Harris talking about defense putting last week’s loss behind them

Arkansas linebacker De’Jon Harris talked after practice Tuesday about the defense working to fix problems from loss Saturday to San Jose State.

Musselman talking about Hogs’ starting official practices

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman covered a wide range of areas with the media Tuesday as his first Razorbacks’ team starts practices for the coming season.

???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — w/ Nikki Chavanelle

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Phil & Tye hit on Hunter Yurachek at the LR TD Club, Nikki Chavanelle perseveres with the flu, and more!

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday

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John & Tommy discuss what fans would be okay with seeing Saturday, plus Tom Murphy!

While fans jumping up and down, no real answers for Saturday’s loss

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Nobody specifically asked Chad Morris on Monday what he thought about Arkansas’ execution Saturday night, but he could have been forgiven if he said he was in favor of it.

Some of the fans jumping up and down wanting heads to roll or at least come up with a reason should probably stop reading now because I’m not sure there is a good one.

Morris and his coordinators seemed as mystified as fans by what happened two days after the carnage was cleared in Razorback Stadium.

“You’re wondering how does this happen and I am, too,” defensive coordinator John Chavis said Monday.

From listening to some folks, you’d almost think the coaches didn’t do anything last week but blow whistles and take the roll at practices. Seriously, folks.

Every coach who has ever lived has had one of those games where, simply nobody had any answers. In today’s world of college football, they don’t even know what play is going to be run a lot of the time. Quarterbacks are able to check off play calls almost all the time.

Quarterback Nick Starkel checked out of running plays more than offensive coordinator Joe Craddock could count.

“There were several,” he said Monday.

All of that is one reason I think playcalling is the most overblown thing fans (and some media) yell about all time. When the play is over, well, we all know what should have been called.

Play execution is far more critical.

The Razorbacks didn’t execute Saturday night. Before fall camp started there were fears about the lines — on both sides of the ball — and those have proven to be valid.

On the offensive side of things, eight of the 10 on this week’s depth chart are players in their first or second year with the Hogs. There may not be a position on the field where experience plays a bigger role.

Defensively you have three freshmen in a line that is only consistent in the lack of routinely disrupting quarterbacks. Through four games they’ve made every one of them look like All-American candidates.

Combine a lack of pressure up front with eight of the 14 players in the back seven being first or second-year players and, well, you’ve got a problem.

Things like bad eye discipline are, primarily, an experience issue. In case you don’t know, that’s where the defensive back is looking into the backfield until he realizes that guy on the other team that’s doing a 100-yard dash past him is probably going to get a pass his way.

It’s a learning curve that is a little easier to manage if only one or two are newcomers with a bunch of upperclassmen around them.

Do you think it’s an accident Bumper Pool has been able to stand out surrounded by smart, experienced guys like De’Jon Harris, Grant Morgan and Hayden Henry (among others).

When the front four does get some pressure, they can’t seem to get a handle on the opposing quarterback, who simply runs away from them and flings it downfield.

The most experienced position on defense is the line, which appears confused and inexplicably gets knocked backwards way too often.

On offense, it’s running back and tight end, which is two positions that depends an awful lot on the front five for a variety of reasons and which hasn’t been getting the job done.

Just look at facts. No running back has run into a hall of fame when he’s got a defender’s hand on him a yard before the line of scrimmage and no quarterback has ever completed 50 percent of his passes from a horizontal position.

It’s not a lack of coaching. I’ve stood there and watched some pretty hard and detailed coaching in early individual drills we get to watch.

When this season started, it became clear pretty quick this was going to be one that required a lot of patience from a fan base that often determines the entire fate of the program on each snap.

The guess here is it’s not going to get fixed anytime soon.

Despite all the jumping up and down.

 

???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — w/ Connor O’Gara

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Phil & Tye let callers vent, what needs to happen next, plus Connor O’Gara talks SEC football!

Morris on team bouncing back from ‘unacceptable’ loss Saturday

Arkansas coach Chad Morris on Monday again called the 31-24 loss to San Jose State unacceptable and talked about preparations for game with Texas A&M.

Chavis shoulders blame for defense’s performance in loss

Razorbacks defensive coordinator John Chavis talked Monday about how he and the staff have to coach better to eliminate the problems against San Jose State last week.

Craddock on offensive problems, looking ahead to Aggies’ game

Arkansas offensive coordinator Joe Craddock talked Monday about the problems in the loss to San Jose State and facing Texas A&M in Arlington on Saturday.

Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday

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John, Tommy, & Clay react to Arkansas’ 31-24 loss to San Jose State, plus Eddie in Clarksville and Gary in Arkadelphia!

Morris moved to fourth place in CoachesHotSeat.com rankings

Yes, it’s Monday and the brush fire surrounding Arkansas coach Chad Morris after an embarrassing 31-24 loss to San Jose State is now getting national attention.

The website CoachesHotSeat.com has ranked coaches who are walking on thin ice at their job and they have an interesting collection of agents and people inside programs that give them information.

Razorbacks coach Chad Morris has jumped from 17th to the No. 4 spot on the list after the loss to the Spartans.

And they are questioning what is going on:

Can you go 2 – 10 in your first two seasons at Arkansas and keep your job?

If you can the Arkansas Football Program no longer exists in the Real World….it’s just a place where coaches go to get paid Millions of Dollars to Not Do A Damn Thing At All!

In fairness, they are not the first people to be asking that question.

Morris is 4-12 overall in his brief stint with the Hogs and 0-9 in the SEC.

Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt sits at the top of the list, followed by Illinois’ Lovie Smith, then South Carolina’s Will Muschamp.

With the Hogs’ remaining schedule featuring mostly SEC West teams, the prospects to get better are dim, the writers of the site feel.

….and we would love to know why any Arkansas fan thinks that in Chad Morris’ 16th game at Arkansas that he cannot get his team up to play…forget about beat…but just show up and play with minimal effort against San Jose State that he will be able to do anything at all in the future?

It is now official that Morris’ seat may have some flames leaping up from the sides.