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Defense, quarterback obviously biggest keys to Hogs making improvement

In all the analysis without spring practice surrounding Arkansas during this health crisis, it’s  not that difficult to lose focus of the two biggest areas that have to improve.

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In all the analysis without spring practice surrounding Arkansas during this health crisis, it’s  not that difficult to lose focus of the two biggest areas that have to improve for anything to get better.

Folks, it’s going to be the defense and settling things at quarterback. Feleipe Franks didn’t come here to help some of the youngsters figure things out. He’s wanting to hear his name called at next year’s NFL Draft.

On the other side it’s a little more cloudy.

It helps on defense the new guy in charge probably has a little extra motivation he probably won’t admit for awhile.

Barry Odom was fired at Missouri after beating the Razorbacks in Little Rock in November. Eli Drinkwitz replaced him after one year as a college head coach and they paid him $1 million a year more.

No coach will acknowledge something like that but you can bet they won’t forget.

The guess is the defense will not just be better — admittedly not exactly a high bar — but dramatically different and improved.

“You could play really good defense … say you play 75 snaps, you could play really good defense for 68 of those 75 plays, but on those seven remaining plays if you give up chunk yardage or explosive plays then it’s not a very good day,” Odom said over a week ago in a teleconference.

That was the biggest problem with the defense the last couple of years. It wasn’t that hard for teams to figure out what they were going to be doing.

“We’re very multiple and we’re doing some things that I really like,” linebacker Bumper Pool said this past week. “I kind of think that with any scheme it’s just kind of about how hard you play.”

Which is why Odom is changing the scheme, but he’s more interested in changing the effort, which appeared questionable too often over the past couple of years.

“It’s going to be an effort based defense that plays with tremendous speed,” Odom said. “Those things, if you get and train and have the habits of playing collectively together, but also playing hard, understanding your assignment.”

That’s everybody, by the way.

“It’s not just on the defensive line, it’s not just on the secondary, it’s all of them collectively together,” Odom said.

Like we said earlier, it’s not just a scheme, It’s a mind-set. Odom has said putting together a depth chart is going to be a little difficult because there may be six defensive backs starting, five or four … it will change a lot.

Everybody has said that. What the players seem to think is they are going to be expected to play better.

“We find ways to create turnovers and give the ball back to our offense,” Odom said about what he wants to do. “Give them another possession and continue to find ways effectively to get off the field on third down.

“If you can do those and focus on those elements, then you’re numbers start to decrease defensively. You have got to be a really good tackling team.

“All of those components go into playing good defense and ultimately that’s not giving up big plays.”

Pool may have summed up the biggest change without realizing it.

“You can just see coach Odom has a fire in his eyes,” Pool said. “He’s determined to be the best and it shows in everything he does. He’s strict and he’s so fired up about it.

“You can see his passion. And that passion spreads out to the whole defense.”

Which will also spread to the fans quickly … if it improves.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (18)8-02521
2.Conway (6)8-02302
3.Greenwood (2)8-02103
4.Little Rock Parkview7-11714
5.Bentonville5-31416
6.Benton7-11265
7.Fayetteville6-21008
8.Pulaski Academy6-2757
9.Rogers5-3459
10.Shiloh Christian6-24010
Others receiving votes: Marion 13, Valley View 9, Joe T Robinson 8, Mountain Home 4, Cabot 3, Elkins 3.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (20)8-01241
2.Conway (6)8-01052
3.Bentonville5-3753
4.Fayetteville6-2455
5.Pulaski Academy6-2354
Others receiving votes: Rogers 5.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (26)8-01301
2.Benton7-11022
3.Shiloh Christian6-2713
4.Marion7-1524
5.Mountain Home7-131
Others receiving votes: Little Rock Catholic 4.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (23)7-11271
2.Joe T Robinson7-1902
3.Valley View (3)8-0803
4.Hot Springs Lakeside7-1484
5.Farmington7-130
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 4, Maumelle 4, Morrilton 3, Greenbrier 2, Harding Academy 1.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (19)8-01161
2.Arkadelphia (5)6-2792
3.Little Rock Mills (1)8-0703
4.Warren6-2404
5.Malvern (1)8-0315
Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 22, Southside Batesville 11, Mena 8, Bauxite 7, DeWitt 4, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
4.Bismarck (15)8-01054
5.Fordyce (4)8-0765
Prescott (3)7-1531t
1.Osceola (2)6-149
3.Mayflower (1)8-036
Others receiving votes: Booneville (1) 31, Rivercrest 19, Mansfield 14, Charleston 4, Rison 3.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (21)8-01211
2.Conway Christian (4)8-01042
3.Des Arc7-1663
4.Bigelow (1)6-2455
5.Murfreesboro6-230
Others receiving votes: Marked Tree 10, Mineral Springs 6, Junction City 5, Cross County 1, Mount Ida 1, Poyen 1
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (25)5-0761
2.Midland (1)7-0502
3.Cedar Ridge7-1253
Others receiving votes: Rector 5.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.