John & Tommy discuss Arkansas’ 2020 recruiting class, take Lisa from NEA’s call and Richard Davenport!
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — w/ Kelli Stacy
Phil & Tye discuss the worst Arkansas SEC losses, interview Kelli Stacy, and more!
Limpert named to watch list for national kicker’s award
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ Connor Limpert has been named to the Lou Groza Award watch list by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission, which honors the nation’s best kicker.
Limpert is the sixth Razorback placed on a preseason watch list this summer, joining McTelvin Agim (Bednarik), Rakeem Boyd (Doak Walker) and Devwah Whaley (Doak Walker), Cheyenne O’Grady (Mackey) and De’Jon Harris (Butkus).
Limpert was a semifinalist for the award last year.
From Allen, Texas, Limpert connected on 19-of-24 field goal attempts over the course of the 2018 season, good for 79.2 percent.
His clip was tied for sixth-best in a season by a Razorback, even with Bruce Lahay’s performance in 1981. His 19 field goals made also matched Lahay and Steve Little’s (1977) total for fourth-most in a single year by an Arkansas kicker.
Included in his total was a streak of 10-straight field goal attempts made from Sept. 22-Oct. 27, which ranked as the third-longest in school history.
His top performance of the season came on a cold, rainy night against Ole Miss in Little Rock on Oct. 13, where he proceeded to successfully convert all four of his field goals.
In doing so, he became the first Razorback since Alex Tejada in 2007 to go 4-for-4 in a game and tied for third-most FGM in a game with Kendall Trainor in 1988.
On top of his streak, Limpert also nailed the seventh-longest kick in school history with a 55 yarder against Vanderbilt on Oct. 27.
It was his second field goal from over 50 yards in 2018, also connecting on a 54-yard FG against North Texas, making him the first Razorback kicker with multiple 50-yard plus field goals made in a season since Zack Hocker in 2013.
Limpert also finished the year with a perfect 29-for-29 mark in extra point attempts, rounding out his junior campaign with an 86.0 grade from Pro Football Focus.
The 28th Annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, presented by the Orange Bowl Committee, recognizes the three finalists during a celebration in Palm Beach County, culminating with a gala awards banquet at West Palm Beach’s Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 9.
Limpert and the Razorbacks will open the 2019 campaign on Saturday, Aug. 31, against Portland State at 3 p.m. at Razorback Stadium.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday
John & Tommy discuss the best football position groups the last few years, interview Hutch, and more!
Hogs also gaining momentum recruiting Tennessee, adding LB
All of the talk of Chad Morris’ recruiting focus is Texas, but he’s fully aware of Tennessee and grabbed another player from there Tuesday morning.
Memphis Whitehaven four-star linebacker Martavius French announced his commitment to Arkansas with a video on Twitter:
Thanking God for every moment of this opportunity ??….COMMITTED pic.twitter.com/aEfMFsTJjv
— F R E N C H I E?? (@ypcjuice2) July 23, 2019
It’s the fourth Tennessee four-star player Morris and his staff have picked up. Before Morris arrived in December 2017, the Razorbacks had signed 15 players from Tennessee in the last 19 recruiting classes.
Morris and his staff have now signed seven players total in what will be their third recruiting class.
According to the 247Sports composite ratings, French (6-2, 240) is a four-star player and the No. 14 inside linebacker in the 2020 class.
Leading the recruiting effort was defensive coordinator John Chavis along with defensive line coach Kenny Ingram and assistant director of football operations SJ Tuohy.
After the announcement was made it didn’t take long for another commitment from the 2020 class to send his welcome:
Yessirrr! Welcome to the family!#DiamondGangXX @ypcjuice2 https://t.co/Oq10HyaiUQ
— Chandler Morris (@Chandleram4) July 23, 2019
Arkansas now has 14 players committed with three of them four-stars, according to the composite rankings, which is from all the major recruiting services.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — w/ RJ Hawk
Phil & Tye hit on Jerry Jones’ influence with the football program, interview RJ Hawk, and more!
Talent beats the daylights out of lesser talented experience every time
Every single year at this time we hear all about how many returning starters and lettermen a team has coming back and that is, to an large extent, what some use to predict what’s going to happen.
For predicting the top of the heap, well, that’s a sound theory.
If you’re coming off a 2-10 season, having a lot of starters coming back would be the biggest nightmare Arkansas fans could hear.
The good news is there’s not a lot.
At SEC Media Days in 2008, the prevailing thought among the experts was Alabama was going to be a littler better than Nick Saban’s 2007 debut of 7-6 … but not a lot.
For Crimson Tide fans, that’s bad enough, but just seven years before they were 3-8 and a mere three years previously they were 4-9.
I picked the Tide to win the SEC West on an Alabama radio show and they were aghast. Calling me crazy was one of the milder comments.
