Razorbacks Dre Greenlaw talked after practice Tuesday about the Panthers’ lineup and giving them respect, plus the new digs at Razorback Stadium for Saturday’s season opener.
Hogs’ Wallace on playing better, faster with new training
Arkansas offensive tackle Brian Wallace talked with the media after practice Tuesday about how he feels stronger and faster after gaining muscle and dropping body fat in the off-season.
Pulley talks about exciting start in new stadium Saturday
Razorbacks cornerback Ryan Pulley talked after practice Tuesday about how the excitement for the team playing in a new, larger Razorback Stadium to open the season Saturday.
PHOTOS: Tuesday’s practice in preparation for opener
Photos by Andy Hodges | HitThatLine.com
Kelley on being named starter at quarterback for opener
Arkansas’ coaches told Cole Kelley on Sunday night he would be the starter Sunday night, but he’s well aware that doesn’t mean he’ll be the quarterback at the end and is just focused on what he can do.
New North End Zone even impressive to us old-timers
The new North End Zone facility is not quite complete, but it’s certainly completed for game day, which comes Saturday when the Hogs host Eastern Illinois.
“I was blown away on Tuesday,” Morris said. “I had seen all of the pictures, but the pictures did not do it justice.”
It even features a new rock that is in the middle of the walkway where players will come through the fans to get to the field.
Having seen many of the more impressive places around college football I was curious to see this one, but wanted to know what some other old-timers thought.
Nobody has been around more than Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis.
“There is not a better game day locker room around the country,” he said during his press conference Monday afternoon. “It was impressive, more so than I anticipated.”
For Chavis to be impressed is probably difficult, I’m guessing. Old defensive guys are not easily impressed.
But he had a secondary motive.
“It’s going to help us in recruiting,” he said. “You have to have great facilities to recruit.”
It was the same reasoning Frank Broyles used back in 1973 with key donors to get the original North End Zone facility built. Until then it was a place for kids to watch games on a grass hill.
It made a difference. Using drawings of the original facility, Broyles hit the recruiting trail and started rounding up players.
Broyles stockpiled the Hogs with players he used to win a Southwest Conference title in 1975 and Lou Holtz combined with for a 45-12-2 record between 1975-79. Nearly half of those losses came in Broyles’ final season in 1976 with a 5-5-1 record.
At that time, the North End Zone facility in Fayetteville was the only one of it’s kind in college football. It was more impressive after being built than just the blueprints and drawings.
A lot of teams started adding the indoor workout parts and it kept going from there.
Now, dang near everybody has these palaces that are as much for recruiting as providing a cushy place for high-roller fans to sit.
“It was done right,” Chavis said. “It’s big time.”
Chavis doesn’t need anyone to remind him that having big time facilities means you better have big time teams. His defense is going to be critical for that.
The SEC veteran doesn’t sound too concerned with his starters, but knows to win ballgames it’s about the depth. There will be players coming on and off the field almost every play.
That’s due in large part to the trend of up-tempo offenses.
“Let’s be real, if you play up tempo, it’s all about the number of snaps,” Chavis said. “You can’t play well for two and a half quarters. If you don’t keep your players rested, the fourth quarter gets away from you.”
That’s what happened so many times to Hog fans over the past couple of years.
Last year, for example, the Razorbacks lost these games in the fourth quarter:
• Against TCU the Hogs trailed just 14-7 heading into the fourth period before the Frogs pulled away to a 28-7 win.
• Against Texas A&M, Arkansas was out-scored 19-15 in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime where they failed for the third time in the last four years to score against the Aggies in OT and lost, 50-43.
• Against LSU, the Hogs trailed 13-10 late in the third quarter before falling, 33-10.
• Against Mississippi State, the Razorbacks led 21-14 heading into the final four minutes of the game and lost 28-21. Yes, they gave up 14 points in the final four minutes.
• Against Missouri, the Hogs gave up a 14-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 4:55 of the final five minutes to lose 48-45 in Bret Bielema’s last game.
That’s five losses that it’s realistic to think the Hogs should have won two of them and could have won three or even four.
Of course, that would mean Chavis and Chad Morris aren’t here.
It will be different this year and not just with the fabulous new look of the stadium.
Hog fans are just hoping the play on the field is equally eye-popping.
Bud Light Countdown: 4 days until Hogs kick off the season
4 days til Razorback football ? pic.twitter.com/UFcBtwP4Ur
— Tye Richardson (@TyeSportsRadio) August 28, 2018
Mallett to J-Wright in stride. Bye bye.
Photo Credit: RAZORBACK SPORTS COMMUNICATIONS
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
Nick Mason joins John and Tommy to talk about Cole Kelley being named the starting quarterback, the depth chart, Jarius Wright as the greatest No. 4 ever in Razorbacks history and more!
