Morris, staff shift gears toward 2019

Arkansas first-year head football coach Chad Morris was likely about as displeased with Friday’s season finale at Missouri as he was the week before when Arkansas lost, 526, at Mississippi State.

The performance in Starkville, Miss., prompted Morris to invoke adjectives like “disgusted,” not to mention “unacceptable,” which he used nine times after the game. Arkansas (2-10, 0-8 Southeastern Conference) followed it up with a 38-0 loss in Columbia, Mo., in 40-degree rain.

The season is now over and recriminations at this point seem pointless. Players believing they should move have already begun to leave and Morris is resolved to right the ship for next season. There’s also no point in flogging the players he hopes to have back, especially since their good will is vital for relating to recruits with the Dec. 19 early signing date.

Morris first paid homage to the seniors after the game whom he inherited from an already shell-shocked program that went 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the SEC in 2017 to end Bret Bielemea’s time at Arkansas.

““Well, first of all I want to thank our seniors and everything they’ve been through in this program,” Morris said. “The guys invested their time and efforts and they’ve definitely helped paved the way for a start of this program where we will rebuild this program.”

Then he mentioned a defense that let go of the rope at Starkville and stiffened after Mizzou’s game-opening touchdown drive. The unit could not hold up from the struggles of the team’s offense and the prowess of an NFL prospect at quarterback in Drew Lock.

“Those guys were playing extremely hard,” Morris said. “I was very pleased with the way we worked defensively. I know we gave up the long drive early on, but I was disappointed offensively.

“We gave up some things in the middle and quick turnovers. You give two turnovers up and you give them two short fields, it’s hard on anybody. That’s something that we’ve got to do a better job of that.”

Then on to next year that starts with this December signees class.

“We’ve got three weeks of solid recruiting,” Morris said.

“We’ll be out on the road starting on Sunday in homes and schools, but absolutely we’ve got to continue to address the needs of this program moving forward.”

While work starts on the recruiting road, it also for the 2018 underclassmen also begins at home.

“Moving forward with this thing starts Monday,” Morris said. “We’ve got a 7 a.m. team meeting and the thing we’ve got to continue to push is we’ve got a lot of developing e have to do. We have to recruit and develop the players that we have and part of the message is a complete all-in mentality and that’s what we have to work for.”