Bielema: Kenny Hill ‘much more improved’ since last Arkansas game

The last time Arkansas saw Kenny Hill, he was throwing for 386 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-28 victory for Texas A&M.

That was Sept. 27, 2014, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

And yet ...

“He’s a much more improved player than the last time we saw him,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said. “I think he feels comfortable.”

The 2014 game against the Razorbacks was the last game Hill won before last Saturday night, when he made his TCU debut. He lost his next three games at A&M, was benched, then suspended, released from his scholarship and eventually transferred to TCU.

Last week, he threw for 439 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three touchdowns for the Horned Frogs in their win against South Dakota State, impressing Bielema.

“His decision-making was very good,” the Arkansas coach told reporters in Fayetteville. “He throws the ball with a lot more accuracy and has more velocity on it, and I think as the game wore on, he settled into the plan they were giving him a lot better. He looked to have the answers just by his athleticism and his ability to throw the football.”

Defensive coordinator Robb Smith told reporters he remembers how his unit couldn’t “finished the deal” in the 2014 game against Hill, who threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and another in overtime to win the game.

“So I have a lot of respect for him as a quarterback from that standpoint,” Smith said. “I think he gets rid of the ball quickly. I think he makes good decisions. He looks very comfortable in the system there after seeing one game, so we are certainly going to have our work cut out for us.”

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Bielema: Kenny Hill ‘much more improved’ since last Arkansas game."