Former Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain had a lot of things to say about the future of Arkansas football, both what worked during his time with the Razorbacks and how he believes the program can navigate the future.
Mustain was a guest during Hawg Sports luncheon this week and talked about what he believes allowed the program to be successful during the 2000s under Houston Nutt and Bobby Petrino.
Former Arkansas QB Mitch Mustain not shying away from his thoughts on what makes a competitive Razorbacks team. pic.twitter.com/5N5np8AWd5
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"It was nice we were able to use our talent, and the fact is, you know, we weren't the biggest team out there. We weren't the fastest in a lot of ways. And to the point where I think Petrino has done a good job, and I've said, not to try to tie it in too hard here... Arkansas is not one of those teams that's going to be able to plug in and go head-to-head every single week with a lot of the major SEC teams. We don't have the depth or even the talent overall," Mustain said.
The Razorbacks had a solid 10-year run under Nutt, going 75-48 with multiple nine-win seasons and a 10-win season in 2006. Ironically, that season proved to be the beginning of the end for Nutt as he didn't click with offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who was a state legend as a high school coach and creative offensive mind.
Petrino took Arkansas football to another level with back-to-back double-digit wins seasons that culminated in a top five ranking at the end of the 2011 season. Unfortunately, we know where things went from there.
Is Mustain aiming for a Petrino/Gus alliance?
Without putting words in Mustain's mouth, he seemed to like the idea of Petrino being back with Arkansas, and he also threw out a compliment to Malzahn, who was also his former high school coach.
"Gus [Malzahn] was able to recognize that, at Hughes [High School], he didn't have [talent depth]. He looked at what he had and thought, 'OK, let's make it fit, I've got a bunch of fast guys who can run some pretty basic stuff and I can get the ball to them'"Former Arkansas QB Mitch Mustain
Is Mustain trying to manifest a Petrino-led Arkansas team with Malzahn as the offensive coordinator? It doesn't seem like the latter will be at FSU longer than a season. How would the Razorback faithful take to such an alliance?