ESPN CFB & SportsCenter Host Matt Barrie joins the Morning Rush to discuss what is was like calling the Central Arkansas/Austin Peay CFB game remotely, what might happen if coaches get COVID, and what could happen if the Big Ten changes course and plays CFB this fall. All that, and more! Check it out!
ROGERS — For the first time in program history, four players associated with Arkansas women’s golf finished the Walmart NWA Championship presented by P&G inside the top-60 on the leaderboard.
The Hogs have never had more than two players advance to round three before Sunday.
The group was led by Maria Fassi, who capped off a fantastic weekend with another great single round, firing a 68 in round three to bookend her 67’s from round one and round two.
The former Hog finished the event tied for 15th, the fourth time in her young LPGA career she has placed inside the top-15.
Following Fassi was Stacy Lewis, who finished tied for 28th after another very solid outing. Lewis shot a nine-under 204, her fifth time at the event shooting under 205.
It was her first time doing so since 2017, when she finished tied for fourth after shooting 200.
Stealing the show up in Rogers, though, was redshirt junior Brooke Matthews, who played arguably the best round by any Hog all weekend on day three on her hometown course.
Matthews was absolutely sensational on the back nine, which she played first on Sunday, collecting four birdies over the stretch. With her 206, Matthews now owns the Arkansas Women’s Golf amateur 54-hole total record at the event.
Her 67 in round three is also the best single round played by an Arkansas amateur at the NW Arkansas Championship since Gaby Lopez fired a 65 back in 2015. When all was said and done, Matthews finished the event tied for 49th.
The aforementioned Lopez had herself a good weekend, finishing up with a 68 in round three. The former Razorback finished at six-under, good for a share of 59th place.
Lopez has now finished inside the top-60 of the event for seven straight years.
Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Aaron Torres of Fox Sports Radio is in agreement with the guys on Halftime the mishandling of the B1G season will probably cost Kevin Warren his job.
People have spent two years getting paralysis by analysis over the problem with Arkansas mired in a 4-20 run of unprecedented futility, but it was really kind of obvious.
They were soft. Physically and mentally.
It started from the top and filtered down through an entire team that didn’t trust the coaches who really didn’t have a head coach that knew how to be a head coach.
Sam Pittman has never been a head coach at the major college level, either, but already is acting and sounding like he’s been one more than the previous coaches.
Take the reports of Friday’s scrimmage.
“We have to get in better shape,” he said Friday after giving the numbers in the scrimmage. “We’re not there yet nor did we think we would be.”
Pittman put them through a long scrimmage in the hottest part of a day that was sweltering. It was hot just walking outside, much less banging on other guys and running with pads on.
That was how he chose to end the first week that was mostly in pads.
In today’s world of college football with the practices spread out due to the delay caused by the coronavirus, everybody is trying to figure out how to get folks in shape.
Remember, instead of working through a spring practice and an off-season conditioning schedule directly overseen by the strength coach, players spent months away from the facilities.
Now they’ve got several weeks with workouts spread out before the opening game against Georgia on Sept. 26.
“The practices being spread is a good point,” Pittman said. “Any time you have that lengthy of a scrimmage and it’s hot, I’m not for sure you’re ever ready for it whether it’s mentally or physically.”
First scrimmage of the season with a new staff and nobody really had an idea what to expect.
“You know how it is when you don’t know what’s coming?” Pittman said. “The next time you know exactly what the expectation is, how long it’s going to be, how many plays I have. The next one will be much better.”
One of the things Pittman has mentioned before is not being pleased with how the players come on and get off the field between drills. You get the idea it’s a big deal for him.
“We just have to transition better on and off the field,” he said, referring to what he’s wanting to see. In other words, no casual strolls out to line up.
It’s part of the instilling a new air of just being, well, tough around the Hogs.
“We have to push ourselves and a lot of that goes back to that mental toughness,” Pittman said. “We HAVE to express that mental toughness. If we do it will help us get in shape because instead of jogging off the field we’ll be running off.”
There won’t be a break anytime soon.
“Next week is a work week,” Pittman said. “It will be identical to this week. It’s a go-get-it week once again. We may tackle once other than the scrimmage, but it would be on a limited basis.”
He’ll start working on getting ready for Georgia in a couple of weeks. That’s not going to happen soon.
“We’re not worried about (the players’) legs and all that stuff right now,” he said. “We’re worried about getting in shape.
“We won’t back off the pedal for at least another two weeks.”
It’s the way experienced football coaches literally work a team into shape.
Pittman is also using it to develop a tough mental approach.
That hasn’t been around in a few years.
More than a couple of eyebrows raised Friday afternoon when Sam Pittman announced in his press conference that freshman Blayne Toll is a tight end again.
“We’re trying to find two really good tight ends and if we can get three and four, that’d be great,” Pittman said.
He’s probably got one. By all accounts, Hudson Henry is doing fine as the No. 1 tight end.
“Henry caught a couple of short passes for touchdowns today,” Pittman said. “He broke a tackle and got in the end zone. It was good to see him have some success.”
Toll’s move from the defense may be because of the emergence of Julius Coates as a playmaker at defensive end and Dorian Gerald coming back from injury fully healthy.
Even though Pittman is acting publicly like nothing is locked down there, he’s trying to add numbers to a thin position.
“I don’t have a clue who the starting tight end is yet,” he said. “I’ll know a little bit more after I watch this film this afternoon, but this next scrimmage will be really, really big for the tight end position.”
The previous staff’s plan to redshirt Henry while using Cheyenne O’Grady as the starter and a committee after that backfired. O’Grady had to sit out some games for injury, then was kicked off the team later but they kept the redshirt on Henry.
“We’re still trying to figure out who’s one, two, three on the depth chart, including who’s the starter,” Pittman said. “Hudson, again, is doing a nice job, but he’s young and he hasn’t played, either.”
Without seeing a whole lot, though, Henry, who appears to have bulked up some in the offseason is the odds-on choice to be the starter.
Behind him would be true freshman Toll, senior Blake Kern (a former walk-on) and a couple of other true freshmen in Collin Sutherland and Eric Thomas.
It will be interesting to hear what the coaches think after looking at the film. Pittman’s press conference came right after the scrimmage ended Friday and he mentioned he was holding back any judgements until after seeing that.
“We’re just trying to find, to be honest with you, two really good tight ends,” he said, “and if we can get three and four, that’d be great.”
Here’s what it looked and sounded like at Arkansas’ first scrimmage Saturday for Sam Pittman’s first look at team in live action.
Arkansas held the first of what Sam Pittman said will likely be two scrimmages in fall camp and he talked about a “powerful meeting” before on the shooting in Wisconsin.
Hogs running back Trelon Smith talked after Friday’s scrimmage about his friendship with senior running back Rakeem Boyd.
Razorbacks defensive tackle Isaiah Nichols gave a brief statement on the defense’s unity against the Wisconsin shooting before talking about his development and the Friday scrimmage.
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