Briles looking to do on grass what Musselman does on the hardwood

Andy Hodges
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Briles looking to do on grass what Musselman does on the hardwood

If Eric Musselman hadn’t already dropped the phrase in Arkansas, new offensive coordinator Kendal Briles could probably use the “pace and space” description for what he wants to do.

As wide receiver Mike Woods told the media last Friday, he’s using a much simpler method to get playmakers in the open to make plays.

“It’s real simple for us all,” Woods said. “It really makes the game less thinking I think for all of us, and it allows us to play a lot faster.”

We got an idea about that earlier in the year meeting with the assistant coaches when Briles’ body language and expression pretty much scoffed at not getting an offense installed over two years with the Razorbacks previously.

“We’ll have almost all of it in,” he said.

He didn’t leave any wiggle room there. With the global health crisis throwing any spring practice out, Briles hasn’t talked with the media but Woods didn’t appear too concerned.

“It’s like a new system, but for me it’s kind of close to my high school style of offense,” he said. “(Briles) played under my high school head coach and a lot of the offense has similarities. It was kind of like I had to go back to some of the high school setup as far as the offense.”

In Texas high schools a staggering amount of programs run the offense that Art Briles created starting at Houston, then perfecting at Baylor. Kendal was there for it.

“It’s a great system as far as being able to play fast,” Woods said.

Keeping wide receivers coach Justin Stepp has made the transition to the new staff easier for a talented group that includes Woods, Treylon Burks and Trey Knox among others.

While the previous staff came in promising to play fast their offense never could never get untracked and the excuse was they didn’t have it all installed.

My thought at the time we were told that is this must be the most complicated offense in football history. We were being told that almost to the day that staff was leaving town.

“We didn’t really have to go through that change,” Woods said. “We’re all pretty comfortable with it right now. We just have to get a little refresher because it’s been a little minute since we could actually meet up with it.”

Woods didn’t sound too concerned about know what to do, admitting they did need some practice reps, though.

“As far as knowing what we need to do, I believe that we’re pretty good in that phase,” he said.

Which might mean the Hogs simplify things hoping it produces better results.

Could football start back May 1? OSU’s Gundy has a goal to start then

Andy Hodges
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Could football start back May 1? OSU’s Gundy has a goal to start then

While Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy may be a little over-optimistic, he said in a teleconference Tuesday his goal is to have football people at least back doing football things May 1.

“How fast that can happen based on the tests that are available, I can’t say right now, but that’s the plan,” Gundy said.

As medical research has accelerated rapidly across the globe for the COVID-19 health crisis that has paralyzed everything for a few weeks, you had to wonder when folks in the sports world would start getting a little antsy.

They’ve had nearly a month of sitting around with not a whole lot to do but think.

There are optimistic reports of treatments many feel are working and there are noted medical professionals that believe the treatment actually provides protection against the viral infection that has spread across the world.

“We get people that get the flu during the season, we quarantine them, we treat them, we make sure they’re healthy, we bring ’em back,” Gundy said in the teleconference. “There’s a lot of people who can figure this out.”

There will be people who dismiss the entire notion. Others will agree. If you think I’m jumping into that debate, forget it but I’m also an eternal optimist.

Nobody will have a vaccine or a treatment that works in every single case. Nothing in medical science has ever worked at 100 percent.

Gundy has a goal. Arkansas coach Sam Pittman said in a teleconference at the end of March he just keeps setting new goals, so Gundy’s not the only one doing it but is the only one willing to actually say it.

“It might get backed up two weeks,” Gundy said. “I don’t know, I can’t make that call, but if it does, we’ll start with the employees of this company, the ones that come in this building. Then we’ll bring the players in, and slowly but surely we’ll test them all.”

Obviously, nobody has issued anything official anywhere in the college football world.

But you can bet they are following treatment and vaccine developments closely.

Along with trying to figure out what Alabama is doing with smart watches.

???? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ???? 4/7/2020

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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???? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ???? 4/7/2020

Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Over/Under 3.5 Hog wins, Richard Davenport and more!

Tye Richardson
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0
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Over/Under 3.5 Hog wins, Richard Davenport and more!

Tye & Tommy on the over/under of Hog football wins at 3.5, Richard Davenport joins, plus who should call MNF!

???? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ???? 4/6/2020

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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0
???? HALFTIME POD presented by Jeff’s Club House ???? 4/6/2020

McEwen named to All-American team by ‘Softball America’ in shortened season

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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McEwen named to All-American team by ‘Softball America’ in shortened season

FAYETTEVILLE — Junior outfielder Hannah McEwen has been named to the Softball America Shortened Season All-American third team, the publication announced Monday.

She finished the shortened 2020 season with the nation’s 15th highest on-base percentage (.565).

McEwen’s .418 batting average led Arkansas and was eighth-best in the Southeastern Conference. She led the team with 27 runs scored and totaled six doubles, two home runs, 12 RBIs and 19 walks.

The veteran compiled a .597 slugging percentage which ranked third on the team. She also began the season on a five-game hitting streak and registered eight multi-hit games on the campaign.

This year the junior earned Preseason All-SEC honors and was ranked No. 69 in Softball America’s Preseason Top 100.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.

Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Muss Year 1, Eddie in the HOF and more!

Tye Richardson
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0
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast — Muss Year 1, Eddie in the HOF and more!

Tye & Tommy on Muss a year later, Eddie Sutton selected to the Hall of Fame, plus the best Hog FB games bracket!

If Hogs want alternate uniform, Stoerner has pretty good idea

Andy Hodges
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If Hogs want alternate uniform, Stoerner has pretty good idea

Before anybody starts jumping up and down, nobody is saying it’s official or just a good Photoshop but former quarterback Clint Stoerner’s twitter thing Saturday isn’t a bad looking option:

I’m more of a traditionalist, but this is not something as hideous-looking as the gray stuff Arkansas keeps flirting with for various uniforms.

It’s been a constant source of confusion to me for a few years now why somebody in the junior varsity marketing department over at the UA keeps fiddling around with one of the most unique brands in sports.

Come on now, how many other Razorbacks are there? It’s as unique of a brand as the most valuable professional sports franchies.

There simpy aren’t any others. Still, somebody thinks it’s a good idea to keep trying to re-invent the wheel as something other than round. That logo they use that looks more like Arkansas State leaps to mind immediately.

The gray-looking mess they’ve tried to wear a few times lands somewhere along in there which maybe is a concoction by an apparel company who designs the worst-looking uniforms in the history of sports when they don’t have adult supervision.

The argument some have convinced themselves is accurate is the best players want to wear these clown suits.

That is hogwash.

Not one time have I seen a quote that a five-star recruit chose a school to wear a particular uniform one time a year. That’s not going to land you a top-ranked class and I don’t care what these kids say publicly.

Besides, if you have a business that does nearly a quarter-billion dollars a year are you going to let the branding and marketing be determined by a bunch of 17 or 18-year-olds with more potential than results at the big-time level?

It was Tex Schramm who designed the Dallas Cowboys’ current uniform in 1983 (with pants that are as green as they are blue in real life). It is still used with very few exceptions and the one thing Jerry Jones hasn’t messed with (outside of the occasional throwback or change).

Schramm had a simple theory:

“When people turn on the TV and see that uniform I want them to know it’s the Dallas Cowboys they are looking at.”

His theory was how the uniform looked on TV was all that mattered designing them and he was right. The overwhelming majority of Razorback fans have never set foot in Razorback Stadium or Bud Walton Arena.

They watch every game on TV.

But if they’re going to do an alternate uniform that’s not a bad look at all … for about one game a year.

Even during global health crisis, rest of college football chasing ’Bama, SEC

Andy Hodges
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0

All this news the last few days about Alabama finding a way to streamline getting information to football players probably shouldn’t be as surprising as a lot of people appear to be.

With these new-fangled Apple Watches they can apparently act like a mini-tablet strapped to somebody’s wrist. I haven’t jumped into that water, yet, so a lot of this is not based on personal experience.

But you just figured the Crimson Tide, led by maybe the most paranoid coach in the history of college football, wasn’t going to stay disconnected long from the players. They just sorta shrugged and put a building of people to work figuring out a way.

Nick Saban said Thursday his new strength and conditioning staff equipped Alabama players with Apple Watches for the players’ training away from campus.

