Don’t expect big changes, which will only fuel fire around Hogs’ football
Regardless whether fans on message boards, radio yakkers and talking heads or writers agree or not, you’re probably not going to see Chad Morris fired at the end of however this season unfolds.
Most of the above have fallen into the depths of despair while some have just flat given up. Don’t look for a packed house at Razorback Stadium on Saturday when Arkansas hosts Auburn.
Even with Darren McFadden in the house. Sorry, D-Mac, but about the only way you could draw a crowd is if you could put on a uniform and go like you did over a decade ago.
It has fallen to that level.
It’s a good bet, based on a very unscientific gauge of listening to fans, is Morris should be gone and the coaching staff with him.
Okay, that’s your opinion and while I may agree or not none of it matters. The folks that do have a vote really aren’t that worried one way or the other what rank-and-file fans think.
As usual, it’s probably going to come down to financial matters. The Razorbacks’ problem has always been that while there are some folks that rank in the nation’s wealthiest, they either aren’t THAT big of fans and they aren’t going to write a huge check for somebody to NOT coach here.
All of that means Morris probably isn’t going anywhere, regardless of what happens. There probably won’t be sweeping staff changes, either.
In this day and age of college football, when you get down as as far as the Hogs have fallen with an entire program, you’re not going to get it overhauled quick.
Are there things on the field that should be better? Absolutely, in my opinion. Placing the blame, though, is a little more difficult.
On offense, Morris has got to figure out the quarterback and offensive line situations. I’m not convinced the two don’t go hand in hand.
For reasons that I don’t particularly agree with, he’s trying to save the redshirt year on freshman K.J. Jefferson. What he’s waiting on to see what redshirt freshman John Stephen Jones can actually do under live fire remains a mystery.
Jones might be one of those guys that may show better in a game situation than he does in practice. It was that way with Matt Jones and it’s a good bet every fan reading this would take him back today.
As for the offensive line, the guess here is they need about 2-3 more warm bodies.
At times listening to Hog fans, they almost think the right coach could get a mule to win the Arkansas Derby. Especially when you have a program that has undergone three head coach changes with three completely different systems in less than a decade.
Throw in a goofball placeholder and a completely lost recruiting year and you have the makings of big time problems.
With the biggest difference these days being the shift in recruiting to a signing period in December add in there that Morris really has had one full recruiting season.
He’s really not the only coach dealing with issues. Chip Kelly, the coach who guided Oregon to the national title game against Auburn after the 2010 season, is exactly 4-14 at UCLA after failing miserably with two teams in the NFL.
But, some will point out, he did beat Mike Leach’s Washington State team. Yeah, the same Leach many believe is dying to coach the Hogs because he made a comment once about Little Rock being so loud in a game over 20 years ago.
There’s no evidence he wants the gig, although he’ll probably listen to anybody. The Arkansas job isn’t exactly the envy of coaches across the country.
It’s a different world. Money’s not as big of a deal anymore because, quite simply, the top assistants aren’t exactly living on Ramen noodles these days. Most wait for the right opportunity where they can have success.
Which isn’t with the Razorbacks.
None of this explains the no excuses in the coaching mistakes that have contributed mightily to at least three losses this year and a couple last season.
But if you add it all up it might be why Morris isn’t going anywhere this year.
And that will stoke the flames of his hot seat hotter for a full year.
Musselman previews exhibition game with Little Rock on Sunday
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman talked Thursday afternoon about the exhibition opener against Little Rock when the court will officially be named Nolan Richardson Court.
Hicks or Starkel probably starters, but only quarterbacks to play?
Chad Morris didn’t name a quarterback for Saturday’s game against Auburn, but he created such a wide opening for anything to happen that, honestly, any guess among four could be right … or wrong.
“Everything is a possibility,” he said before practice Wednesday. “If I don’t name one until we get to the bus ride over here, then they will be well equipped and well prepared.”
It is reasonable to think Ben Hicks or Nick Starkel will start, but you get the idea that’s no guarantee they may even be out there for the second possession if they don’t do anything with the first one.
“I don’t have a problem if I put one on the field and have to bring somebody off the bench to be a reliever so to speak and get us going,” Morris said. “They both have done that.”
There are a lot of fans, though, that want to see freshman K.J. Jefferson hit the field. He does add a multi-purpose threat to the offense that neither Hicks or Starkel bring.
“We’ll keep bringing him along and see where we’re at with him,” Morris said earlier in the week.
It was interesting in both Tuesday and Wednesday practices that Jack Lindsey is wearing No. 10, which is the number Auburn freshman Bo Nix wears. He has also been working with the scout team.
