Razorbacks try to keep up improving trend
FAYETTEVILLE — Coming from seven successful seasons in Wisconsin down south to Arkansas in December 2012, Bret Bielema remembered the advice of his old southern coach come north.
Hayden Fry, a Texan, Baylor grad and former assistant at Baylor and Frank Broyles’ Arkansas 1961 Southwest Conference champions before head coaching SMU and North Texas from 1962-78, during his 1979-1998 Iowa head-coaching tenure both coached nose guard Bielema and hired Bielema as his linebackers coach. Fry also imparted homilies along the way.
“A lot of times when you take over a new program, a lot of the failure can be not knowing things that are out there,” Bielema said. “Uncovering a land mine or what coach Fry used to call plowing up snakes. Things that are lying under the ground that you don’t see that are a big deal. I think we have minimized those over the course of four years.”
Surprises still occur every season, but they haven’t unpleasantly abounded on or off the field like the 3-9 overall, 0-8 in the Southeastern Conference for Bielema’s 2013 Razorback debut followed by 7-6 and 2-6 for 2014 and 8-5 and 5-3 for 2015.
More than ever, Bielema believes he knows the Arkansas hand he’s playing in 2016, starting with the Sept. 3 opener against Louisiana Tech at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“I know this roster better than any Arkansas roster I have known to this point,” Bielema said. “I feel good where we are at but by the same account we are in the SEC West (home of national champion Alabama and deemed the toughest division in college football) and have an opening opponent, La. Tech, that won a lot of games a year ago and has a lot of good players back and we go to TCU (11-2 last season) right after that. So we have got all the challenges, but you do have a certain comfort level.”
Though his quarterback has never started a college game, Bielema seems comfortable with fourthyear junior Austin Allen, a signee in Bielema’s first recruiting class and backup the last two years to older brother, fellow Fayetteville High grad and NFL-drafted quarterback Brandon Allen.
The brothers’ personalities differ vastly, but Bielema seems as confident in the younger as he became in the elder. He named Austin Allen as Arkansas’ ironclad No. 1 quarterback for 2016 with two weeks of spring practice to spare.
“I think without a doubt right now, Austin is our best quarterback,” Bielema said into the August preseason “You know who knows it? All those other quarterbacks. Because they watch the same thing I watch every day, and they know that he’s performing the best at that position.”
They don’t know who is No. 2, Bielema and offensive coordinator Dan Enos both said, going into the final preseason scrimmage.
Rafe Peavey, a third-year sophomore, and redshirt freshman Ty Storey and true freshman Cole Kelley were locked in a second-team triple tie after the first scrimmage.
Receivers for Allen abound. Returning are senior wideouts Drew Morgan (Greenwood), 63 catches, 843 yard and 10 touchdowns; Dominique Reed (Camden Fairview), 28 catches for 535 yards and six touchdowns; Keon Hatcher, Arkansas’ leading receiver as a junior in 2014 and with 13 catches for 198 yards for two games as a senior in 2015 before granted a hardship for breaking his foot; and Cody Hollister, four catches for 65 yards then supplanting Reed on the depth chart last spring after recovering from a foot injury; and fifth-year tight end Jeremy Sprinkle, 27 or 354 yards and six touchdowns.
True freshman Jordan Jones (Smackover) should join them in the game plan, Bielema and Enos said. Jones already was in the varsity mix even before Reed sprained his ankle during the Aug. 13 scrimmage.
Redshirt freshman Austin Cantrell, the 6-4, 269-pound biggest blocker of the backup tight ends, advanced through the preseason pack most likely to back up Sprinkle and complement him in two-tight end sets like Sprinkle backed up and complemented turned-pro 2015 Mackey Award winner Hunter Henry.
Thousand-yard running backs Alex Collins and Jonathan Williams have turned pro.
No problem says Bielema, citing senior Kody Walker, 90 carries for 394 yards and six touchdowns, slimming from a 265-pound fullback to a 240-pound tailback, and sophomore Rawleigh Williams, 56 carries for 254 yards, remarkably full go after healing from a broken neck. Williams netted 67 yards and a touchdown on 14 first-scrimmage carries.
They are joined by touted freshmen Devwah Whaley, 14 carries for 96 yards and a TD in the first scrimmage, and junior versatile ex-quarterback Duwop Mitchell.
Bielema and new offensive line coach Kurt Anderson did more stuffing than a casino dealer during the August preseason before opening the first scrimmage with their best lineman, senior three-year starter Dan Skipper, moved from right tackle to protect Allen’s blind side at left tackle, with his other returning starting lineman, junior Frank Ragnow, moved from guard to where it all starts at center.
Sophomore left guard Hjalte Froholdt was the only first-teamer unmoved from the preseason’s outset.
Musical chairs at right guard and right tackles were the ongoing August practice theme. Going into the Aug. 13 scrimmage, redshirt freshman Colton Jackson (Conway) had resurfaced from first-team left tackle to demoted backup to first-team right tackle with Texas graduate transfer Jake Raulerson at right guard after practicing at center and guard.
Backup center and guard Zach Rogers and guard-tackles Brian Wallace and Jalen Merrick also variously practiced first team.
When they use a fullback, freshman Hayden Johnson usually will be it, with Kendrick Jackson his backup.
Third-year coordinator Robb Smith’s defense, strong against the run and weak against the pass last year but strong in all phases in 2014, should be the allround strength of the team.
Starting with senior defensive end Deatrich Wise, on three preseason watch lists for national awards, and cat-quick classmate Jeremiah Ledbetter moved from defensive end to tackle, a deep D-line improves its pass rush.
Junior first-team defensive end Tevin Beanum (Forrest City), excused for spring practice and the first two weeks of the August preseason to tend to personal issues, returned to practice Aug. 17 and should figure in the season-opening game plan, Bielema, Smith and defensive line coach Rory Segrest have said.
Increased linebacker depth should keep mainstay starting Fayetteville grads Brooks Ellis and Dre Greenlaw fresh in the fourth quarter.
Eight defensive backs with experience, led by junior free safety Josh Liddell (Pine Bluff Dollarway) and senior cornerback Jared Collins, and the willingness to atone for last year have Smith upbeat.
“We are further along than we have ever been before,” Smith said. “We have got depth up front. This is certainly the most depth we’ve ever had at linebacker. We have a lot of guys returning in the secondary. So I am excited about where we are being able to get quality football players on the field all the time in SEC games.”
But Smith said that before two-year starting cornerback D.J. Dean suffered a severe hamstring pull that had Bielema projecting a redshirting year.
That may be revised now. Promising sophomore cornerback Britto Tutt, a junior college transfer, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in a knee on Aug. 17 and now will redshirt.
Returnees Henre Toliver, first team since last spring, nickelback Kevin Richardson (Jacksonville) and Ryan Pulley join Collins as the top cornerbacks.
Punter Toby Baker, excellent last fall, and place kicker Cole Hedlund, struggling last year but nearly perfect opening preseason, return.