with the transfer portal and late-season injuries of his own – available, Hill seized the moment with the kind of 70-yard scamper that made Russell a likely redshirt candidate in the first place. He finished with 81-yards on eight
carries but even a few of his other carries showcased an ability to break tackles few receiving backs possess.

2. ANTON JUNCAJ

Juncaj also started the year high up in the playing rotation, but his inability to deliver the pass rushing promise that made him a prized catch out of last year's portal never materialized. It finally did at this year's Liberty Bowl. Juncaj got a chance to strut his stuff with 2.5 tackles for loss and a pivotal sack for a safety early in the fourth quarter to push Arkansas' lead back to a three-score margin.

3. MIGUEL MITCHELL

Since transferring in from the Swamp in Gainesville, the former Florida Gator hasn't gotten much sunshine since coming to The Hill in Fayetteville. That changed for the Oxford, Alabama native on Friday and he responded not only with an interception. He also topped his season total in tackles (7) with eight total tackles against the Red Raiders.

4. TYRELL REED JR.

The 5-10, 211-pound sophomore halfback out of Topeka, Kansas made the best of his two touches in the Liberty Bowl showcase. Reed topped his only carry for eight yards by losing his defender out of the backfield on an arrow route. He then hauled in Talen Green's short pass over the middle, found a crease in the defense and walked the hog along the sideline for an 81-yard touchdown.

5. DAZMIN JAMES

Of all the uncovered gems that got a chance to shine in the 2024 Liberty Bowl, none – no not one –
dazzled like Dazmin James. The 6-2 freshman wideout from Clayton, North Carolina wracked up all three of his catches on the season and he made every one of them count.

James stole the Memphis spotlight on Friday by taking his first collegiate catch on a third-down slant route with Arkansas backed to their own six yard line. James then proceeded to showboat his track star speed by gliding down the near sideline before having to high step out of a last-second tackle attempt at the goal line for a 94-yard catch and run.

Just to show the Liberty Bowl audience that one play wasn't just a flash in the pan, James later added two more big play grabs. For his second catch, James hauled in a first-down grab along the sideline and had to take a nasty hit to the knee. He shook that off and later closed his night with another first-down catch where he had to go up top to snag a high throw under duress by Green. That gave James three catches for 137 yards and a touchdown in his collegiate debut.

“We've got good players,” Razorback coach Sam Pittman said in the post game press conference. “Just because you guys don't know about them don't mean that they are not good players. Now you know about them a little bit. We have more depth than what possibly you may have thought.”

That was Sam's answer but it begs the question. If some of these gems had been uncovered sooner, was a second Liberty Bowl in three years the best bowl possible for the Arkansas football program?