RAZORBACKS
Bielema: ‘Great ride over,’ let games begin
SPRINGDALE — Fittingly, Friday’s annual Kickoff Luncheon at the Springdale Holiday Inn’s Northwest Arkansas Convention Center featuring the Arkansas Razorbacks began with emcee Chuck Barrett’s tribute to Frank Broyles and a moment of silence honoring him.
Broyles, in halls of fame for college football coaches and college athletic directors, died Monday at age 92. He coached the football Razorbacks from 19581976 and served as the University of Arkansas’ athletic director from
1973-2007, building an all-sports powerhouse and overseeing UA’s move from the Southwest Conference to the powerful Southeastern Conference.
A public Celebration of Life memorial service for Broyles is set for 2 p.m. today at Walton Arena.
“Coach Broyles talked so often about the difference makers in the program,” Barrett said. “The truth is, and we all know this, he was the unparalleled difference maker. And there will never be another one like him. We will miss his charm and his passion, but his spirit will live on in every Hog call that we hear from this point on.”
As for the Razorbacks’ present and future, coach Bret Bielema, who opened his first media opportunity Wednesday paying tribute to Broyles, said his team has grown after a 7-6 season that Arkansas lost to Missouri and Virginia Tech (Belk Bowl) after blowing respective halftime leads of 24-7 and 24-0.
“When people talk about expecting something from a team that nobody is talking about,” Bielema said, “I’m betting on the Razorbacks. I like where we’re at. I really do. I’m excited. And I think for those reasons you should be excited, too.”
Bielema explained his optimism.
“We played two games at the end of the year that didn’t go our way that were very upsetting,” Bielema said. “Our guys didn’t run away from it. It’s been in our hearts daily.”
They responded immediately, Bielema said, in the winter offseason program through spring practice, the summer voluntary workouts and the preseason practices for the initial 105-man roster that began on July 27 and continued through Friday night’s dress rehearsal at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
The roster expands with Monday’s start of UA fall-semester classes marking the final full practice week before the Aug. 31 season-opener against Florida A&M at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. TCU visits Fayetteville Sept. 9, then after a bye week Arkansas starts SEC play Sept. 23 against Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas.
“Spring, offseason and preseason we’ve had a great ride,” Bielema said Friday. “But that ride is done tonight. Now we focus on game week, a Thursday-night game against FAMU in Little Rock that will be awesome. And then we jump into playing TCU and we have a bye week before we play A&M and we traditionally do well against our next opponent after a bye week.”
Big 12 opponent TCU, nipped in double overtime last year by Arkansas in Fort Worth, and Texas A&M, 5-0 against the Razorbacks since joining the SEC in 2012, are old rivals from the SWC.
“I can’t wait to play TCU,” Bielema said. “And then we go down to Jerry’s World and play for a man (Dallas Cowboys CEO and Arkansas alum Jerry Jones) going into the Hall of Fame against a team we haven’t beaten. That’s very much on our mind.”
Arkansas offensive coordinator Dan Enos and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads addressed Friday’s luncheon as did the team’s four captains: senior starting quarterback Austin Allen, senior center Frank Ragnow, senior defensive back Kevin Richardson and fourthyear junior defensive back Santos Ramirez.
With the entire coaching staff and likely most of the team attending Broyles’ memorial service, the Razorbacks are using today as their NCAA-mandated off day and will practice Sunday, normally their preseason off day.
Once the typical Saturday game-week routine begins, Bielema’s Razorbacks traditionally are off Mondays with a light session on Sundays and a hard practice Tuesday accelerating preparations.