Coaches adjusting to schedule
FAYETTEVILLE - For likely the earliest in their preseason football history, the Arkansas Razorbacks officially start practice today.
The Razorbacks have played August season openers before, but this Aug. 31 season-opener in Little Rock against Florida A&M marks the first preparations with two-a-day practices barred by the NCAA.
In doing away with two-a-days and also mandating one preseason day off per week, the NCAA allows increased practice dates between the first official practice and the official season-opening game.
“It's really almost a sixweek window,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said at Monday’s Northwest Arkansas Razorback Club golf outing in Rogers. “Because we play a Thursday night game and because of all the changes, we're reporting early. I think we're probably the first SEC school to report if I'm not mistaken, or one of the first. So we have to take into accountability the length of it.”
Tight ends coach Barry Lunney, who as an Arkansas quarterback from 1992-95 endured arduous two-a-days for one August under Jack Crowe and the next three Augusts under Danny Ford, was asked his opinion of the new practice rules.
“Check in with me a month from now,” Lunney said. “It is what it is. That’s the way it’s set up and we are going to go and try and take advantage of the way it’s set up and get our football team ready to play good football early.”
Lunney did say having the team in Fayetteville all summer working out with most enrolled in UA summer classes diminishes the get in shape aspects of two-adays when teams would assemble in August after a summer mostly on their own.
“I think our guys are in good shape,” Lunney said. “One of the things as an assistant coach that I like about it is it (the extra days because of no two-a-days) gives us an opportunity to slow down a little bit and get some corrections done and get some great evaluations. It’s changed no doubt it.”
Inside linebackers coach Vernon
Hargreaves remarked that increasing the practice days and subtracting twoa-days allows players injured during the preseason more time to recover without missing as much practice time.
Gary Cross, the just added junior college transfer receiver, joins a receiving corps that other than senior Jared Cornelius is about as green as grass.
Other than Cornelius’ 32 catches for 515 yards and five touchdowns, the Razorbacks from 2016 only return two other wideouts with catches, thirdyear sophomore Deon Stewart (two catches for 34 yards) and third-year sophomore La’Michael Pettway (one catch for a 10-yard touchdown).
However, receivers coach Michael Smith cited not only Stewart and Pettway, but the spring practices of junior college transfers Brandon Martin and Jonathan Nance, redshirt freshman and Jordan Jones, sophomore converted from running back T.J. Hammonds and incoming freshmen Jarrod Barnes, Kolian Jackson and De’Vion Warren.
Smith said what impresses him most is that senior quarterback Austin Allen and Cornelius have been impressed with the young receivers during the summer workouts that the coaches can’t attend.
“Really been impressed with the way J-Red has taken on trying to mentor those guys,” Smith said.
Helping them should help Cornelius, too.
“We’re not dumb,” Smith said. “People are going to take J-Red away from us and it depends on how the rest of that group plays. If those guys are up to par or play better than that, he's going to have a good year.”
Nice to have a fifth-year senior like Austin Allen this season and his older brother, Brandon Allen as a fifth-year senior in 2015, as a kind of defacto receivers coach for those summer workouts that Smith can’t attend?
“There's no doubt,” Smith said. “We've been blessed to have both he and his brother. I know everybody wants to compare them, but he's a totally different quarterback. But to have a guy that's been through it, that's able to be in the huddle and give my guys advice, it's definitely a plus for us.”
Other than linebacker Alexey JeanBaptiste (recovering from foot surgery and not reporting with the maximum 105 that increases once fall semester classes begin) and freshman defensive back Montaric Brown, who is still awaiting academic certification, all scholarship players will practice today, Bielema said.