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.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — Connor O’Gara
Phil & Tye on what to take out of the loss, if there is a new outlook, plus Connor O’Gara!
Razorbacks will face Kentucky in prime time on SEC Network next week
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ return to football next week will be a night kickoff at Lexington against Kentucky.
The game is set for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 12, at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky. The game will be broadcast on ESPN Arkansas 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home. You can also listen to the game at HitThatLine.com
The game will be televised on the SEC Network and can be streamed on the ESPN app.
It will be first time the two programs have met since 2012, as Arkansas and Kentucky haven’t squared off in Lexington since 2008.
The Wildcats lead the all-time series, 4-3, with the two teams first playing in Little Rock in 1998.
It will be the third night game for the Razorbacks in 2019 with both teams off this week.
Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this report.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John & Tommy recap the Texas A&M loss, bring in Clay Henry, plus the Best and Worst of the Weekend!
Morris hasn’t figured out how to win these close games in SEC
The saying in the Southeast Conference is “it just means more” and Chad Morris is finding out they ain’t kidding using that … which makes it a little tougher to win.
He hasn’t gotten a league win yet.
Maybe one of his better chances fall to the turf at AT&T Stadium on Saturday afternoon as tight end C.J. O’Grady crouched holding his head in both hands out of frustration.
“It was the little things,” Morris said later.
For a lot of fans who felt O’Grady’s frustration, they are beginning to wonder how many of these little things are going to create a big pile that’s probably going to not be pleasant to be around. The psychotic internet trolls who seem to revel in Hog fans’ misery are jubilant.
Oh, don’t get your hopes up (or worry if you’re on the other side), Morris isn’t going to get fired. He’s got until at least through next season before that happens, regardless of how this season plays out.
Part of it is financial. Paying two coaches a lot of money to NOT coach in Fayetteville is not going to happen. The other part is firing Morris now makes it virtually impossible to find much of anybody to come in, regardless how much anyone is willing to pay.
Stop with the Stoops’ talk. He ain’t coming, just like Gus Malzahn was never coming back to Fayetteville to coach the Razorbacks.
Morris knows all of this.
It may have been a little over-optimistic to think he was going to get the mess created by several people over the last decade was going to get fixed in a year … or even two.
Yes, there have been some inexplicable losses that should have been wins. You know the games I’m talking about and no need to relive those moments.
“That’s on us as coaches,” he said Saturday. “We’ve got to continue to keep coaching hard and continue to put these young men in situations to be successful.”
The problem with youth is they sometimes do things that, well, can’t really be explained. With a roster of about 72 freshmen and sophomores at last reckoning, goofy things are going to happen by players who simply screw up.
Yes, you can win starting a couple of freshmen surrounded by juniors and seniors. Throw in a smattering of junior college newcomers and you’ve got a combination of even more first-year players in the program.
Morris walked into a situation with the Hogs unlike any other coach in the SEC West has walked into since Arkansas came into the league … with the notable exception of Lou Holtz and what he inherited at South Carolina in 1999.
At least Holtz inherited a team that was 1-10 the year before and he got the Gamecocks to 1-21 before an 8-4 breakout season. Of course, there was a three-year NCAA probation after Holtz left, but Steve Spurrier was set up for success.
Morris inherited a decade that featured a combination of inadequate recruiting combined with poor player development. That’s a bad combination and no matter how good you are, that is going to take some time to get turned around.
But, sooner or later, the frustration over a lack of wins is going to boil over. It already has for some fans.
Whether you agree or not, Morris gets it.
“Losing is not acceptable,” he said again Saturday. “There are no moral losses. We’ve got to find a way to win when you get down to the end like this.”
In a league that has changed almost completely in the last five years and seen a gap widen between a few select programs and everybody else, just staying in place is nothing like it was when this mess began developing.
Now it’s Morris who’s got to figure out a way to somehow turn it into wins.
The sooner the better for most folks.
