SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS

July 23, 2026

Caden Kitler

Arkansas Razorbacks

Press Conference

Q. You're going into your second season with Arkansas. What has this coaching staff done with you to help you succeed at this competitive level?

CADEN KITLER: When you have a new coaching staff, it's all about getting acclimated to everything. The transition was really smooth. They brought a whole new culture in. I'm just really excited to play football with them.

I've wanted to play for Coach Silverfield for a long time now. So it's cool that we can do it at Arkansas.

Q. Obviously at the top of your goals are all team goals, but what individual goals do you want to meet so those team goals are successful?

CADEN KITLER: I'm just trying to be the best player I can be every snap. One of my personal goals I've had for a while is to win the Rimington Trophy. It's the best center in college football. I've been working real hard this offseason to be the best player I can be for my team. And hopefully that will come in turn.

Q. You played last season with E'Marion Harris in the offensive line room. What stood out to you about him and his makeup as he heads to OU?

CADEN KITLER: He's a super athletic guy. Real flexible. Can play any position on the line. I don't know if he can snap the ball, though, so maybe he worked on that in the offseason. But he's a great guy. Y'all are gonna like him.

Q. After spending your three seasons at UCF and creating those bonds, what was kind of the deciding factor in transferring to Arkansas?

CADEN KITLER: I'm from Texas originally. I just wanted to get a little closer to home, help my family get to a little more games. So I went on visits to SMU, Arkansas, Mississippi State. And I just fell in love with Arkansas' culture and just everything they stand for.

Q. What stands out about the Arkansas culture? Your coach kind of talked about it a little bit. What stands out to you?

CADEN KITLER: I think the biggest thing is just all Arkansas has is the Razorbacks. We're not just representing the university while being here. We're representing the whole state. That's real cool about Arkansas.

Q. (Audio issues) said yesterday you all go back six years, when you took an OV to Memphis. What stood out then and how maybe is he a little different now?

CADEN KITLER: Yeah, he's a real high-energy guy. Super serious. So, I like that. The main reason I wanted to get coached by him is because he's an offensive line guy. So I knew I was going to be developed at a high level, getting coached at a high level too.

Q. You guys are clearly not the most talked-about team here at SEC media days. For you guys, for your locker room, how are you guys trying to put Arkansas back on the map here in the SEC?

CADEN KITLER: We use being the underdog as a chip on our shoulder. So every day that we see we're ranked last or whatever we're ranked, we use that as motivation every workout, every OTA we do, and that's really helping us get through the offseason. We're so excited to play football this year. It's not even funny.

Q. As the center, you're responsible for identifying the front and setting protections. When a defense disguises pressure before the snap, what are the first things you're looking for to make sure that everyone is on the same page?

CADEN KITLER: Yeah, you know, the safeties give it away a lot. I've been working a lot this offseason on reading safety rotations and all that, pre-snap. Hopefully that's gonna come in big time during the season.

But, yeah, just really communication is the biggest thing. As long as we're on the same page, if we're all wrong, we're right. As long as we're all doing the same thing and nobody is straying away doing their own thing, we should be pretty good.

Q. Let's move ahead to a Saturday in September in Fayetteville. You're standing in the tunnel. Everybody's yelling pig sooie. Reynolds Stadium. Going to get goosebumps?

CADEN KITLER: Absolutely. This is my last year. Super thankful I get to play it at Arkansas. Running through that A is like nothing else. I can't wait to hear the fans, like you said, calling the hog. I'm going to take every moment this last year in and hold it in my heart forever.

Q. Every player says they take it week by week, they're excited for each game. But going into your senior year and only your second year in this conference, which SEC team are you most excited to play that you haven't seen yet?

CADEN KITLER: That I haven't seen? I think Georgia. Georgia is going to be a good challenge for us. They've won a lot of national championships. It's going to be a real good challenge for us. They've got a real good D line. We're going to have fun that game being in Fayetteville, of course.

Q. Being a lineman, a bigger-set guy, I'm curious, what's the go-to Waffle House order for Caden Kitler?

CADEN KITLER: Go-to Waffle House. I get the sausage, egg and cheese hash brown bowl, but add gravy on top. Some fat stuff.

Q. When you look at what's happening at Arkansas, everybody talks about culture, but explain what culture at Arkansas is right now?

CADEN KITLER: Right now, Coach Silverfield is establishing that winning culture. We want to win in everything we do. We're always competing on and off the field. We compete in football, workouts, nutrition. We compete in academics.

That's the whole "We're on the Hill" thing. I don't know if you all heard about that. But we get teams and these teams are helping us communicate and get to know other position groups better.

I've got linebackers. I've got DBs. I've got receivers on my team. It's cool venturing out, getting to know my defense. That's really helping the culture a lot. We're excited to play as a closer team this year.

Q. Only been at Arkansas a couple years, but already to have the respect among your teammates, coaches, to be somebody to be selected at this event, what did that mean to you?

CADEN KITLER: It's a huge honor. Coach Silverfield called me in his office to tell me. I thought I was in trouble at first. It was good to hear that he was bringing me to this. It's a huge honor.

I'm super thankful for him for bringing me along to this. I'm just super honored to be representing the state of Arkansas here.

Q. Being an O lineman at Arkansas, the story of Brandon Burlsworth, how much is that intertwined in the culture, especially when it comes to your position specifically? And what effect does that really have on you guys?

CADEN KITLER: I mean, I think it goes to show that you can do anything you put your mind to it. I remember watching "Greater" when I was younger, before I even started playing football, I think. It's a great movie. It's a great story. We're super thankful to have people like that in our program history.

Q. Does your head coach have aura? What do you think about that?

CADEN KITLER: Does my head coach have aura? I think so. You see him in the back right there. But, no, we love Coach Silverfield. He's an awesome person. He gets us fired up. I'd like to think he has some good positive aura, if you will.

Q. Why is it among position groups that offensive linemen are usually the most interesting and fun guys to talk with?

CADEN KITLER: I don't know, I think our big personality comes with our big guts, maybe, I don't know. We'll see. I think we just have good personalities as a whole unit.

Q. You started your last 22 consecutive games spanning two schools. Is that a point of pride for you?

CADEN KITLER: Yeah, absolutely. I think it just goes to show how much I put into my physical health as well as just game plan, game prep and all that. I'm big on keeping my body right because you can't play 12 games in a row without doing something to your body.

Q. The war in the trenches is not for the feint of heart. I'm not going to ask you the verbiage that goes back and forth. But how important is it to be that most physical guy there?

CADEN KITLER: I don't know if I can say the verbiage that goes back and forth on the microphone right now. But, yeah, I think, like you said, the war in the trenches, it does go back and forth.

Being the most physical guy, that's what I try to be every single day in practice, every single game. That's huge. I think if people see me being physical, they're going to follow in suit.

So I'm a big leader-by-example kind of guy. And that's big when we get an inside run versus our D line.

Q. Last season, Arkansas was Jeff Lebby's first conference win in his two seasons at Mississippi State. What was kind of the locker room and the vibe after that big loss?

CADEN KITLER: Yeah, I think the amount of penalties that we had definitely had something to do with that loss. I mean, just how it is after every loss, drained. We worked that whole week just to lose. And for that day, we were drained.

But next day we were right back on the track for the next game. That's something we've been emphasizing a lot in the offseason is just being the cleanest team in college football, protecting the ball and not getting penalties.