Former walk-on quarterback Jack Lindsey has waited the better part of four seasons to get a shot at starting for the Razorbacks at quarterback. Lindsey, who had one small school offer out of Springdale High School, chose to walk-on at Arkansas after current Interim head coach Barry Lunney Jr. convinced former head coach Bret Bielema to offer Lindsey preferred walk-on status at Arkansas.
At 6-2 and 160 pounds with a 5.0 40 as a high school senior, Lindsey admitted that he was in over his head his freshman year. But during that redshirt season he hit the weight room and began working to increase his speed and agility.
In the fall of 2017 he first drew notice in an August scrimmage after hitting freshman receiver Koilan Jackson with a 40 yard pass over Ryan Pulley, the Hogs best cover corner. Over the next three seasons he earned a reputation of being the “smartest quarterback in the room” according to Lunney but the only time he was seen in action was during practice, in various scrimmages and in the 2018 and 2019 Red-White games.
That finally changed when Lunney was named Interim head coach after head coach Chad Morris was fired following the Western Kentucky game. the following week, which was an open date before the LSU game, Lunney mentioned that he would not hesitate to go with Lindsey if the circumstances warranted.
In the 4th quarter against the Tigers, after K.J. Jefferson and Nick Starkel went to the bench with concussion symptoms, Lindsey entered the field for the first time as a collegiate athlete. On his first snap he went 30 yards up the middle and followed that with a touchdown strike to Mike Woods on the next snap.
Lindsey is the son of former Arkansas Tight End Lyndy Lindsey and the grandson of Jim Lindsey who was a tailback on the 1964 national championship team. Jim Lindsey went on to play in the NFL for the Minnesota Vikings.
Although his Razorback bloodlines run deep Jack Lindsey credits another Razorback for his reputation as an X’s and O’s savant when it comes to quarterback play. Uncle Zak Clark, who played quarterback for the Razorbacks and has coached on the high school level for years, spent many hours with his nephew exposing him to various protections and defensive reads while young Jack was still in junior high.
“Every Thanksgiving and Christmas we’d all be eating turkey and watching ballgames while Zak and Jack were over in the corner with a chalkboard hashing out ins and outs of various offenses,” Lyndy Lindsey recalled. “He’s waited for this moment for years. We’re all real excited to see him get his chance.”