Arkansas wide receivers coach Justin Stepp talked after Wednesday’s practice about the group, Treylon Burks’ large hands (special order gloves for size) and how he catches punts.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — Bill King
Phil & Tye on Cheyenne O’Grady standing out among TE’s in CFB, Bill King joins em and more!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday
Tommy & John are joined in studio by Nick Mason. The guys talk about program standards and Razorback sports.
Ingram hoping to get younger defensive tackles time on field soon
Razorbacks defensive tackles coach Kenny Ingram talked after practice Tuesday about how he’s hoping to get some of his talented youngsters playing time.
Smith on play of secondary, recruiting efforts during bye week
Arkansas secondary assistant and director of recruiting Mark Smith talked after Tuesday’s practice about the group’s play against the Aggies last week and building the Hogs’ brand with recruits.
Razorbacks’ Cooper on secondary having good practice
Razorbacks secondary coach Ron Cooper talked after Tuesday’s practice about how good it was for a bye week after the loss to Texas A&M on Saturday.
Caldwell on defensive ends, play against Aggies last weekend
Arkansas defensive ends coach Steve Caldwell talked after Tuesday’s practice about the group, their play against Texas A&M and improvement.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — Nikki Chavanelle
Phil & Tye on the evolving QB situation for Kentucky/Arkansas, the D-line stepping up, plus Nikki Chavanelle!
O’Grady named top tight end for week after big game against Aggies
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas tight end C.J. O’Grady has been named the John Mackey Tight End of the Week after his performance against Texas A&M last Saturday.
O’Grady, a senior from Fayetteville, recorded a career-high 91 receiving yards on eight catches in Arlington against the Aggies, leading the team in both receptions and yards for the first time this season.
It was the second consecutive year O’Grady has paced the team in receiving yards against Texas A&M, posting 77 on three catches last year.
In 2018, he was the team’s leading receiver in three games, also doing so in back-to-back contests against Vanderbilt (Oct. 27) and LSU (Nov. 10).
Through five games in 2019, O’Grady leads SEC tight ends in receiving yards with 243 yards and ranks seventh in the country in the category.
He also paces the conference in receptions (18) and yards after catch (122) at the position, sitting at ninth in both spots in the NCAA.
O’Grady and the Razorbacks will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 12, against Kentucky at Kroger Field in Lexington at 6:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John & Tommy on the fair play to pay act, better/worse/expected for Arkansas football, and more!
Morris gambling playing youngsters now pays off … but when?
Chad Morris probably decided before his first season it was going to be at least a two-year housecleaning before he could get things headed in the right direction.
It’s not a particularly far-fetched notion he knew he was going to have the time to do that when he took the job. Morris probably wasn’t interested in building up another program for somebody else.
Sonny Dykes has SMU in the Top 25 right now, in case you haven’t noticed. Primarily with this staff’s work in laying a foundation he’s making work after needing a year to figure it out.
Whether you want to admit it or not, Morris inherited a situation worse in the SEC than what he walked into with the Mustangs in the All-American Conference.
Fans expecting a repeat of the 1977 results Lou Holtz posted were not realistic. You would be hard-pressed to find more talent on a Razorbacks’ roster from top to bottom … ever. Frank Broyles set him up for success.
But no first-year coach in Hogs’ history inherited the mess Morris walked into. He literally was going to have to build a program from the ground up and probably has been given the freedom to do it.
Football wasn’t the only mess around the Razorbacks’ athletic department in December 2017. You can thank Jeff Long for a decade-plus of dismantling an SEC program.
It’s apparent Morris decided to clean things out, then rebuild virtually from scratch.
Against Texas A&M last Saturday, the Hogs started just a total of eight players on both sides of the ball with more than two years’ experience in Fayetteville at their position. Austin Capps started at left guard, but last year was his first year on offense.
Don’t tell me about what others did somewhere else. They haven’t been in this system longer than two years. Even if you add Nick Starkel and Rakeem Boyd to the mix and, well, it brings the total to 10.
While it’s been proven you can win with a couple of freshmen starting for you, that only counts if you surround them with experienced players.
When this was pointed out to a veteran coach that spent part of that time in the SEC, his response was interesting: “Chad knows he’s got time to do it that way or he wouldn’t be doing it.”
While that’s going to rub some folks the wrong way, it is what it is.
Regardless how talented they are, freshmen face a pretty steep learning curve in the SEC. I could write a book on high draft picks that often got pushed all over the field as freshmen or made boneheaded mental mistakes.
In 2008, Nick Saban started a couple of youngsters at linebacker and in an early-season game they ran into each other on a play.
For coaches, it’s maddening. Morris mentioned in a press conference it will make you pull your hair out.
Fans tend to put all of the blame on the coach. They either can’t get them motivated, prepared or ready to play.
You even have high school coaches getting interviewed about what Morris should be doing for preparation, which is almost beyond laughable that anyone would listen.
Go sit down and be quiet, son, until you’ve done it at the SEC level. You have no idea.
It’s clear the talent is on the Hogs’ roster for a solid foundation.
Now it’s just got to produce a few wins.
