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FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas football team announced its three team captains on Monday ahead of the first game of the season this weekend. Quarterback KJ Jackson , center Caden Kitler and linebacker Bradley Shaw will don the "C" on their chest, designated as team captains. All three are returners from last season. Jackson took the reins of the starting quarterback job a little over a week ago when he was named the starter. He threw for 441 yards and three touchdowns with 52 yards and two scores on the ground last year. “Excited about (Jackson) and his role as QB1 with the future of our program,” Silverfield said. “He’s done an excellent job…leading up to today and that decision, it wasn’t an easy decision, but a very confident one we made as a staff. Very, very confident moving forward with him as our starter and leader.” ALSO READ: HawgBeat's Arkansas football game-by-game predictions Kitler returns as the starting center after he started 11 of the 12 games last season. He ranked the No. 241 center in the nation according to Pro Football Focus and had an overall grade of 57.7 with a 68.4 pass-block and 51.8 run-block grade in 719 snaps. Shaw will be the anchor of the Arkansas defense and is stepping into a big role this season. He sat behind Xavian Sorey Jr. and Stephen Dix Jr. last season but still saw plenty of playing time. He had 50 total tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. “It’s something that I definitely had to grow into,” Shaw said Saturday . “And I’d say Coach Roberts and Coach (Cannon) Gibbs, they helped me grow into that role. At first, it was kind of unusual because previously I never really had to command.” The Razorbacks will open the season against North Alabama on Saturday at Razorback Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:15 p.m. CT and the game will air on the SEC Network.