Chad Morris knows the importance of the quarterback position.
Especially when it comes to the fans.
At every press conference during Arkansas’ early fall practices he has addressed the position, covering every player at the position with the exception of walk-on Jack Lindsey (and apologies if he has mentioned him and I missed it).
You get the idea there is no fixed timeline on Morris making any kind of decision on the most high profile position on the team, but he’ll know it when he sees it.
“There’s really not one,” Morris said Saturday at Media Day. “I know everybody wants to know when we’re going to make it. I know we’re going to get through the scrimmages. We’re going to see them move as a team down the field and see who gets them in the end zone.”
He wants them to feel pressure. We don’t know if Morris gets in the head of quarterbacks the way Bobby Petrino or Lou Holtz used to, but it’s clear he does it get consistency.
“These guys have got to feel the pressure,” he said. “We want the same guy every day. We don’t want a guy that’s up here one day and down here the next. Up 10 or down 10, I want to see the same guy that’s going to keep everything under control and will his team to win.”
After the two practices there’s been media availability, Morris has talked about Ty Storey, Cole Kelley, Daulton Hyatt and freshmen John Stephen Jones and Connor Noland.
Hyatt “shot out of the box,” Morris said Saturday.
“No one is talking about this guy,” Morris said. “So, as I shared with him, I said, ‘No one is talking about you, man. What are you going to do? Are you just going to sit back and give it up here or what? Or are you gonna go compete?'”
Hyatt got everyone’s attention with his mobility in the spring. Since then, he’s added some bulk to a painfully skinny frame, up to 196 pounds (and on a 6-foot-4 frame that’s still thin).
At Media Day on Saturday, all of the players called the competition between Storey and Kelley as close. We heard that from nearly every one of the players.
Morris talked about tweaking the offense, which could be interpreted as being flexible for multiple quarterbacks. That’s something good coaches do. Coaches that don’t have that flexibility usually don’t have a job long.
He’s told us how that shows up in the first read of his offense, which is really an option offense.
“If he is a good runner, we’ll have him take that first read to keeping the ball if the first option is not there,” Morris said. “If he’s not a good runner, then instead of keeping it that option becomes passing the ball.”
It’s basic option football as much as the old Wishbone or Nebraska I-formation option offenses were in the 70’s and 80’s.
And it just keeps everybody wondering about the quarterback position.
Some can run it. Some aren’t quick-footed enough and need to pass it.
Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock just have to figure out who does what with the most consistency.
Because, we’re guessing, that’s who the ultimate starter will be.
