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‘Ruscin is Ranting’ podcast coming to website in January

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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ESPN Arkansas and HitThatLine.com will have a new digital venture featuring former Morning Rush host Derek Ruscin starting in January.

“Ruscin is Ranting” is a new digital podcast set to launch in January of 2019.

Each episode will highlight longtime radio and television host Derek Ruscin’s unique take on the Razorback news of the day mixed in with interesting conversations with newsmakers from the present and the past.

Ruscin, the host and creator of the podcast, will also become a periodic contributor on other ESPN Arkansas radio programs.

“This is where everything is heading, so to get to start something totally new from scratch is very exciting to me,” Ruscin said. “We will get to try lots of different things on this show because we do not have the constraints of time. Some things will work while others will not.

“It is going to be like nothing Razorback and sports fans around here have heard before and I am looking forward to the opportunity to speak directly to the fans again.”

“We are very excited to have Derek back as part of our lineup,” Tommy Craft, the general manager of ESPN Arkansas and HitThatLine.com said. “We are excited to offer content that will be fresh, different and directly tied to our digital brand HitThatLine.com and I could not think of a better host and talent to help us create this new podcast than Derek Ruscin.

“He understands Arkansas’ sports and will offer opinions and thought-provoking commentary that listeners will enjoy.”

Ruscin served as host of The Morning Rush on ESPN Arkansas from 2008 until March of 2018, stepping away after nearly 10 years and almost 10,000 hours of sports talk radio between the daily show and special pre and post game shows surrounding Arkansas Razorback football broadcasts.

During that time, Ruscin was also integral in launching ESPN Radio stations in Harrison and Fort Smith, The Morning Rush podcast, plus the popular website HitThatLine.com

The podcast will be available starting on Jan. 8, 2019, at HitThatLine.com and be published two-three times per week, according to Ruscin.

Nobody knows who’s going to emerge at quarterback for Hogs

Andy Hodges
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Competition is what Chad Morris is looking for and if you’ve been paying attention he’s not making any secret about it.

That includes every position, but especially at quarterback.

Some have appeared dismayed that Morris is recruiting so many quarterbacks. He has said repeatedly the new standard at Arkansas is being the best and you don’t do that with just one starter in college football these days.

The Razorbacks have scholarship quarterbacks Ty Storey, Daulton Hyatt, Connor Noland John Stephen Jones on campus right now. KJ Jefferson will be arriving this summer.

And they are trying to get a graduate transfer quarterback.

None of them are ahead of the others at this point. Some may think they know who’s better — or going to be — but the fact is nobody knows. That includes the coaches, by the way.

It’s all about the competition. Morris keeps saying, but nobody really wants to pay attention to it.

“We need competition at every position … we didn’t have enough of that this year,” he said at the signing day press conference last week.

The way things work in college football these days, every drill of every practice in the spring and fall camp will be scrutinized by the coaches. The thing Morris kept harping on last year was consistency at the position and he never really got it.

Now, to be fair, how much of that was on the quarterbacks, wide receivers or offensive line isn’t really known. Considering how poorly the latter two played at times, the quarterback really didn’t have much chance to be consistent.

What Morris will never do is publicly throw a player under the bus. Goodness knows, he had several opportunities over the past year to do just that (and with some, nobody would have criticized him). He doesn’t do that.

A national championship coach told me once, a couple of decades ago, a head coach is only as good as his assistants and a quarterback is only as good as the other 10 guys on the field allow him to be.

In the history of college football, no quarterback has done well throwing from a horizontal position, running like an inmate that just cleared the barbed wire or catching his own passes.

But in Morris’ system (and don’t talk about his offense because that can change with the skillset of the quarterback), the guy pulling the trigger has to make the correct decision consistently.

That puts a lot of pressure on the one player who’s going to get most of the credit or most of the blame … right or wrong.

And Morris wants that pressure to come in practice.

That’s why the competition at quarterback is going to be so critical. If any of these guys can’t handle the scrutiny and pressure in practice, how are they going to react when they have to go to Tuscaloosa in October?

Or, maybe more importantly, how are they going to handle things in Oxford the second week of the season?

All of that is why this is going to be an interesting spring practice at the quarterback position.

And an even more interesting fall camp.

Highlights of Arkansas’ 73-70 win over Texas State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas grinds out a 73-70 win over a tough Bobcats squad in their first meeting since 2005. The Hogs now lead the series 4-0.

