Arkansas football: Drew Sanders transfers from Alabama, has big impact – Southwest Times Record

FAYETTEVILLE — Drew Sanders has always been serious. But mostly, he’s always been serious about football.
When he was 5, Sanders would stuff dog treats in his child-sized pads and football pants. He’d take the family dog, a black Lab named Molly, out in the yard and get her to chase him. He’d “tackle” her — as much as a 5-year-old can tackle a 50-plus-pound dog.
To Molly, it was a game that led to pets and treats. To young Sanders, it was practice.
Sanders went from roughhousing in the backyard to a 5-star prospect at Ryan High School in Denton, Texas. The linebacker signed with Alabama before hitting the transfer portal and choosing Arkansas.
Now, Sanders is tied for the national lead in sacks with 5.5. No. 19 Arkansas (3-1, 1-1 SEC) leads the country with 20.
The junior is one of the key pieces in a Razorbacks’ defense that will face its toughest test — and Sanders’ former team — in No. 2 Alabama (4-0, 1-0) on Saturday (2:30 p.m., CBS) at Razorback Stadium.
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Sanders’ father, Mitch, was a football coach for 25 years. Being a coach’s son meant Sanders was always around the game and always wanted to be part of it.
Mitch Sanders recalled another memory of 5-year-old Sanders. He had seen his father “scribbling,” drawing up plays and watching film, and he wanted to scribble, too.
“He gave me a playbook, and he really wanted me to run this play,” Mitch Sanders said. “There were, like, 15 to 18 players on offense and a lot fewer on defense. … After the game, he had his head down and was kind of moping. I asked him, ‘What’s wrong?” and he said, ‘You didn’t run my play.'”
By the time he was in middle school, Drew Sanders knew he wanted to play at a high level, and he started taking steps to make that happen. Mitch Sanders helped him train, and his mother helped him with nutrition. But there came a time that Drew Sanders was doing too much.
Mitch Sanders remembers his son lifting weights five or six days a week. He would try to fit strength, agility and skill training into one day. It wasn’t sustainable. Mitch Sanders had to teach his son the importance of recovery and a balanced schedule. If he wanted to play high-level college football, he couldn’t burn out in high school.
Drew Sanders committed to play for Oklahoma in 2017. But after an official visit to Alabama in spring 2019, he flipped to the Tide. He spent two seasons at Alabama. As a sophomore last season, Sanders played in 12 games with three starts.
After 2021, Alabama retained and added plenty of talent at linebacker. But Mitch Sanders said his son didn’t choose to leave because of the competition at his position. Alabama coach Nick Saban said earlier this season that Drew Sanders likely would have started had he stayed in Tuscaloosa.
Part of what drew Sanders to Arkansas was being closer to home. But he also saw an opportunity in how the Razorbacks might use him.
Sanders had played outside linebacker at Alabama, but he wanted to move inside. He saw the production Arkansas’ linebackers had and the way the staff used them, and it looked like a match for how he wanted to play.
“I wanted to make that transition from playing with my hand in the ground to standing up a little bit,” Sanders said in spring practice. “I thought I could fit in the scheme (Arkansas was) running, so they were first on my list.”
Sanders’ transfer gave Arkansas a perfect candidate to make up for the loss of Hayden Henry and Drew Morgan. Placing Sanders alongside returning star Bumper Pool gave Arkansas a huge boost in the middle of its defense.
Sanders is a very different person and player compared to Henry and Morgan. Coach Sam Pittman joked on his radio show that Sanders’ guest appearance was the most he’d heard the linebacker talk. But he wasn’t brought in to be a one-to-one replacement for the former leaders, and the role he’s carved out is a unique one.
Moving from outside linebacker to inside was a challenge. Sanders hadn’t played inside consistently since his junior year of high school. He had to re-learn how to see the field and make plays as a stand-up linebacker. Arkansas has used him on the edge, too, putting him in a hybrid role that allows him to get to the quarterback often. Through four games, it’s worked.
Against Alabama and Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young on Saturday, the defense will have to be at its best. But Sanders gets to quarterbacks better than most, and when he does, it takes him back to those days in the yard with Molly. Only now, he’s not the one with the treats.
“It’s all excitement,” he said on “Sam Pittman Live” last week. “It’s like a dog sees a bone, and you’ve got to go get it.”
Christina Long covers the Arkansas Razorbacks for the Southwest Times Record and USA Today Network. You can follow her on Twitter @christinalong00 or email her at [email protected].

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