When Drew Morgan found out his younger brother Grant was named one of the captains this year he couldn’t resist taking a shot as only brothers can.
Franks has been starter since he got here, which could be good news
For the first time since the 2017 season, Arkansas knows who the starting quarterback is and Sam Pittman hasn’t made a big deal out of it.
A lot of the media and fans have. The truth is we’ve all known who that was going to be from the moment Feleipe Franks said in January he was coming to the Razorbacks.
“It’s been quite a while that we think he was going to be the one that takes us out there and gives us the best chance to win,” Pittman said in his first game week press conference Monday.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart is still having to tap-dance around who he’s going to put at quarterback. The Bulldogs haven’t released a depth chart (which is another example of why the SEC should step in and make certain things mandatory along the lines of the NFL).
That’s a tap-dance some coaches do just to prove they can. Nobody knows if the Bulldogs will start J.T. Daniels (a transfer from USC) or one of the guys left on the roster of what has been a position of musical chairs behind starter Jake Fromm the last few years.
Daniels had a knee injury on Labor Day weekend in 2019 while at USC and apparently hasn’t gotten medical clearance to play … if you want to believe Smart.
“We hope JT will be cleared by Saturday, officially,” Smart said and the last word of that almost sounded like an after-thought.
“I haven’t had a personal conversation with Kirby and ask him who he’s going to start,” Pittman said while grinning.
He has a pretty good idea. It will be a surprise if somebody else ends up taking most of the snaps behind center for Georgia on Saturday. But defensive coordinator Barry Odom still has to at least take a look at that possibility, as Pittman said.
“You’re guessing as much as we are,” Pittman said. “I can guarantee you not you or us or anybody is going to know who that starting quarterback is going to be for Georgia until he runs out there.”
Pittman didn’t play a lot of games or even make some big announcement. Franks apparently took charge from the minute he arrived in Fayetteville.
“He’s been running with the ones basically ever since he got here,” Pittman said Monday.
Whether anybody else agrees or not, Pittman’s not going to make a lot of grand announcements.
“We don’t get up in front of our team and announce who the starting quarterback is because we don’t announce who the starting center is,” Pittman said.
If Franks came in and took charge almost immediately that is a positive at the most important position on the field that has been maybe the least productive for the Hogs the last two seasons.
You get the idea Pittman won’t be making a lot of changes.
“We may have a package for this guy, a package for that guy, things of that nature,” Pittman said.
You get the idea, though, a lot of that is going to be Kendal Briles’ decision from the sidelines where he will be during games this year. Odom will be upstairs in the pressbox.
“There’s a reason a guy’s a starting quarterback, and that’s the guy you want out there, so we don’t really have any, ‘Hey, we’re going to play this guy at this time or that guy at this time,'” Pittman said. “We try to play our best quarterback and try to win the football game.”
Other Hogs coaches have said the same thing but this time it just sounds a little different and not quite such a quick-trigger decisions.
Especially now that we know Franks has basically been the starter since he came into town and essentially just flat took over the position.
Which should be another positive things could be better this year.
Grovey excited about riding bus to Razorback road games this year with crew
Hogs color commentator Quinn Grovey looking forward to living reality show of five guys riding in a bus to games away from Fayetteville this season.
Pittman previews first game as head coach against familiar opponent in Georgia
Arkansas coach Sam Pittman talked with the media Monday previewing Saturday’s opening game — his first as coach — against the Bulldogs.
Olson thinks Bryant’s win over Trinity Christian should move them into national talk
The No. 1-ranked Hornets downed the highly-regarded team from Texas last weekend and Nate Olson of Scoreboard Central said that should get them more attention.