“They were very instrumental in setting up this whole program of what we’re doing with the players in terms of Apple Watches for their workouts, apps on their phones for weight training programs,” Saban said in a teleconference last week.

How was Alabama allowed to do this … or are they the only ones anybody’s discovered?

When the current global health pandemic forced changes at every university the first thought in the sports world was football coaches will figure out a way to keep control … somehow.

According to multiple reports, Alabama is using the watching to monitor players’ health, looking at sleep patters and heart spikes on each player.

The players who didn’t already have an Apple Watch were provided one before they left campus.

Alabama’s position is they are only looking at sleep patterns and activity level to monitor the players’ health and wellness. Of course they aren’t doing anything to oversee workouts.

“The SEC is aware that Alabama provided Apple Watches to some of our student-athletes,” Alabama’s compliance guy said in a statement.

If anybody else figured this out it’s not as big of a deal as the Crimson Tide doing it.

Again, though, nobody should be surprised. Alabama has won more games over the last 13 years than anybody else in college football (152 games) and that isn’t an accident.

Some other coaches, though, are getting whiny over the whole thing. They view it as Alabama and, by extension, the SEC getting a competitive advantage. It’s probably not a stretch if we find out other schools are ordering these things and getting them to the players as fast as possible.

Even during a global shutdown the rest of college football is chasing Alabama and the rest of the SEC.

Keeping things simple may let Hogs’ defense start making plays

Andy Hodges
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0
Keeping things simple may let Hogs’ defense start making plays

Arkansas has struggled along clinging to a mindset on one side of the ball or the other that hasn’t kept pace for the game today and there is some glimmer of hope that may change.

Razorbacks linebacker Grant Morgan didn’t exactly put it that way Friday in a teleconference but the implication was there, whether it was intended or not.

“It’s a variation off a 3-3, but you have an extra nickel and you have extra DB to stop the passing everyone wants to do,” he said explaining new defensive coordinator Barry Odom’s 3-2-6 defensive scheme.

That is the way college football is going. The previous defensive coordinator came in with a lot of hype that was largely built on an SEC defense 20 years ago but it was based on facing different offenses.

In recent years he had actually accomplished little, but many fans were just happy to have a “name” and didn’t exactly bother to do some checking. We in the media were just as guilty for not pointing it out a little more clearly.

The Hogs haven’t kept up with the changing face of college football over the last seven years and it has changed dramatically.

It’s a scoring game now.

Teams winning championships throw the ball around in numbers that are alarming to old-timers. The pass sets up the run these days.

And that’s been around awhile. When Tom Landry invented his once-mysterious Flex defense in Dallas back in the 1960’s it was, simply, to stop the run. It was a defense that required a lot of thinking and players who wanted to just cut loose were usually cut loose in short order.

Terry Bradshaw told me after he retired how those Steeler teams beat the Cowboys with regularity in the Super Bowls.

“Shoot, you just pass on first down,” he said. “That throws the whole Flex off because it’s designed to get you looking at second-and-long, then third-and-hope.”

It killed the Flex because because it required too much thinking.

On defense nobody will shut out the last five opponents in a season like Arkansas did in 1964 or Alabama’s 1979 team that allowed 58 points in 11 regular season games (and 35 of that came in two games).

College teams aren’t producing large numbers of NFL-ready offensive linemen, according to pro scouts and personnel people I’ve talked to. That’s why the pro teams are all now spreading it out and throwing it around.

It doesn’t matter, though, because scoring points is what wins games now. Teams that want to control the game by running will win some games if they have better talent, but nobody’s winning championships doing it anymore.

Now defenses just have to get stops at critical times. Arkansas hasn’t done that in recent years.

Morgan has seen most of it.

“This has been the fourth defense I’ve learned over the years,” Morgan said Friday. “This is the most simple defense we’ve learned with just letting us fly around.

“All of the language with the defense is just super easy. They all match. Everything goes with something else, so it kind of all just correlates with everything.”

The part about simplicity may be the most important part of all, when you stop and rewind the tapes from coaches the last couple of years.

We heard far too often about players not thinking too much and just doing it. The implication was youth wasn’t picking up the system, but everything was going to be better when they got some experience.