Jefferson stayed with the quarterbacks during individual drills. He worked in tandem with Starkel while Hicks and John Stephen Jones were the other tandem. None of that really says much about anything.
But the questions remain why Jefferson and Jones haven’t seen the field. Auburn has one of the best defenses in the nation … maybe the best they’ve had in nearly 30 years.
“We’ve got to pick up first downs,” Morris said about the offensive approach to this one. “We’ve got to keep our defense off the field as much as possible. They’re extremely talented.”
All of that means the mobility Jefferson and Jones have could factor into the game plan. Morris has said he would like to redshirt Jefferson, but that’s usually reserved for situations where there’s an established starter and the coach can afford to develop one.
Morris may not have that luxury.
While you probably can’t find anyone giving the Razorbacks a shot on Saturday, well, stranger things have happened … especially in this series.
In 2001, Auburn came into Razorback Stadium ranked No. 17 in the country while the Hogs were a yawning 3-3 with a disturbingly close win over UNLV, a blowout of Weber State and beating No. 9 South Carolina the week before.
Arkansas kicked the Tigers sideways, 42-17.
Then there was 2006 when the Hogs went to The Plains and beat the No. 2 Tigers 27-10 and was the actual launching pad to a 10-win season.
But it’s not something you want to put money on it.
Or what quarterback plays the most.
Morris not naming starter for Saturday game with Auburn
Arkansas coach Chad Morris said before Wednesday’s practice he’s not naming a starter and doesn’t know if he’ll have one before they get on the bus to come to the stadium.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — Clay Henry
Tye & Matty T on the time Chad Morris will get, Clay Henry, plus what’s attractive about the Arkansas football program!
Is ‘outside noise’ causing Razorbacks to get fired up at midway point?
Before coming into the media room at the football center Tuesday evening, Arkansas players were heavily coached outside by the folks whose job it is to do that.
Nobody heard them, but it’s a good bet they were instructed on key talking points and pretty much stick to the script and they did. Based on that, none of them said they even paid attention to it.
The only one I know that doesn’t is freshman wide receiver Treylon Burks.
“I don’t do any of that, so it’s not a problem for me,” he said. His mother handles his account. “I don’t even get on Twitter.”
There are others that have probably not looked at their accounts this week. I can relate. I don’t look at the tweeter thing at all or Facebook other than to see what family members are up to.
“To be honest, if it’s outside these walls, I haven’t heard it,” senior defensive tackle T.J. Smith said.
Believe it or not, some of the players are actually able to tune it out. That’s a concept that’s difficult for a lot of folks in today’s social media world. It wants affirmation more than information for an awful lot of people these days.
“Y’all are giving me comments and y’all are not waking up at 5:30 in the morning and coming to 6 a.m. workouts,” defensive back Jarques McClellion said. “Why should I listen to what you have to say? I just make sure I listen to my coaches and my teammates and not anyone else that is not in this facility, so I shut out the noise.”
Now that’s about as honest of a statement as you’re going to get. They are capable of tuning out the negativity.
“I appreciate [the fans] at the end of the A&M game when they cheered us when we were going into the locker room,” McClellion said. “At the end of the day, we just need a win, just finish it out.”
Fans are feeling the same way … at least the ones that haven’t thrown in the towel on the coaches and this season.
For some of the players who’ve been around a few years, the frustration they are having may be starting to show a little.
“We’ve been preaching finishing since I’ve been here,” defensive end Gabe Richardson said Tuesday. “It’s hard at times. It really is hard dealing with this, but you can’t quit.”
A lot of folks have.
Senior tight end C.J. O’Grady hammered again that this year is different.
“Like I said before in past interviews, we’re a whole different team this year,” he said. “Last year we would have had people blaming, complaining, talking. Just bad noise.
“This year, everybody, they are still coming together and we’re being the same people, bringing it every day. Right after the game Saturday we came in Sunday and we came to practice and we practiced hard and stayed consistent. Just like today, we did the same thing. We had great energy and everybody was flying around and it was positive energy all around.”
The noted scientific genius Albert Einstein is often credited with saying “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Nobody has it on tape and others have been credited with originating it, too.
But it has stood the test of time pretty well and usually tends to be especially true in football.
“Can’t talk about it, you’ve got to show it,” Richardson said.
Ultimately, that’s what the fans are wanting to see.
O’Grady on how team is ‘coming together’ through adversity of start
Razorbacks tight end C.J. O’Grady talked after practice Tuesday about how this team is different this year, “coming together” after the rocky 2-4 start headed to Auburn game.