Jones, Gafford pace Razorbacks to 73-70 win over Texas State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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PHOTOS BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

FAYETTEVILLE — Mason Jones tied his career-high with 21 points while Daniel Gafford recorded his fifth double-double, getting 19 points and 10 rebounds, to lead Arkansas(8-3) to a 73-70 victory over Texas State (10-2) Saturday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena.

It marked the second straight game Jones has led the team in both scoring and assists, finishing with four helpers. Jones additionally had a career-high three steals and scored 10 of his 21 points at the free throw line.

Gabe Osabuohien also had four assists, which is a career high. Isaiah Joe, who was 7-of-8 at the free throw line, and Jalen Harris each scored 10 points.

The Bobcats opened the game by taking a 19-3 lead. The Razorbacks held Texas State scoreless for the next 5:20 during on a 17-0 run.

Gafford had a dunk and free throw to tie the game, 19-19, and Osabuohien gave Arkansas its first lead, 20-19, with a free throw at the 7:13 mark. Arkansas did not trail the remainder of the game, including a 34-27 lead at halftime.

Texas State would tie the game, 38-38, on a Nijal Pearson 3-pointer with 14:0 left in the game. However, Gafford answered with a dunk to regain the lead and hold on the rest of the way.

The Bobcats got to within two, 53-51, before Jones converted an old-fashion 3-point play to go up five with 5:13 left in the game. Including that free throw, Arkansas made 15-of-19 at the free throw line.

Arkansas will close the 2018 calendar year by hosting Austin Peay on Dec. 28 (Fri.) in Bud Walton Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 pm.

FIRST HALF: Arkansas 34 – Texas State 27

• Texas State got off to a quick start, but the Razorbacks held the Bobcats scoreless for 4:49. However, Arkansas had its troubles on the offensive end as well and the score stayed at 8-6 for over two minutes. The Bobcats drought ended with two free throws by Alonzo Sule with 13:05 left, which sparked an 11-0 run and 19-6 Texas State lead.

• The Razorback defense stepped up again, holding the Bobcats scoreless for 5:20 while Arkansas went on a 17-0 run. Gabe Osabuohien played a key role on both ends, including his second career 3-pointer. Arkansas tied the game, 19-19 on a Daniel Gafford dunk and free throw with 7:43 left. Osabuohien gave Arkansas its first lead, 20-19, on a free throw. Mason Jones capped the run with a 3-pointer.

• Overall, Arkansas went on a 21-2 run while holding the Bobcats scoreless for a combined 10:09 over two spans.

• Mason Jones and Daniel Gafford led the Razorbacks with 11 points each. Jones made 4-of-5 from the field. Gafford added six rebounds.

• Gabe Osabuohien finished the half with four points, three rebounds, two assists, a steal and a charge taken.

SECOND HALF: Arkansas was 20-of-26 at the free throw line in the second half to secure the win.

• Texas State tied the game, 38-38, on a 3-pointer. Daniel Gafford answered with a dunk and the Razorbacks never relinquished the lead.

• Up two, 53-51, Arkansas’ Mason Jones converted an old-fashion 3-point play to go up five with 5:13 left in the game. Including that free throw, Arkansas made 15-of-19 at the free throw line.

 GAME NOTES:

• Arkansas’ starters were Isaiah Joe (G) – Jalen Harris (G) – Mason Jones (G) – Reggie Chaney (F) – Daniel Gafford (F). Chaney earned his first career start and this was the first time Arkansas used a different starting lineup this season.

• Arkansas controlled the tip, but Texas State’s Jaylen Harris scored the first points at 19:33. Jalen Harris scored the points for the Razorbacks, a floater on the right side at the 18:56 mark.

• This was the fourth meeting between Arkansas and Texas State. The Razorbacks won the previous three meetings.

• Arkansas snapped a two-game home losing streak with the win Saturday. Arkansas has not lost three straight at home since dropping the final three home games of the 2011-12 season versus Florida (Feb. 18), Alabama (Feb. 23) and Ole Miss (Feb. 28).

• Arkansas has won 11 straight in its final game before Christmas and is 15-4 in such games since 2000.

• Daniel Gafford recorded his fifth double-double of the season and eighth of his career.

• Isaiah Joe only made one field goal – a key 3-pointer late – but was 7-of-8 at the free throw line down the stretch to score 10 points.

• Isaiah Joe (10 points) and Daniel Gafford (19 points) are the only Razorbacks to score in double figures in all 11 games this season.

