Head Coach Ryan Silverfield has completed his Arkansas Razorbacks football coaching staff with the addition of Mitch Stewart as quarterbacks coach and Landius Wilkerson as defensive line coach.
Mitch Stewart joins Arkansas after working under Silverfield at Memphis for the past two seasons. In 2024, Stewart was a senior offensive analyst before being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2025. He briefly accepted a position at South Alabama as wide receivers coach earlier this year before returning to work with Silverfield.
At Memphis in 2025, Stewart guided quarterback Brendon Lewis, who transferred from Nevada. Under Stewart’s direction, Lewis passed for 2,673 yards with a completion rate of 68.8%, throwing 16 touchdowns and seven interceptions while also rushing for 660 yards and nine touchdowns. Notably, Lewis rushed for a season-high 103 yards in a win over Arkansas.
During Stewart’s first season at Memphis in 2024, the Tigers finished with an 11-2 record and defeated West Virginia. The offense ranked among the top programs nationally: “He helped a successful offense rank 20th in the nation in passing yards per game with 270.5 yards, 26th nationally in first downs with 300 and 17th in third-down conversion percentage (.461). Quarterback Seth Henigan finished off an impressive career with 3,502 yards passing with 25 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 64.8% of his passes (309-for-477).”
Before joining Memphis, Stewart was offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee from 2022 to 2023. His offenses were noted for high completion percentages and balanced attacks combining strong passing numbers—such as Nicholas Vattiato’s second-place finish in Conference USA for passing yards—with solid running games.
Stewart also held roles at Samford University as wide receivers coach and later offensive coordinator between 2020 and 2021. His offense achieved national rankings across several categories during that period: “During his season as the offensive coordinator, Samford ranked sixth nationally in the FCS in completion percentage, eighth in red zone offense, ninth in passing offense and eleventh in total offense.”
Earlier coaching experience includes serving as head coach at Murray State from 2015 to 2019 where he developed five NFL players including linebacker Quincy Williams—a third-round pick by Jacksonville—and led teams to notable comeback victories and multiple All-Conference honors.
Stewart began his coaching career at Newnan High School (Georgia) after playing quarterback at Valdosta State University where he was part of their national championship team.
Landius Wilkerson comes to Arkansas following two seasons leading Tulane’s defensive line unit. In the most recent season, Tulane reached its first College Football Playoff appearance after winning the American Conference championship game: “Wilkerson’s defensive line was part of one of the nation’s best pressure units with the Wave recording thirty-six sacks to rank sixteenth nationally and twenty-second nationally in tackles for loss with eighty-five.” Defensive lineman Santana Hopper earned first-team all-conference honors under Wilkerson’s guidance.
In Wilkerson’s first year at Tulane (2024), three defensive linemen received all-conference recognition after helping Tulane reach another conference championship game appearance.
Prior stops include three years coaching South Alabama’s defensive line where he developed Bubba Thomas into a four-year starter who went on to win Super Bowl LX with Seattle; one year overseeing Chattanooga’s defensive line; two years assisting Jacksonville State; and eight years developing talent at Huntingdon College—where he coached D.J. Chappell to become Huntingdon’s first All-American player.
Wilkerson played collegiate football as an offensive lineman at Alabama State University where he served as team captain on their Southwestern Athletic Conference title-winning squad before beginning his coaching career back home at McMinn Central High School (Tennessee).
Both coaches bring extensive experience across various collegiate levels into their new roles on Silverfield’s staff.