Jimmy Johnson who told me back about 1990 that defense wasn’t that complicated because basically “the bottom line is when the ball is snapped you see who’s got it and put him on the ground as fast as possible.”

That means schemes are fine but it comes down to making a play.

Buddy Ryan did that with the great Bears’ defenses of the mid-1980’s, which became a terror when he cut 75 percent of the playbook and just let some great players like former Razorback Dan Hampton just make plays.

It makes a difference in today’s new world of college football.

Sutton getting selection fitting for coach who Arkansas college basketball

Andy Hodges
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0
Sutton getting selection fitting for coach who Arkansas college basketball

It may have been a few years tardy, but the announcement of Eddie Sutton going into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with one of the best groups ever tends to match his career.

Former player and current Little Rock coach Darrell Walker was with Sutton at his home in Tulsa when he got the news on Saturday afternoon.

Sutton’s career was built with really, really good players and he always seemed to find himself surrounded by them.

The official announcement came Saturday that Sutton will be joined by Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett will be the marquee names (and it will likely be a celebration heavy with emotion for Bryant, tragically killed in a car crash earlier this year).

The enshrinement and will be inducted Aug. 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Also selected are Tamika Catchings, coach Kim Mulkey, coach Barbara Stevens  and former coach Rudy Tomjanovich.

What Sutton meant to Arkansas basketball, though, may truly never be fully measured. If you’re under the age of 40 or so.

No, he didn’t win a national title but if there had been no Sutton in 1974, Nolan Richardson wouldn’t have been here 20 years later. He wouldn’t have been interested.

The first time I interviewed Sutton was the spring of 1974 when he spoke in Warren on a hot April evening in a basketball gym with no air conditioning. He spent about 45 minutes talking to a high school junior writing a story.

He did everything except tell me the questions to ask, going into full depth about what he was wanting to do and how he was going to do it. At the annual banquet that night he asked how many people had ever been to a Razorback basketball game. There were less than 10 hands raised.

“You will want to get tickets now because they are going to be hard to get in a couple of years,” he told the crowd.

He was right.

In a day and age when few games were televised, Sutton played to the media better than any coach since. Eric Musselman may surpass him but it will be with a different media game.

When I had a little dustup with Texas A&M players and coaches in 1981 after U.S. Reed hit two free throws with no time left on the clock, Sutton called me the next day. Okay, it really was more than that, but that’s a different story for a different day.

“Come get me next time and I’ll go with you,” he said laughing before asking me to calm down a little.

Sutton taught an entire state to embrace college basketball. He played to the cameras and his sideline antics were worth the price of admission alone. Especially against A&M’s Shelby Metcalf, Texas coach Abe Lemons and Houston’s Guy V. Lewis.

Those nights in Barnhill (and most games were played after the sun went down in those days) were electric. Sutton even created a pep band with a director that basically turned into a cheerleader running all over the arena firing up the crowd.

He spent practices teaching his team and the media. It was not unusual for Sutton or his assistant coaches to wander over by the media sitting or standing around and go into an explanation about what they were teaching.

Sutton’s coaches’ shows on Sunday evening were a clinic and he used it to sell a fan base on his program and to educate them. He frequently spent a lot of the hour teaching the fans how to, well, be fans.

Until Sutton, Hogs’ basketball didn’t draw much interest and even less enthusiasm.

Even a large part of the media in the state didn’t pay much attention to basketball until, oh, about 1975 or so.

Over 11 seasons, he compiled a record of 260-75, including five Southwest Conference championships, nine NCAA Tournament appearances and a Final Four appearance in 1978.

Sutton helped lead the Razorbacks to national prominence, including coaching the Triplets — Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer, and Marvin Delph — Joe Kleine, Scott Hastings, Alvin Robertson, Darrell Walker, and numerous other Razorback greats.

His Arkansas winning percentage of .776 is the highest in the history of the Southwest Conference. He is a member of both the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor, the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame and the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.

In 2011, Sutton was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo. In 2016, Arkansas honored Sutton with a banner in Bud Walton Arena.

That’s the numbers and honors he’s already had. The Naismith Hall of Fame is the ultimate in the sport of basketball and will be the crowning achievement for Sutton, who has struggled with health issues the last few years.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story.

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