Anderson on team shooting better in win over Texas State

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Arkansas coach Mike Anderson talked after the 73-70 win over the Bobcats about improving on free throws and the team’s break over the Christmas holiday.

Jones, Gafford on hanging on for win against tough Bobcats

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Razorback players Mason Jones (21 points) and Daniel Gafford (19 points, 10 rebounds) talked about battling for the win over Texas State and getting home for Christmas.

Texas State’s Kaspar on surprising FT shooting

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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Bobcats coach Danny Kaspar talked after the game about his team’s 8-of-21 from the free-throw line (38.1 percent), which is below their average for the season.

???? Friday Halftime Pod — featuring Nate Olson

Tye Richardson
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Phil Elson & Tye Richardson discuss the doubt creeping into Razorback fans’ minds, FOMO Friday, plus Nate Olson joins the pod!

Hogs have learned how to win close games in busy 3-0 run

Andy Hodges
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Mike Neighbors knew when he made up the schedule it was going to be difficult in December.

Coaches don’t look forward to playing three games in five days, regardless of what they’ll say on the record.

“I probably would have called you a liar if you’d told me we’d go 3-0 in those games,” Neighbors said Friday morning.

And, of course, the Hogs just went 3-0.

Arkansas beat Prairie View on Sunday to start the week, then banged out an 84-80 win over a larger, more physical Nebraska team Tuesday night, then capped it off with a 61-59 win over Tulsa on Thursday afternoon.

Last year’s team wouldn’t have beaten the Huskers and probably turned around and lost on the road, too, two days later. Close wins over Texas-Arlington and Wisconsin fall into that category, too.

“No way,” Neighbors said. “We didn’t have the depth to overcome some of the things that happened to us. We may have gotten beat by 30.”

The Razorbacks got down 15-2 in the first quarter and it looked like things might get out of hand, but they finished on an 8-0 run to make it 15-10 at the end of the period. They made the plays in the fourth quarter to win it.

Less than 48 hours later was a road 115-mile road trip to face the Golden Hurricane.

“In a two-point game, we found a way to win,” Neighbors said. “We came out lethargic.”

It took a layup from senior Malica Monk after one of her drives down the lane to lock down the 61-59 win.

“The compounding effect of us starting slow, then playing fast probably worked to our advantage in the fourth quarter,” Neighbors said.

Like we said, nobody particularly tries to play three games in five days just before the holidays, but that’s how it played out.

“When we looked at putting the schedule together we knew it was going to be tough to get all the non-conference games in with everything going on,” Neighbors said. “We knew we’d have to play a condensed number of games. It was a real challenge.”

He got an idea this team was making strides in a closed game against the men’s practice team where the girls won, 109-108.

“You can’t reward a kid or the team if you don’t get what a win gives you,” Neighbors said. “Now they know what it feels like, looks like.”

That practice, plus winning three in a row, has allowed the Hogs to take a big step in learning how to win close games in the fourth quarter while building a 10-3 record and getting to No. 45 in the RPI as of Friday morning.

“That’s as high as anybody on this team has been,” Neighbors said. “We’ve played a lot of teams in the Top 100.”

It lets the team head into the Christmas break with what he called “a quiet confidence.”

“That’s a huge thing,” he said.

And it also led to the team heading in multiple directions from the Tulsa game … by car and airplane. They don’t have to return for a week.

“They’ve earned it,” Neighbors said. “This is the longest break I’ve ever given a team, even when I was coaching high school.”

Arkansas will play next Dec. 30 at home against Jackson State, then it gets serious.

The SEC schedule starts … with two-time defending national runner-up Mississippi State at Bud Walton on Jan. 3.

“They aren’t bad, are they?” Neighbors said.

As he pointed out, whoever came up with the SEC slogan “It just means more” was talking about all sports.

“They were dead-on for this league,” he said.

It appears Morris isn’t signing any ‘projects’ in Razorbacks’ 2019 class

Andy Hodges
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Chad Morris is very aware how college football has changed over the last decade or so.

Top tier programs have been recruiting the type players that nobody wants to stay around four or five years. For good reasons.

“You’re in a time now where a lot of these guys where if you’re recruiting the right way they’re with you three years,” Morris said on Wednesday’s signing day. “That’s what we’re after, that’s what we want.”

Forget the way it used to be.

Freshmen are expected to play immediately. Teams in the playoff nearly every year have a lot of those freshmen on special teams and they rotate in their position group on a regular basis.

