How Hogs’ cornerback slipped through cracks of recruiters at Highland Park
College coaches flock to the Scots’ program near downtown Dallas, but looking for quarterbacks and linemen, not cornerbacks like Hudson Clark.
Joseph Hoyt of The Dallas Morning News talked with Tye Richardson and Matt Jenkins (Halftime) on ESPN Arkansas on Tuesday morning about how Clark wasn’t really noticed.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – Joseph Hoyt on Hudson Clark
Tye & Clay on Jerry Jacobs opting out, Lane Kiffin’s comments, plus the best Hot Sauce!
Jacobs’ exit not that big a deal, whether his choice or mutual parting of ways
It’s a good bet the departure of defensive back Jerry Jacobs was, at best, a mutual parting of the ways with Arkansas and it could actually be some addition by subtraction.
If Andrew Hutchinson hadn’t asked Sam Pittman specifically about Jacobs adding to the depth in the secondary this week against Texas A&M, a now-deleted Twitter post is all we’d have to go on.
That posting said:
“After much prayer and discussion with my family, I’ve decided that it is best for me to opt out of my final year and declare for the NFL draft. I have worked long and hard for the opportunity to play in the NFL and believe this is the right time to pursue this goal. I’m humbled and excited to attack this next challenge.”
Okay, so that basically has nothing to do with the Covid-19 opt-outs we’ve seen. This year has been so weird I’m not sure anything should be that surprising.
This wasn’t, based on what we’ve heard about Jacobs for a while now. He wasn’t given the option of coming back to Arkansas State and had to go to a junior college, according to sources familiar with the situation in Jonesboro.
Pittman wasn’t going to go into any details, either.
“Jerry Jacobs has opted out,” Pittman said. “So he’s no longer on the football team.”
It’s not a talent issue. The negatives aren’t legal or substance abuse from what I’ve heard for a couple of months from folks in Fayetteville. None of those were the problem at Arkansas State, either.
There are a lot of other issues that have gotten players kicked off teams for a century. The signs point to this with Jacobs opting out.
If it was health-related, there would have been a mention of that. Nope. With a tweet from Jacobs being deleted just hours after it was posted seems rather strange.
And it points to Jacobs and the Razorbacks mutually agreeing to part ways.
The emergence of Hudson Clark at cornerback probably played a role. Jacobs was injured against Auburn and played sparingly against Ole Miss when Clark showed what he could do with three interceptions against one of the most highly-regarded offenses in the SEC.
If Jacobs was a problem in the locker room or in need of an attitude adjustment, Clark’s emergence may have made it easier for Pittman to encourage him to prepare for the NFL Draft.
Which, in the end, could make this no big deal at all.
Pittman previews A&M game, says Jacobs has opted out of rest of season
Hogs coach Sam Pittman dropped an interesting tidbit late in his Monday press conference, saying that Jerry Jacobs has opted out of the remainder of the season.
O’Gara on Alabama’s offensive production being larger than expected
Saturday Down South’s Connor O’Gara told Phil Elson, Matt Jenkins and Matt Travis (Halftime) that the high-powered offense of the Crimson Tide has been a surprise.
Defense has carried Razorbacks with almost no rushing offense in early games
Tom Murphy of the Democrat-Gazette talked Monday morning about the surprising effectiveness of the Hogs’ defense through first four games.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – Bye weeks stink… it’s GAME WEEK
Tye & Tommy on what they did during the bye week, Tom Murphy joins and more!
It’s not hard to see what changed for Hogs’ success with new coaches
Without even playing this weekend, Arkansas was still getting mentioned in a positive way all across the landscape of the SEC … and nobody giggled.
If you don’t think coaching matters, well, think again.
Some of us told you the players on the roster were better than 4-20 over the past two seasons. We were just finding some of the things being whispered to us about the coaching staff could possibly be accurate.
Now everybody knows. Nothing will show up a staff better than after they’re fired someone else coming in and winning games.
The players know, too. If the previous staff did anything related to what’s happening this year it is the large number of true freshmen they redshirted.
And they see the difference, even if they won’t say the previous coaches didn’t have a clue what they were doing.
“Last year there wasn’t a lot enough confidence in our ability,” said Jalen Catalon, one of those freshmen that got a redshirt year. “This year we have a lot more confidence what we can do and we trust each other. We’ve had a mentality of I’ve got your back and you’ve got my back on both offense and defense.”
It’s about consistency, which leads to trust. The previous staff never had the trust of the players, some of whom would quietly admit that over the last couple of years.
“We trust the coaches, and we trust the game plan we have,” he said last week.
The difference has been shocking to some people.
“When the team eats, everybody eats,” wide receiver Mike Woods said last week about a new all-for-one mentality. “If the whole team is eating and doing good, then everybody’s going to get their chances to shine. It isn’t any jealousy or animosity. I’m happy for them. We work on this every day, so if we go out there and execute it, it feels great for everybody.”
The one thing about Sam Pittman that’s been overlooked a little is just the calming effect he’s had on a group of players that never could quite figure out what was going on for a couple of years.
It starts with the quarterback. Feleipe Franks is the starter and, barring an injury, nothing much is going to change that. Eight different players started games the previous two years.
The last head coach was learning on the job.
Pittman has been learning for over 30 years.
The difference is not something you have to look very hard to see because this team has beaten the Mississippi teams and had one stolen from them in Alabama.
It’s also not very hard to see what changed … and it wasn’t the players.
Red cruises Saturday, wins Fall Series with shutout behind Monk, Webb
The Red received a strong pitching performance from starter Caden Monke and its offense scored six early runs to claim a 7-0 victory over the Black on Saturday afternoon at Baum-Walker Stadium.
With the win, the Red won Arkansas’ Fall Series, 4-2.
Monke only allowed two hits – the first two batters in the home half of the first inning – and cruised the rest of the way before exiting with two on and two out in the bottom of the fourth. The sophomore only walked one and struck out eight of the 14 batters he faced.
A trio of Red team pitchers was just as dominant to close out the game. Evan Gray struck out three of the four batters he faced in 1.1 innings, Ryan Costeiu struck out two in an inning and Zebulon Vermillion worked a 1-2-3 seventh with a strikeout.
Red’s offense was led by Casey Opitz, who collected three hits and two RBi with a run scored. Brady Slavens added two hits and Braydon Webb had two RBI, thanks to a two-run home run.
The Red jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Opitz had a leadoff single and Zack Gregory followed with a single.
An error on the play allowed Opitz to score from first base and put Gregory on second. Zac White made it three straight hits and drove in Gregory for the two-run advantage.
The Red squad added four runs in the third inning. Robert Moore started the frame with a single and, two batters later, scored on a two-run blast over the left-field wall by Webb.
Matt Goodheart and Slavens followed with singles. Opitz then lined a double down the third-base line to score both runners and give his team a 6-0 lead.
In the top of the sixth, Robert Moore delivered a sacrifice fly to score Michael Brooks to cap the scoring.
The Black team only had three hits Saturday, including two by Christian Franklin. Starting pitcher Connor Noland took the loss, allowing seven hits and five runs (four earned) in 2.1 innings.
With Red clinching the series Saturday, game seven of the series — originally scheduled for Sunday — will not be played.