In this week’s statewide high school poll of the media, no one else got a vote as No. 1:
| HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RANKINGS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Following is the final Overall Top 10 high school football teams in Arkansas and the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the preaseason. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from the last poll of 2019: | ||||
| OVERALL | Record | Pts | Prv | |
| 1. | Bryant (25) | 13-0 | 250 | 1 |
| 2. | North Little Rock | 11-2 | 205 | 3 |
| 3. | Greenwood | 14-0 | 182 | 4 |
| 4. | Pulaski Academy | 13-0 | 156 | 5 |
| 5. | Bentonville | 10-1 | 126 | 2 |
| 6. | Cabot | 8-4 | 125 | 9 |
| 7. | Conway | 8-4 | 109 | 6 |
| 8. | Lake Hamilton | 11-2 | 93 | 8 |
| 9. | Shiloh Christian | 14-1 | 44 | — |
| 10. | Harding Academy | 12-1 | 29 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Sylvan Hills 22, Little Rock Christian 16, Wynne 10, Rivercrest 3, Fordyce 2, Benton 1, Harrison 1, Hoxie 1. | ||||
| CLASS 7A | ||||
| 1. | Bryant (25) | 13-0 | 125 | 1 |
| 2. | North Little Rock | 11-2 | 94 | 3 |
| 3. | Bentonville | 10-1 | 55 | 2 |
| Cabot | 8-4 | 55 | 5 | |
| 5. | Conway | 8-4 | 46 | 4 |
| Others receiving votes: None. | ||||
| CLASS 6A | ||||
| 1. | Greenwood (25) | 14-0 | 125 | 1 |
| 2. | Lake Hamilton | 11-2 | 100 | 2 |
| 4. | Sylvan Hills | 9-4 | 72 | 4 |
| 3. | Little Rock Parkview | 8-2 | 46 | 3 |
| 5. | Benton | 8-5 | 22 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Mountain Home 5, Marion 4, Jonesboro 1. | ||||
| CLASS 5A | ||||
| 1. | Pulaski Academy (25) | 13-0 | 125 | 1 |
| 2. | Little Rock Christian | 9-3 | 99 | 4 |
| 3. | Wynne | 11-1 | 73 | 2 |
| 4. | Harrison | 11-2 | 51 | 3 |
| 5. | Texarkana | 7-1 | 13 | 5 |
| Others receiving votes: Magnolia 10, White Hall 3, Camden Fairview 1. | ||||
| CLASS 4A | ||||
| 1. | Shiloh Christian (25) | 14-1 | 125 | 1 |
| 2. | Rivercrest | 13-1 | 98 | 4 |
| 3. | Stuttgart | 12-1 | 67 | 3 |
| 4. | Warren | 8-5 | 40 | — |
| 5. | Joe T. Robinson | 8-4 | 28 | 2 |
| Others receiving votes: Nashville 7, Ozark 7, Dumas 2, Arkadelphia 1. | ||||
| CLASS 3A | ||||
| 1. | Harding Academy (25) | 12-1 | 125 | 1 |
| 2. | McGehee | 12-1 | 96 | 5 |
| 3. | Hoxie | 13-1 | 65 | 4 |
| 4. | Prescott | 10-1 | 51 | 2 |
| 5. | Glen Rose | 11-3 | 24 | — |
| Others receiving votes: Booneville 13, Centerpoint 1. | ||||
| CLASS 2A | ||||
| 1. | Fordyce (25) | 15-0 | 125 | 1 |
| 2. | Des Arc | 13-1 | 96 | 3 |
| 3. | Gurdon | 10-2 | 79 | 2 |
| 4. | Junction City | 9-3 | 50 | 4 |
| 5. | Bigelow | 12-1 | 17 | 5 |
| Others receiving votes: Poyen 8. | ||||
Smart on facing ‘dear friend’ in Pittman, familiar faces with Hogs for opener
Georgia coach Kirby Smart with the media Monday morning about facing his “dear friend’ Sam Pittman, plus knowing Barry Odom and facing Feleipe Franks.
O’Gara on unsettled Georgia quarterback, but glad to see SEC playing football
ON HALFTIME: Connor O’Gara of Saturday Down South sounded almost relieved on ESPN Arkansas to have SEC football finally looking like reality.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast – IT’S GAME WEEK BABY
Tye & Tommy on game week, how to get tickets, what Hogs are playing Saturday and more!
This year could show Hog fans the difference a change SHOULD make
Don’t expect of a lot in the way of preparing you for insight into what to expect out of Arkansas in the first game Saturday against Georgia.
Your guess this year is really as good as ours.
The media hasn’t been able to see anything approaching meaningful in fall camp and with Sam Pittman rotating players to give them as much of a chance as possible in a time when medical issues can cause a game of musical chairs at any time we really don’t have a solid depth chart until Monday.
About the best positive news I’ve gotten through all this is people I have found know what they’re usually talking about have told me this team is a completely different-looking team than the 4-20 mess of the last couple of year.
Different in a good way. As in operating like a team playing in the SEC instead of a high school program.
How all that translates to a game in a year that would have to drastically improve to get to wacky is anybody’s guess.
One misconception a lot of media and fans have had the past couple of years i the talent level was at an al-time low. They weren’t anywhere near as bad as the record. It was good enough to be in a bowl game somewhere.
Too often people fall into believing coaches saying it’s always about how good the players are, which is true but not the way some people think.
Nobody’s going to win many game with an entire squad of five-stars that aren’t developed and taught to play at the SEC level. In nearly 50 years covering college sports I’ve seen way more five-stars play at a two-star level than I’ve seen match their rating.
That’s why I’m not buying into the lack of talent theory, especially at skill positions. Maybe the interior linemen don’t have a lot of stars, but some transfers are going to make a difference there.
The schedule has accurately been described by some as the toughest in the history of college football. If someone has had a tougher one I’m not aware of who it is but everybody in the SEC has a tough way to go with nothing but conference opponents.
We’ll see how it plays out. No way I’m making any predictions because, as I’ve said, this year we’re one frat party away from some top-ranked team having to play a game with their third team and some walk-ons.
The Hogs can’t afford to be that team. While the talent is not that bad, the depth is very questionable and we’ll see how that plays out.
But the most interesting stat that might just force the most obvious change is new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles has WON more games at the Power 5 level than the previous OC even coached.
Let that sink in for a minute.
That’s the biggest reason this team is going to be better … and could have a better record than the last two years.
Just don’t ask me which games are the wins.
Pittman says prep for Georgia opener started with smooth workout Friday
Hogs coach Sam Pittman met with the media after Friday’s practice and said they worked on putting in first and second-down situations for first game.