“We want guys to be able to come in here, put them on a path to graduate in three years and all of a sudden they’re some of the top guys the NFL is wanting,” Morris said. “If we’re doing that, we’re recruiting the right way.”

It was Urban Meyer at Florida back in 2007 who said, “we only recruit people that can play immediately.”

That was radically different thinking then. Nick Saban started doing the same thing at Alabama, Les Miles was doing it at LSU along with others that were finishing high in the rankings nearly every year. Before them, Phil Fulmer at Tennessee and Steve Spurrier at Florida weren’t signing players to hang around long.

It has taken awhile for some to catch on to that. You better be signing players coming out of high school that can step on the field in the SEC and contribute somewhere. That may be the biggest change as college football has evolved.

As Arkansas’ previous staff learned, doing what you did for a decade doesn’t work the same way anymore. Especially in the SEC where you can win 11 games and still be the third-ranked team in your own division (which the Razorbacks did in 2011).

How tough is it in the SEC? The Hogs have their best class ever in the modern recruiting era and that’s just sixth in the SEC West and ninth in the entire league.

You better be getting help EVERY signing day.

It appears none of the 20 players Morris signed on Wednesday are expected to sit around, much less redshirt. With up to nine more expected to join the fold, there aren’t “projects” anymore on scholarship (those are now called walk-ons).

Especially on the offensive and defensive lines.

“We had to create depth on both sides of the ball,” he said. “It’s a line of scrimmage league and that’s an area where we can make immediate improvement as far as creating depth and competition.”

You also get the idea some of the linemen last year were redshirted more for 2019 than helping a bad 2018 season. Morris hinted a couple of times they saw early they were going to be in trouble last year due to a variety of things and because of the four-game redshirt rule, he got a little of the best of both worlds.

No, that doesn’t mean he tanked the season at any point in time. To be honest, though, he probably thought last year’s team would win three or four more than they did. Considering Colorado State, North Texas and Ole Miss that wasn’t unreasonable.

Unless you were blind, the offensive line was one of the glaring issues. The Hogs signed six Wednesday on the offensive side, seven on defense.

“I’m anticipating some of these guys playing as well as the guys who were redshirted last year,” Morris said. “Part of this is recruiting, the other part is developing guys that we have on our roster and we were able to play and redshirt some guys from last year. What this is going to allow us to do is create competition.”

That’s some not-so-subtle coach-speak for nobody has a guaranteed job … anywhere.

“We need competition at every position … we didn’t have enough of that this year,” Morris said. “We’ve addressed that and we’re not done addressing that.”

Yeah, the guess here is you will need a program next year to know who’s who.

Fourth-quarter push lifts Razorbacks to road win in Tulsa

ESPN Arkansas News Services
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TULSA, Okla. — Malica Monk drove the lane, scored and was fouled as time wound down lifting Arkansas to a 61-59 road win at Tulsa on Thursday.

Arkansas (10-3) once again used fourth quarter heroics to win their fifth game in a row and their third in five days before the holiday break.

Arkansas trailed the Golden Hurricane to start the final quarter but opened the frame on a 10-0 run jumping out to a six-point lead. Tulsa continued to nip at Arkansas’ heels tying the game at 59-all with just 15 seconds remaining in the game.

Coach Mike Neighbors called a timeout to advance the ball and Arkansas got it into Monk’s hands. She faked left and drove right laying it in to give Arkansas the 61-59 lead with eight seconds on the clock.

Tulsa had one last look but couldn’t convert as the Razorbacks hung on for the win.

Chelsea Dungee led the Razorbacks in scoring with 23 points and came within one rebound of getting a double-double. PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

Chelsea Dungee led all scorers with 23 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Monk finished with 12 points and Arkansas got six points each from Kiara Williams, Alexis Tolefree and Jailyn Mason. Williams also added a game-high 10 rebounds.

Notes

• Arkansas Starters: Alexis Tolefree, Malica Monk, Kiara Williams, Jailyn Mason, Chelsea Dungee.

• Kiara Williams recorded double figure rebounds for the fifth time this season and the third time in the last four games.

• Chelsea Dungee scored in double figures for the 11th time this season. She has scored 20+ points in seven games including two in a row.

• Arkansas has won the fourth quarter 10 times.

• Arkansas has forced 20+ turnovers six times this year. Tulsa had 23.

Up Next

Arkansas breaks from competition for the holidays. The Razorbacks host Jackson State on Dec. 30 and open Southeastern Conference play with Mississippi State on Jan. 3.

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