Too many folks appear to be caught up in the fact that Arkansas’ defense is ahead of the offense after four fall practices which, of course, probably is wrong on a couple of fronts.
First of all, it’s exactly four practices of more than 20 before the season opener August 31 in Razorback Stadium against Portland State. That’s not enough time to be deciding the fate of the season.
The next question is, when the offense catches up (and the guess here is it will in a couple of weeks), is the complaint going to be about yet another weak defense?
At times you wonder exactly what some fans want or even remember what to expect from a good team four practices into fall camp.
“Defensively right now we’re playing at a speed we haven’t played at since we got here,” Chad Morris said after Tuesday’s practice.
That should be an eye-opener to anyone who’s paid the least amount of attention over the past few seasons with the Razorbacks.
“I love where this team is right now,” was how Morris opened his press conference Tuesday.
He wasn’t saying that last year. Then everything was, “we’ve got a long ways to go.”
Morris hasn’t said that this year, but to compete at the top of college football’s toughest division, there going to have to be better than even where they are now.
As you might guess, the improvement of the defensive line is creating problems with the offense.
“Offensively, we’re not as consistent as we need to be, but we’re much better,” Morris said. “We’ve got a stout defensive line and they are very disruptive. We’re going to continue to push each other and get better.”
We’ve heard the defense has been dominating in these first four practices, much like they did in the spring. If you can learn to stop the simple plays on defense first, then you can worry about coaching against the big ones.
Try and do it in reverse and the opposing offenses aren’t going to try for the big plays … they won’t have to.
My guess is the offense will be okay. The scheme last year wasn’t the problem, it was simply a lack of players with the combination of skill and work ethic to make much of anything work very well.
You can look in the rearview mirror and see last year’s wreck coming a couple of years back down the road.
Now there appears to be some players.
Freshman wide receiver Treylon Burks made a big-time play in practice Tuesday. At least that’s what the media was told because we didn’t see it.
“Treylon Burks made a one-handed catch out here today that I don’t know if I’ve seen a kid make,” Morris said. “It was unbelievable.”
The folks in Warren pretty much yawned hearing that. They saw similar catches on a regular basis with the Lumberjacks over the several years.
“He’s just powerful,” Morris said. “He’s very much attention to detail and that comes with being a young guy and coming out making plays.”
Burks is not the only one of a talented group of freshmen receivers making plays. Trey Knox, Shamar Nash and TQ Jackson have shown flashes of ability and it’s elevated the play of returning receivers like Jordan Jones, Deion Stewart and De’Vion Warrn.
“The stage is not too big for these guys we brought in here,” Morris said.
And, as Morris has said, the play of the newcomers at several positions on offense has made the returning guys pick up their play dramatically.
Which is why you shouldn’t be worrying about the offense being a little behind right now.
Wait a couple of weeks.
