Phil & Tommy discuss Cheyenne O’Grady in trouble again, LR Touchdown Club, Clay Henry, and What’s Your Beef Wednesday!
Isn’t defense being ahead right now what should be happening?
Too many folks appear to be caught up in the fact that Arkansas’ defense is ahead of the offense after four fall practices which, of course, probably is wrong on a couple of fronts.
First of all, it’s exactly four practices of more than 20 before the season opener August 31 in Razorback Stadium against Portland State. That’s not enough time to be deciding the fate of the season.
The next question is, when the offense catches up (and the guess here is it will in a couple of weeks), is the complaint going to be about yet another weak defense?
At times you wonder exactly what some fans want or even remember what to expect from a good team four practices into fall camp.
“Defensively right now we’re playing at a speed we haven’t played at since we got here,” Chad Morris said after Tuesday’s practice.
That should be an eye-opener to anyone who’s paid the least amount of attention over the past few seasons with the Razorbacks.
“I love where this team is right now,” was how Morris opened his press conference Tuesday.
He wasn’t saying that last year. Then everything was, “we’ve got a long ways to go.”
Morris hasn’t said that this year, but to compete at the top of college football’s toughest division, there going to have to be better than even where they are now.
As you might guess, the improvement of the defensive line is creating problems with the offense.
“Offensively, we’re not as consistent as we need to be, but we’re much better,” Morris said. “We’ve got a stout defensive line and they are very disruptive. We’re going to continue to push each other and get better.”
We’ve heard the defense has been dominating in these first four practices, much like they did in the spring. If you can learn to stop the simple plays on defense first, then you can worry about coaching against the big ones.
Try and do it in reverse and the opposing offenses aren’t going to try for the big plays … they won’t have to.
My guess is the offense will be okay. The scheme last year wasn’t the problem, it was simply a lack of players with the combination of skill and work ethic to make much of anything work very well.
You can look in the rearview mirror and see last year’s wreck coming a couple of years back down the road.
Now there appears to be some players.
Freshman wide receiver Treylon Burks made a big-time play in practice Tuesday. At least that’s what the media was told because we didn’t see it.
“Treylon Burks made a one-handed catch out here today that I don’t know if I’ve seen a kid make,” Morris said. “It was unbelievable.”
The folks in Warren pretty much yawned hearing that. They saw similar catches on a regular basis with the Lumberjacks over the several years.
“He’s just powerful,” Morris said. “He’s very much attention to detail and that comes with being a young guy and coming out making plays.”
Burks is not the only one of a talented group of freshmen receivers making plays. Trey Knox, Shamar Nash and TQ Jackson have shown flashes of ability and it’s elevated the play of returning receivers like Jordan Jones, Deion Stewart and De’Vion Warrn.
“The stage is not too big for these guys we brought in here,” Morris said.
And, as Morris has said, the play of the newcomers at several positions on offense has made the returning guys pick up their play dramatically.
Which is why you shouldn’t be worrying about the offense being a little behind right now.
Wait a couple of weeks.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — w/ Steven Lassan
Phil & Tye discuss SEC coaches on Chad Morris, interview Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports and more!
Morris on how much he likes where team is right now
Arkansas coach Chad Morris was pleased with where the Razorbacks are after the fourth practice of fall camp Monday when he finally got some warmer weather.
FACES OF CAMP: Looking at some of best photos from Tuesday
On a day when photos were limited to about 15 minutes of practice, here are some of the faces at Arkansas practice Tuesday.
PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John & Tommy discuss Chad Morris on players being vocal, the new grass, plus Tom Murphy joins the show!
FACES OF CAMP: Looking at some of photos from Monday morning
There was finally some sun and a little warmer weather for Arkansas’ third practice of fall camp on Monday and here are some of the pictures from that workout.
PHOTOS BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM
Natural grass installation starts Monday on Razorback Stadium
While some have been nervous about waiting until August to install the new natural grass field at Razorback Stadium, it apparently is going to work out fine.
At least that’s what athletics director Hunter Yurachek believes and what he’s been told the “Tahoma 31” brand of Bermadu grass will be okay.
“I’m not a grass expert, but I’ve been told that this Tahoma 31 solves that issue,” Yurachek said Monday as the installation was taking place. “It’s about two years old. The brand of this grass, and with that Evergreen Matrix System that was developed in Australia that’s going to be underneath it, that’s supposed to solve that problem.
“Time will tell. We have a backup field if we have any issues. There is a backup field from Memphis so that we can replace any of the dead spots that we may have.
The grass was grown in Memphis and a line of four refrigerated trucks from J.B. Hunt were lined up at the stadium and installation began Monday morning.
It is fairly close to being on schedule. The grass was supposed to arrive closer to the first of the month, but has been delayed a few days.
It is something Morris was in favor of doing since he and Yurachek arrived in Fayetteville in December 2017.
“We talked to 10 of our SEC schools, and they play on a natural grass surface,” Yurachek said. “The majority of our games are played on natural grass and coach Morris and I agreed that that is where football should be played.
“We both love the smell of the freshly cut grass and the look of the freshly painted grass. That’s where the game of football should be played, and it should be played for sure in the Natural State.
The grass is a type of Bermudagrass dubbed “Tahoma 31”, and the new field was transported from Memphis by J.B Hunt on four refrigerated trucks. The installation is roughly on schedule, although originally the grass was supposed to arrive on Aug. 1.
It is the fourth time the Hogs have changed. In a stadium built in 1938, the field was grass, but Frank Broyles got AstroTurf in place for the 1969 season, primarily because the Texas game was moved to December and it was hard then to keep grass green into mid-November.
Arkansas went to grass for awhile, then back to the new Field Turf in 2009 and it was time for that to be replaced.
One notion is that players are faster on the turf field, but not according to what Yurachek said Morris and the staff feel.
“They (coaches) believe natural grass is faster,” Yurachek said. “When you come out here with the freshly cut grass and the smell that you get from that, the freshly painted grass, the grass stains on your uniforms, even if you have a little rainy day and you get a little mud, I mean that’s football. That’s what you remember football being, espicially as a child growing up.”
Underneath is a new matrix system that is supposed to keep the grass from changing colors and to keep it cool.
Arkansas is the first school in the USA to bring in that system, which is supposed to eliminate a lot of the problems football fields have with keeping grass growing on football fields.
Jones on how he’s improved size, speed during offseason
Hogs wide receiver Jordan Jones, who missed Saturday’s media day with a death in the family, talked Monday about how he’s gotten stronger, added size and speed in offseason program.
Richardson on taking more leadership with ends
Razorbacks defensive end Gabe Richardson talked Monday about being more of a leader in his senior season, Caldwell’s language improved.
Cunningham on Hogs’ offensive line coming together in camp
Razorbacks offensive lineman Myron Cunningham with the media Monday about the development of the line, despite losing Noah Gatlin to a knee injury over the weekend.
