Coach to Hogs: Keep your girlfriends happy

Originally posted on Arkansas Razorbacks on SI
By Kent Smith | Last updated Aug 8, 2025 10:54 AM ET

In a lot of cases, there's plenty of room to assess things the wrong way when reading between the lines while a coach is speaking. However, when it comes to offensive line coach Eric Mateos, it feels pretty safe to say that at some point in his coaching career, drama involving a players' girlfriend went a long way toward potentially derailing an entire game week.

Girlfriends were definitely top of mind during Mateos' press conference Thursday. The message to his players was definitively clear: Keep your girlfriends happy.

Whether it be junior high or the junior year of college, a difficult break-up can really mess up a young man mentally. Unfortunately, this bleeds over into other parts of life, and sports is not off limits.

A huge offensive lineman whose mind is trying to figure out what in the world just happened and how he's going to fix it isn't going to be fully focused in practice. He's going to miss calls and assignments, which lowers the quality of preparation for everyone around him.

Worst case scenario is the mental duress carry over into an actual game. Fortunately, for the Razorbacks, Mateos is in a position with his group to avoid a disgruntled girlfriend ruining everyone's Saturday this fall.

"Maybe somebody's girlfriend breaks up with them on Wednesday and they're practicing like crap, and that other guy's right on his heels," Mateos said. "Well, maybe that guy's the guy [who gets the start that weekend while the other gets over his girlfriend.] So I think we have the numbers and the depth to make that a competitive situation. How it's going to play out? We'll see."

The idea is to do whatever it takes to keep girlfriends happy in regard to who the young men are and what they see. That means injuries can't be an excuse either.

Keeping mentally sharp, engaged and in shape has double benefits for fighting through an injury and Mateos wants his men to understand that. Fortunately for the Hogs, redshirt freshman Kobe Branham, who raised a lot of eyebrows with his performance in the Liberty Bowl, followed the playbook perfectly when a torn pectoral muscle sidelined him this past spring.

"I mean, he missed two months of working on his pecs," Mateos said. "You know, I'm sure his girlfriend would have liked to have him been able to do some bench press over the summer. So obviously, I think that set him back."

Even though his injuries limited what he was able to do, Branham put the extra time and energy into other areas of his workout to give himself the best chance to claim a spot as a starter on the offensive line despite this being one of the more competitive years in a long time at the position.

"From a football IQ standpoint, he was always engaged, always in meetings," Mateos said. "From a athleticism standpoint, you know, he's not out of shape. I was worried about him being out of shape, but he ran. He ran basically the last month of the summer, so he didn't lift as the same in July, but he ran and did everything almost five weeks before camp, so he didn't come in out of shape. I think that's what's helped him, because I think if he would have missed the run, and he'd probably be struggling from a conditioning standpoint."

Considering the team is girlfriend-proofed through quality depth and pushed to a higher level through intense competition, there appears to be a little something behind the offensive line being projected the Hogs' best position group. Arkansas has lost a lot of close games over the years, often because of a sack, hurried pass or a penalty along the offensive line, so this very well could be the year the small things goe the Razorbacks' way.

If that's the case, it won't just be the players' girlfriends who are happy throughout the fall. The whole state will follow suit.