After Arkansas' 20-10 Win Over Aggies, Hogs Glad They Stayed

ARLINGTON, Texas - After a 3-7 season amid COVID-19 in 2020 that followed a pair of 2-10 campaigns, thoughts of leaving the Arkansas football program crossed some players' minds.

"But I'll tell you right now, there's not a single person in that locker room that's a super senior that's saying, 'Aw dang, I wish I would've left," said six-year senior linebacker Grant Morgan after the Razorbacks' 20-10 win over No. 7 Texas A&M at AT&T Stadium Saturday.

The other fifth- and sixth-year seniors who got extra seasons because of NCAA waivers concerning COVID-19 also are glad they remained, too. They now have the Southwest Classic trophy, which went to Texas A&M from 2012-20, and the Razorbacks are 4-0 with a pair of top 15 victories, having defeated No. 15 Texas, 40-21, on Sept. 11.

"I'm excited to get back to Fayetteville and take the trophy with us," said Morgan, who had five tackles and three quarterback hurries. "Wins like this are why you come back. This is why I came back. It's why Hayden came back."

Linebacker Hayden Henry is a fifth-year senior.

"We saw what this could have been," Morgan said. "We saw this was a possibility from last year's team. I'm excited to be a part of this group that's changing the history or changing how the momemtum was going in Arkansas football."

Arkansas has not had a winning season since it finished 7-6 in 2016.

"We're starting a new path," Morgan said. "I'm excited to be able to be in that spot to say to the younger guys, 'This is how you win. This is how you
continue to win.' And we have to continue to do that."

The Hogs play at No. 2 Georgia (4-0, 2-0 SEC) at 11 a.m. Saturday on ESPN.

"Our job is not done," Morgan said. "We are 4-0, but we
have a big test next week. So we're going to celebrate this tonight and be able to hang out. And then worry about the next win tomorrow."

Written by
Guilbeau joined OutKick as an SEC columnist in September of 2021 after covering LSU and the Saints for 17 years at USA TODAY Louisiana. He has been a national columnist/feature writer since the summer of 2022, covering college football, basketball and baseball with some NFL, NBA, MLB, TV and Movies and general assignment, including hot dog taste tests. A New Orleans native and Mizzou graduate, he has consistently won Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) awards since covering Alabama and Auburn at the Mobile Press-Register (1993-98) and LSU and the Saints at the Baton Rouge Advocate (1998-2004). In 2021, Guilbeau won an FWAA 1st for a game feature, placed in APSE Beat Writing, Breaking News and Explanatory, and won Beat Writer of the Year from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA). He won an FWAA columnist 1st in 2017 and was FWAA's top overall winner in 2016 with 1st in game story, 2nd in columns, and features honorable mention. Guilbeau completed a book in 2022 about LSU's five-time national champion coach - "Everything Matters In Baseball: The Skip Bertman Story" - that is available at www.acadianhouse.com, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble outlets. He lives in Baton Rouge with his wife, the former Michelle Millhollon of Thibodaux who previously covered politics for the Baton Rouge Advocate and is a communications director.