Hogs want to get yards ‘dirty way’
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas offense in 2021 promises to be different than its predecessor, the first under Coach Sam Pittman and offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.
That’s even with potentially having 10 starters back.
The transition at quarterback, where nine-game starter Feleipe Franks is off to the professional ranks, will be the most apparent change. In a way, the new-look Razorbacks might reflect a retro vibe, according to Pittman.
First-team quarterback KJ Jefferson and second-teamer Malik Hornsby came to Arkansas with legit credentials as dual-threat talents. Franks was more of a pocket passer.
“As far as what I envision [with] Kendal’s offense — and I’ve watched it on tape before he was hired — I think who we have at quarterback right now is probably tailored to his offense a little bit more even than what Feleipe was,” Pittman said. “Because Feleipe was what I’m going to call a ‘surprising’ runner. He ran better than what I thought he would. These other guys are certainly capable of being a running back as well.”
“So they all can throw or they wouldn’t be here. But I think it will be more of Kendal putting in everything in his offense that he can versus some of the things he may not have had because of Feleipe and our depth chart.”
That should bode well for an Arkansas offense that wants to complement top returning tailback Trelon Smith, a bevy of wideouts led by Mike Woods and Treylon Burks, and tight ends Blake Kern and Hudson Henry with a quarterback who can stress defenses with his legs and his arm.
The Razorbacks have all five starters back on the offensive front, with Myron Cunningham and Brady Latham on the left side, Ricky Stromberg at center and Dalton Wagner and Ty Clary on the right side. Redshirt freshman Marcus Henderson is getting work early in camp at left tackle before Myron Cunningham returns this weekend.
The Arkansas coaches’ selfscout told them the offense has to be better at converting third-and-short plays with the run game.
That was so on Pittman’s mind that he turned a question about the team’s preferred run-pass split overall into its need to run when it wants to.
“On third and short, we threw the ball more than what we would like to,” he said. “We played behind the chains too much last year.
“We weren’t confident. Evidently we weren’t confident enough in our kids that we can turn around and hand the ball off on third and 2 and third and 3 and get the first down. We’ve got to come out of spring ball with the ability to think we can run the football, and that could be a quarterback run as well.”
Smith, who rushed for 710 yards and 5 touchdowns while averaging 5.3 yards per carry, thinks Arkansas can make strides at having a stout running attack.
Informed of Pittman’s words about wanting to be able to convert third-andshort plays with the running game, Smith said he and the offensive line, “definitely take that as a challenge.”
“We want to be a powerhouse football team,” he said. “We want to be a smashmouth football team.
“In those type of situations, on third and 2, third and 3, we want to be able to hand the ball off to the back and go get those 3 yards the dirty way. So coming into this season, we want to show everybody, ‘Hey, we can do that.’ I’ve talked to my O-line, they’ve talked to me, and that’s huge.”
Said receiver Mike Woods, “Coach Pittman has always been an O-line type coach, so even with the receivers he’s always emphasizing blocking and stuff like that. So running the ball has always been an emphasis. Blocking on the edge is a major emphasis for the wide receivers especially.”
The Razorbacks conducted spring practice No. 2 on Thursday in shoulder pads and shorts on the outside practice fields under dark clouds, periodic sprinkles and moderate temperatures.
In one-on-one pass drills on the grass fields, the offense and the defense took turns holding sway. Hornsby dropped a good deep ball to John David White, who had gotten a step on Myles Slusher. Hornsby then connected with Woods, who got separation from LaDarrius Bishop, for a score. Just after that, John Stephen Jones’ deep throw found its target in one of the fastest Razorbacks, Jaquayln Crawford, who raced past Joe Foucha.
Jefferson threw just over the head of an open receiver deep, then had Kendall Catalon for a long connection, but the ball bounced off Catalon’s hands after he had gotten past Hudson Clark.
One of the better reps of the man-to-man segment was Woods getting inside leverage on Slusher and hanging on to an in-cut with Slusher in tight coverage as the pair fell to the grass.
During team drills, freshman linebacker Christopher Paul broke up a pass over the middle from classmate Lucas Coley.
Slusher took some firstteam reps in the secondary along with corners Bishop and Montaric Brown, nickel Greg Brooks, and safeties Foucha and Simeon Blair with the Hogs in a 3-2-6 look.
Eric Gregory, Zach Williams and Mataio Soli all took first-team reps at defensive end during team periods.
Earlier in group work, Kern made a strong, hands-overthe-head catch on the sideline from Hornsby.
The Razorbacks will finish the week in modified pads on Saturday in a workout that is closed to the media with no post-practice interviews. Arkansas will have seven practices before going on spring break, then eight practices after the break, starting on April 1 and ending with the Red-White game on April 17.