My reasons were simple. They had an unbelievable cast of incoming freshmen and some sophomores that looked very, very good but struggled to get the grasp of a new coaching staff.
“Talent will beat the daylights out of less talented experience,” I said at the time.
The Tide won the West, but lost to Florida in the SEC Championship.
Fast-forward to 2016 and Urban Meyer at the Big 10 media gathering.
“I’ll take talent over experience every time,” he said. “I don’t recruit players to redshirt ’em.”
Chad Morris isn’t recruiting players for them to sit on the sidelines for a year. Maybe there were a couple last year, but not anymore.
That’s why there’s reason for optimism this year for all but the Hogs’ Lunatic Fringe of the fan base. There won’t be many guys back off last year’s team … and that’s the biggest reason for optimism.
For a young team, the schedule sets up about as well as it can. Three non-conference opponents they should be able to handle, an SEC matchup in the second week against an Ole Miss team that hasn’t got any more experience and may not be as good defensively as last season.
It’s not out of the realm of possibility for the Hogs to be 4-0 headed to Arlington to play a Texas A&M team coming off an opening lineup that includes a road game at Clemson and a home matchup against Auburn the week before.
If the Aggies are 4-0 at that point, well, all bets are off, but here’s a guess they won’t be.
Arkansas’ youngsters might not realize they aren’t supposed to be any good.
The upperclassmen coming back appeared to have changed their attitude in the spring. The guess here is that he won’t say it, but Morris invited any of them that weren’t buying into the new way 100 percent, they were welcome to leave.
Some did. A few didn’t.
You need every position to be outstanding to win a title, but you can win some games if you have playmakers at the skill position.
Right now, Morris and his staff need wins. They needed new faces to get those.
Now they have them.
And it’s better to have good youngsters than bad old-timers.
???? Halftime Pod presented by Jeff’s Clubhouse — w/ Steve Sullivan
Phil & Tye hit on Arkansas being picked last in the SEC West again, interview Steve Sullivan, and more!
Razorbacks to open 2019 season at end of August in Barnhill Arena
FAYETTEVILLE — Featuring 13 home matches at Barnhill Arena, fourth-year head coach Jason Watson has released the Razorbacks’ schedule for the upcoming year.
The Hogs will open the 2019 slate with the Arkansas Classic beginning Aug. 30.
- Season and home opener: Aug. 30 vs Northwestern State
- SEC opener: Wednesday, Sept. 25 at LSU
- SEC home opener: Friday, Oct. 4 vs Texas A&M
- Six opponents that participated in the 2018 NCAA Volleyball Tournament
- 30 regular season matches | 13 home – 11 away – six neutral
- Four first-time opponents: Arkansas – Pine Bluff, Princeton, San Diego State and West Virginia
For the eighth time in ten years, Arkansas will kick off the fall with a home tournament. This year’s classic includes Southland Conference opponent Northwestern State, as well as the Sun Belt’s Little Rock Trojans and Montana State from the Big Sky Conference.
“Our home schedule begins with a competitive home tournament,” Watson stated. “Opening home is a great way for us to prepare for the season.”
The Razorbacks will be playing with some new flare under their feet, as a newly designed volleyball court will be revealed at the home opener in late August.
“The Arkansas classic will be a great chance for Razorback fans to see our new court design among all the exciting things happening in Barnhill,” said Watson. “I greatly appreciate the cooperation of both our graphics and facilities departments for making our new court come to life.”
After opening the season at home at the Arkansas Classic, the Razorbacks will hit the road for a busy September, making stops for invitationals in San Diego, Calif. (Sept. 5-7), College Park, Md. (Sept. 13-14) and Athens, Ga. (Sept. 19-20).
Under Watson, Arkansas is 16-6 against non-conference opponents over the last two seasons. The Hogs will look to capitalize on a heavy road non-conference schedule, taking advantage of facing diverse opponents early in the season.
“We have been able to put together a schedule that exposes to a lot of different conferences and style of play. Traveling to different coasts and seeing such different opponents is meant to challenge us, and it will,” Watson said. “I am especially excited to play Little Rock and Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
“This is a unique opportunity for each program. It’s a blend of teams that are competitive within their respective conferences.”
This year’s home schedule features nine conference matches, including a four-match home stand during November, including NCAA Tournament team, Tennessee. Arkansas will face Texas A&M on Oct. 4 for its SEC home opener.
“The SEC is a conference that is growing in its competitive depth. It’s an exciting conference. Our athletes are committed to making the 2019 season a season where we add to that depth.”
Arkansas is coming of a season in which it posted an 11-17 overall record, a step back from the 2017 campaign. Earlier this summer, the Razorbacks were picked to finish ninth in the SEC in the preseason coaches’ poll.
The 2019 postseason begins on Dec 5. with the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament with the regional round set for Dec. 13-14 at four non-predetermined sites. The national semifinals and championship matches will be played Dec. 19 and 21 at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburg, Pa.
