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Again, we don’t know what we don’t know about Hogs
There were bright spots in the Hogs’ second scrimmage, but not enough to answer the many questions.
Bret Bielema only let the media (and fans showing up early for Fan Day) see the second half of practice.
That meant no Austin Allen and very little of the No. 1 offense and defense, often mixed with second and third-teamers.
We still don’t know what we don’t know.
The backup quarterback spot is still wide open. Cole Kelley got credit from many afterwards, but apparently they didn’t notice the defensive rush that would have sacked him on some big passes he connected on.
That’s likely to be an ongoing problem and the biggest issue with quarterbacks as tall as Kelley’s 6-foot-7 stature. Their delivery tends to be very, very long and it’s the same story with Kelley.
Bielema said later Kelley had a better day today … but Ty Storey had the better week of practice with the No. 2 offense. Storey’s motion and deiivery is much faster, but in Arkansas’ offense, it’s never featured quarterbacks that got rid of the ball as quickly as they should, in my opinion.
So we’re right back where we started.
Kelley and Storey. Storey and Kelley. The guess is the decision will be handled on a case-by-case basis. Let’s face it, under Bielema the No. 2 quarterback doesn’t see an awful lot of playing time.
Sooner or later, the chicken in that game comes home to roost. It’s only a matter of when, not if.
When meeting with Bielema afterwards, he talked about how well Allen played along with the first-team linebackers.
“They were very productive, very dominant in the first half,” Bielema said of starting inside linebackers Dre Greenlaw and Scoota Harris.
Of course nobody saw that.
In the second half they weren’t that dominant. Oh, there was the occasional play made by both sides, which is the norm for a scrimmage.
But there wasn’t domination on either side of the line of scrimmage.
There were several plays that would have been quarterback sacks, except they weren’t calling many of those in the second half of the scrimmage. Whether that was because the fans in attendance were more interested in offensive big plays than defensive plays of any variety.
Maybe the biggest highlight, once again, was running back Chase Hayden, who is looking every scrimmage like someone with the ability to make big plays.
At least against the Hogs’ backup defense.
The real question will be if he can make those big plays against SEC defenses like Alabama, LSU and others.
Which is why we still don’t know what we don’t know.
