Former Hog tight end adds fuel to Arkansas football's fall campaign fire

In hindsight, Ty Washington's departure from the Arkansas Razorbacks could be seen as a tipping point in the 2024 football season. The Razorbacks were coming off two of their most impressive wins over a three-week stretch when head coach Sam Pittman dismissed Washington and fellow tight end Var'Keys Gumms from the team.

After watching Luke Hasz and Andreas Paaske each catch a pair of touchdowns as tight ends during a 58-25 dog walking of the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, Washington refused to enter the game for mop up duties. Gumms, who said he had been in a car accident in the weeks leading up to the game, similarly declined to play that day, prompting Pittman to dismiss both from the team following the game.

After upsetting No. 4 Tennessee at home two weeks before and set to return to Fayetteville to host another ranked Southeastern Conference (SEC) rival, Pittman's Hogs stood at 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the first SEC race without divisions. More importantly, Arkansas was not out of contention for one of the top two spots in the league, a possible trip to the SEC championship game, and a spot in the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff (CFP).

Instead of focusing on that reality, the ensuing distraction caused by the exit of the reserve tight ends was all the talk going into the pivotal Ole Miss game. Lane Kiffin's Rebels—who the Razorbacks thumped 42-27 in their previous visit to Fayetteville—took full advantage a divisive atmosphere and embarrassed the Razorbacks 63-31 in front of a capacity crowd.

That ended any hope of an improbable run at an SEC title game appearance, and they finished the season losing their remaining SEC contests to ranked teams Texas (20-10) and at Missouri (28-21) to finish 6-6 in the regular season.

Ty Washington being 'Honest' with the Notre Dame Media

The 2025 season officially kicks off for the Razorbacks on August 30th when the Alabama A&M Bulldogs come to town. Washington, however, couldn't resist throwing shade from his new home in South Bend, Ind., perpetuating distractions in advance of returning to Donald W. Reynolds Razorback stadium with a new squad of Notre Dame Fighting Irishmen at his back on Sept. 27.

"To be honest, I just want to win. That’s all I want. I just want to win and get that over with and get a dub just like any other week to be honest," Washington said at fall camp press conference on Friday. "I still have love for the fan base. I still have love for the players that’s on the team. I still talk to them to be honest. I’ve still got love for some of the coaches. I just want to get a win just like any other week to be honest with you."

It was interesting how each time Washington ate the bait and took shots at his former coaches, he announced his candor by prefacing it with "to be honest." No doubt, some of his candid comments were aimed at head coach Sam Pittman, but he saved some arrows for Razorback offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.

After his dismissal from the Razorback football team, Washington stayed around for the Spring semester and finished his under graduate degree in Fayetteville. It wasn't long however before he got a text from the coach he turned away from at Cincinnati to come to Arkansas. That coach was current Notre Dame tight end coach Mike Denbrock.

"I’ve got a long connection with Coach Demrock so I kind of like it," Washington said. "I like being on the field with him. The offense is more complex than Bobby’s offense and what I was used to — to be honest. It’s a lot of more things you can do. In Bobby’s offense, everybody knows he’s got a route. You’re going to get this route, so he probably won’t run this route.

"In this offense, you can run that route so you have to know what everybody else’s is on the field. You have to know everything and it makes for more diversity."

Young, international Razorback rebuttal

Washington took his post-graduate talents to the historic national power and CFP finalists after attributing his reticence to play at Starkville to emotional unreadiness caused by the then-impending loss of his grandmother. Gumms found a new home with the University of Las Vegas at Nevada and Hasz, who like Washington suffered a season-ending injury for the Razorbacks in 2023, defected to Ole Miss via the transfer portal following the 2024 regular season.

That left Pittman and Petrino needing to rebuild the tight end room around Paaske, a 6-6 Dane from Copenhagen, Denmark and unproven youngsters.

Firmly on the hot seat going into the 2025 season, Pittman could use some wins of his own. He built his coaching reputation as one of the best offensive line guru's in the country. He was also known as a players coach with a soft place in his heart for the mental health of his players.

Those offseason wins came when Pittman brought in senior transfer Rohan Jones from Montana State and Jaden Platt from Texas A&M to join Paaske. Arkansas' current tightend room also has promising underclassmen like redshirt sophomore Maddox Lassiter from Warren and 6-7 freshman Gavin Garretson from Chico, Calif.

Platt, who played under Petrino at Texas A&M and has been practicing with the team through the spring. He seems to have the same optimistic outlook on his new digs as Washington, who is expected to compete for playing time at Notre Dame but still much to prove.

"I would say the biggest difference is the culture and the family here at Arkansas," said Platt. "When I came here the family aspect of things hit me right away. Here I can go up to any guy in the locker room. It doesn’t matter about position, weight or height. 

"Whatever it is I can go up to them and have a conversation and it would be real. That’s something that I appreciate. I am sure everyone else does because everything is like a family. The meaning One Hog. That’s true because that’s what it is."

The Razorback offense enters this season with mostly of new faces among their receiving corps as a whole, however, Pittman — perhaps because of the proximity to the offensive line — went into this summer's SEC Media Days in late July with a focus on his tight end room.

"I believe we have a really good wide receiver corps," Pittman said during SEC Media Days on July 17th. "Again, we’re big. We’ve got length and now in our tight ends. We finally have two tight ends that you can throw 12 package out there and you can throw the ball to either one of them. Also, you can run the ball.

"Tight end wise Rohan Jones is a very talented guy. He’s fast and very talented. Andreas Paaske is coming back. He can do both. He can block. I’m not saying Rohan can’t do both but we are going to send him deep because he can run. Andreas Paaske is a good player. He can do both. He can catch and he can block. Platt is a guy that can do both. We got him from A&M and he can do both too. You’ve got to add Maddox Lassiter in there as well. I like our group of tight ends."

You mad bro?

However, hearing those comments may triggered Washington, who like Hasz, was perceived as an under sized receiving tight ends with a history of fragility. When prompted to compare his experience at Arkansas to his experience so far in South Bend, Washington didn't limit his criticisms to 'some coaches.'

"The community around here is great," he said. "The locker room here that is a big difference. At Arkansas every practice, everybody would just leave 15 minutes in after you get back from practice. 

"Here it is probably guys still here just playing, talking, chopping it up after practice. They are making sure you are okay and just playing and goofing around — which I love that. I’m a goofy person so I love goofing around. And the coaches are different. I just love this place."

For sure, Bobby Petrino has never been known as fond of goofing around in his storied football career. If Pittman was coming off of a deep run into the CFP like Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, he might be more like the lovable, easy-going players coach that came into his first head coaching job six year ago. Instead he's coming off a pair of .500 regular seasons capped by Liberty Bowl wins. Sandwiched in between is a bowless 4-8 campaign the year Hasz and Washington went down to injuries.

"You’d have to ask each one of those kids (why they left Arkansas)," said Pittman, who maintains his easy going manner 'most of the time.'

"Here’s what it’s not because of," he said. "It’s not because of the way they are treated. It’s not because of the way they are developed or because of the way they are talked to. That’s not the reason. 

"It could be playing time. It could be finances. Probably a majority of it is finances. You would have to ask those guys, but I do believe in who we have in replacement. They are happy with what their deal is and they will represent the university well."