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Hogs have pieces for offensive puzzle but have to figure out how to use them
For whatever reason, Arkansas’ offenses the past two years have not been able to get the ball into the hands of Treylon Burks on a consistent basis.
Sam Pittman knows it.
“Just get the ball in his hands,” Pittman said about Burks on Thursday afternoon in his final visit with the media before Saturday’s game with Missouri.
All he has to do is pick up the phone and call Bo Hembree, the coach in Warren who figured out that was a good idea when he saw Burks in the third grade.
“He’s dynamic, he’s big, he’s fast,” Pittman said. “We need to get the ball 10, 12, 15 times a game if we can to him. I don’t know if we’ll ever get him that many, but I’d like to see it in his hands that many times.”
To play devil’s advocate here, other teams aren’t exactly complete idiots. They can look at film, too.
They are doing things to keep the ball away from Burks or swarm him when he lines up in the Wildcat formation for a direct snap.
It’s not just passing, although there have been numerous times Burks is left uncovered on the old Bang 8-type play which is just a slant across the middle. If you’re wondering what that is, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin rode that basic play to three Super Bowl wins in the early 1990’s.
“The way you force that I don’t think necessarily is in the passing game,” Pittman said. “I think you can throw some screens to him and things of that nature. Give him the ball on some motions and give him the ball out of the backfield and things of that nature.”
Adding T.J. Hammonds in the backfield along with Burks and big-play receiver Mike Woods is going to open up something with some speed coming out of the backfield. Maybe enough we can find the missing Trey Knox.
“He’s moved there and he’s earned the right to touch the ball more,” Pittman said about Hammonds. “He did a nice job against LSU and made a couple big plays for us. He’s had a really good week. It’s been a physical week here, but he’s had a really good week.”
If Hammonds has his head on straight and can stay focused, he adds some big-play dynamics to the Hogs’ offense. Against LSU, he had a 51-yard catch and a 29-yard run the only two times he got the ball.
“The guy that’s coming on a little bit is Hammonds,” Pittman said.
You get the idea the pieces are there. The task for offensive coordinator Kendal Briles is figuring out how to get the ball in the hands of the guys who can make the plays.
The problem is, though, that’s not quite as easy as it sounds.
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Balanced offense leads Hogs to whopping win over Louisiana-Monroe
No. 16 Arkansas (4-1, 0-0) got back into the win column on Thursday night, routing Louisiana Monroe (0-1, 0-0) 103-50 inside Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas’ 53-point win was its largest margin of victory since the Hogs beat Northwestern State last season by 60.
It was also Arkansas’ first time over the century mark this season, and the sixth time reaching triple digits in the Neighbors’ era.
A balanced Hog offense, that featured six different players in double figures, was led by redshirt senior guard Destiny Slocum, who scored a game-high 18 points.
Slocum also pitched in with three assists and three rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Erynn Barnum had a career night against the Warhawks, going for 17 points, the most she’s ever scored with the Hogs.
She also pulled down a season-high eight rebounds.
Turning point
The Hogs got down 4-0 early in the game, missing their first five shots. From there though, the foot hit the gas pedal, as Arkansas went on a 16-0 first quarter run and never looked back.
The first quarter would end with Arkansas up 31-9, as the Hogs got big contributions from Slocum (10 points), redshirt senior guard Chelsea Dungee (nine points) and sophomore guard Marquesha Davis (six points).
Hogs highlights
• Senior forward Taylah Thomas once again led the Hogs in rebounding, pulling down eight boards.
• Dungee, Amber Ramirez and Makayla Daniels all got into double figures once again, going for 15, 11 and 11 points, respectively.
• Daniels led Arkansas in assists, dishing four of them.
• Davis also got back into double figures, scoring 15 points. She also had three steals, a team high.
• Freshman forward Destinee McGhee showed well in extended minutes, scoring a career-best six points while snaring three rebounds.
Next game
The Hogs host the defending national champions with No. 4 Baylor coming to Fayetteville for the 2020 SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
That game will air on ESPN2, and will tip at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
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If Boyd’s ‘opt out’ is not quitting, further explanation probably required
Schools aren’t releasing information about the “opt out” choice players are making this year and Rakeem Boyd did that this week instead of just saying he quit.
Gloss it over however you want, but Boyd quit in the tweet he sent out. It’s either that or a mutual decision with Sam Pittman that moving along was in the best interest of the team.
Boyd said he was declaring for the NFL Draft he is on the fringe of being picked in right now. Most of the teams in the league figure they can pick up a running back just about any time unless you’re Jerry Jones, who’s been over-paying at the position for 25 years or so.
Boyd, elected a team captain in the preseason, just flat quit on his team that elected him to that position of respect.
I’m not the only one with that view, by the way.
“Opting out this late is quitting,” Bill King of Nashville Sports Radio told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas on Wednesday afternoon. “You’re quitting your teammates.”
King is completely correct. Covid has been around for awhile now so if there’s a concern over that it’s a little late and the reason I don’t think it had any role is Boyd didn’t mention it. Players mentioned it when they quit playing back in the preseason.
“You’ve had forever to figure this out,” King said. “What’s the point now?”
It leaves the Razorbacks a little thin at the running back position with Trelon Smith and T.J. Hammonds the only ones with a lot of experience there.
Boyd flunked out at Texas A&M, had a good second half of a season in junior college and one solid season with the Hogs wrapped around two seasons plagued by injury.
Different NFL teams will handle him quitting on his team in their own way.
The “opt out” decision made by the NCAA earlier this year was primarily done so players concerned with risks associated with covid-19 could avoid playing and not be penalized with the loss of a year.
Coaches and players have used it across the country to run off players they don’t want on the team without saying so publicly and for players to bail out on a team they really don’t want to be on anymore for whatever reason.
Sources in Starkville, Mississippi, have said Mike Leach ran off a bunch of good players, including one of the top running backs in the league in Kylin Hill.
The Hogs have had some players leave. If you believe Jerry Jacobs left to prepare for the NFL Draft, then you’ll probably fall for anything. Boyd may or may not fall into that same category, but it is interesting as Smith has emerged as a pretty good running back, Boyd has all but disappeared.
It’s not like the Hogs’ running game has been particularly impressive (this team is going to win and lose based on the passing game), but Boyd has shown he can last a season and put up over 1,000 yards.
As one of the team captains, Boyd was in a leadership role.
Leaders don’t quit with two games left in the regular season. It’s rare they are asked to leave.
It’s become fashionable for players to skip bowl games because they don’t want to risk injury for their professional future most probably aren’t going to have anyway.
The fact is they are at greater risk of injury in Fayetteville crossing Razorback Road to the players’ parking lot than playing in a bowl game.
Most of that’s due to agents, who have a vested interest in the players. You can keep your head in the sand and ignore that little fact of life, but a lot of these players have either a certified agent or a family member or friend that thinks they are going to be an agent.
“An agent’s probably been on (Boyd) a long time,” King said.
It’s impossible to regulate conversations so a signature with an agent is about the only thing that can cause a potential problem for a player, but that’s Boyd’s issue to deal with.
He is a grown man and made a grown-up decision. That also means he gets to deal with what other grown-ups think about it.
And it’s pretty simple.
Taking an extra couple of weeks to prepare for the NFL Draft is flat out quitting on your teammates at crunch time. It doesn’t pass the smell test.
If it’s something else, Boyd should have said it.
