‘We could definitely hang with them’: Arkansas defensive back’s bold claim ahead of clash vs. Alabama

As has been the case for many other SEC teams over the past decade, Arkansas has not had much of an answer for the Alabama Crimson Tide as of late.

Alabama heads into its upcoming conference road clash with Arkansas riding a 15-game winning streak over the Razorbacks. The reigning SEC champions have tallied at least 30 points scored in 12 of these such victories, including last year’s narrow 42-35 home win against Arkansas.

Numerous Arkansas players who featured in last year’s defeat to the Crimson Tide are set to play in this week’s SEC matchup, including defensive back Myles Slusher. Heading into the game, Slusher is as confident as he could be in just how his team can perform against the SEC powerhouse.

“We could definitely hang with them,” Slusher said during a press conference on Wednesday. “I never just looked at them like… they’re a great team, don’t get me wrong. They’re a great team. I just feel like we should look at everybody the same, you know? Go into the same week with the same mindset that we want to get on them early and keep it up through all four quarters because it’s a long game.

“It’s a lot of players from last year that was on my mind going into this game that I want to recover from, but it’s just all led to the details throughout the week of practice. So as long as we have a strong practice this week, I feel like we’ll be fine.”

Slusher and the rest of Arkansas’ defensive back unit will look to turn around their early season woes this week. Arkansas comes into the game ranking at 13th in the SEC in passing yards allowed per game with a 302.5 average. On the other hand, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is off to a potent start to his campaign, as he currently ranks at second among all SEC passers in passing touchdowns with 13 to go along with a fifth-best 1,029 passing yards.

It will be noteworthy to see just how much of a challenge Arkansas will pose in its upcoming duel with the Crimson Tide.