New countdown clock helps fans keep up with TV timeouts
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Southeastern Conference will implement the use of a visible television timeout countdown clock on the field at all 14 SEC on-campus football venues for the 2018 season the conference announced on Tuesday.
The on-field display will allow fans, game officials and both teams to view the remaining time during each television commercial stoppage from anywhere in the stadium.
“The use of a visible timeout countdown clock will provide fans in particular an opportunity to know when a game will re-start after a television timeout and hopefully give some definition to the perceived delays in a game,” said SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey. “The clock will also give teams, game officials and event administrators more definitive information for time management in their respective areas of the game.”
The display is operated by the TV timeout coordinator, or ‘Red Hat,’ on the field during television commercial breaks and is turned off during routine game action.
The time shown on the TV timeout countdown clock will be the official time remaining in a timeout. When the display reaches zero, the game officials will make the ball ready for play.
This will require both teams to be ready on the field and the television production to be back from its commercial break.
The TV timeout countdown clock will also be utilized at three off-campus Southeastern Conference games played during the regular season including Georgia vs. Florida in Jacksonville, Fla., Arkansas vs. Texas A&M in Arlington, Texas and Ole Miss at Arkansas in Little Rock, as well as the SEC Championship Game on December 1, in Atlanta, Ga., at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The clock will not be used at neutral site games involving non-conference opponents, such as games to be played on opening weekend in Houston, Arlington, Atlanta and Orlando.
The SEC worked with Victory Game Clocks to develop the TV timeout countdown clock for the upcoming football season.
The countdown clock is a variation of the company’s eDown digital product currently utilized at several SEC schools, the SEC Football Championship Game, and a number of bowl games.
Both projects are a by-product of the Auburn University Economic Development Administration (EDA) program, where prototypes and final design were completed by a group of 16 Auburn students in the program.
Kelley will start first game, but finishing is still wide open
Chad Morris opened Monday’s gameweek press conference by announcing Cole Kelley will be the starter at quarterback, but later he kinda left open who will finish.
“I told him it wasn’t a lifetime contract,” Morris said.
Which means, simply, the only thing crystal clear about the quarterback position is that it most certainly isn’t clear WHO will play the most this season.
He pointed out keeping the quarterback position requires getting the team into the end zone. They could practice until Christmas and still not know that until they line up against someone in a different uniform.
In the end, it came down to Kelley being a little more consistent over the last couple of weeks.
“I was really in hopes that there would be a clearcut, ‘Boom, here it is, it was evident from the first scrimmage,’ but we didn’t get that,” Morris said. “We got a really good, healthy competition at that position. That’s a good thing.”
That’s coachspeak for nobody stepped up, grabbed the job by the throat and just flat-out claimed it.
“We just felt like for the decision-making and what we felt like going into this first game that Cole had earned that right to start,” Morris said. “Doesn’t say that he’s the finisher, but he’s the starter.”
Kelley’s size also played a role, in addition his strong arm and the fact he’s big enough to take a pounding behind an offensive line that has one side put together with hope and training tape.
“Cole has got a strong arm. He’s big, he’s not afraid to stand in there,” offensive coordinator Joe Craddock said.
That could be due as much to the injury issues in the offensive line, combined with the inexperience. It’s a massive understatement to say that usually is a bad combination.
“I’m just saying that one of his strengths when you turned on the tape from last year when he did play, he’s standing in there taking some good, big hits, and to keep being able standing in there showing the courage that it takes to do that, that’s one of his biggest attributes is his size and his ability to throw the ball down the field,” Craddock said.
We’re assuming he knows that’s also how quarterbacks — even the big ones — get laid out in the SEC.
On the depth chart for this week, the Hogs list five quarterbacks.
And, near the end of the press conference, Morris also suggested we not forget about freshmen Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones.
A little research shows when he had Deshaun Watson at Clemson when he was a freshman in 2014, Morris kept him out of the starting lineup for a big part of the season.
Now that’s not to say either of these guys are Watson, who ended up being a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in 2016 when he led the Tigers to a national title win over Alabama.
But Morris said both will play.
“Now, when and exactly the moment, I don’t know that and probably won’t know that until that moment,” Morris said. “I want them engaged and ready and prepared as if they were the starter.”
The word from people that have seen more of fall camp than the media have said both look better in the scrimmages, especially Jones. His reputation is as a competitor.
Which Morris likes.
If it shows itself in a game against someone in another jersey and with the new redshirt rule, he can play them against SEC opponents to see how they do in the big time.
But Morris going to find out.
Morris names Kelley starter at QB for opener for Hogs
Arkansas coach Chad Morris on Monday named Cole Kelley as the starting quarterback for the opener against Eastern Illinois this Saturday in the official unveiling of Razorback Stadium.
