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Fayetteville

Cornelius talks about offense in scrimmage Saturday

Arkansas wide receiver Jared Cornelius talked with the media after Saturday’s scrimmage and pointed out what he felt was a 99-yard pass play for the offense at one point.

Nance on how offense performed in scrimmage

Razorbacks wide receiver Jonathan Nance talked with the media about how the offense looked in the scrimmage Saturday inside Razorback Stadium.

Richardson on defense’s performance in scrimmage

Hogs defensive lineman Gabe Richardson talked with the media after Saturday’s scrimmage about how Sosa Agim is adapting and Randy Ramsey being back along with others.

Curl on how defense played in scrimmage

Arkansas cornerback Kamren Curl talked about the defense’s performance in Saturday’s scrimmage, but he didn’t see any 99-yard pass completion.

Morris pleased with second scrimmage to end camp

Arkansas coach Chad Morris met with the media after the second scrimmage of the fall Saturday as they prepare to break camp Saturday night to get ready for the first game.

Craddock on offense’s performance in scrimmage

Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock didn’t have a lot of definitive comments after the scrimmage inside Razorback Stadium because he was in the press box making calls.

Chavis not happy with tackling in scrimmage

Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis met with the media after Saturday’s scrimmage inside Razorback Stadium and wasn’t happy with their tackling during the 140-play workout.

Anderson honored at Burlsworth Foundation’s Legacy Dinner

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Mike Anderson was honored Friday at the annual Brandon Burlsworth Foundation Legends Dinner.

Anderson becomes the ninth Legend the Burlsworth Foundation has honored, joining John Paul Hammerschmidt (2010), Frank Broyles (2011), John Boozman (2012), Mrs. Pat Walker (2013), Randy Veach (2014), Asa Hutchinson (2015), Judy McReynolds (2016) and Curt Bradbury (2017).

University of Arkansas Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mark Waldrip served as the master of ceremonies while Scotty Thurman, Steve Smith, Hunter Yurachek and Nolan Richardson each spoke during the program before Anderson was honored.

“The Legends Dinner recognizes a person each year who has made great contributions to our state,” said Marty Burlsworth, Chairman/CEO and Founder of the Brandon Burlsworth Foundation. “Coach Anderson has a long history with the University and the state of Arkansas, so it was an easy choice for our board of directors to honor him in this way.”

Anderson is starting his eighth season at Arkansas and owns a 151-86 record with the Razorbacks.

Overall, this season will mark his 17th as a head coach, posting a 351-184 career record, and this season will be his 25th at Arkansas.

He is one of four Division I coaches with 15-plus years of head coaching experience and has never experienced a losing season while being the only coach to accomplish the feat at three different programs.

In his 16 years of being a head coach, Anderson has led his teams to 11 postseason berths, including nine NCAA Tournament appearances, and posted 11, 20-win seasons.

This past season, the Razorbacks reached the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, made the NCAA field for the third time in four seasons and played in the postseason for the fourth time in the last five years.

Prior to becoming a head coach, Anderson was part of the basketball staff when Arkansas won the 1994 NCAA Championship and finished runner-up for the national title the following year (1995), while helping the Razorbacks to three Final Four appearances and 15 postseason appearances in his 17 years as an assistant.

While his on-court success is evident, Coach Anderson is equally a champion in the community.

He created his own Mike Anderson Foundation, which provides funding for programs focused on preventative health care education and assists organizations that offer nutritional support for children. Anderson is active with the Yvonne Richardson Center and Samaritan’s Feet.

Also, each year at the annual Red-White Game, fans get in free with a canned food item, which helps support the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. In fact, Anderson has done similar food drives as the head coach at Missouri and UAB as well as assist with Special Olympics at all three stops.

Bud Light Countdown: 14 days until Hogs kick off the season

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Stoerner to Lucas.

Photo credit: Brian Bahr/Getty Images

Don’t count on passing top QB requirement for Hogs

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With Chad Morris not wanting to put any particular quarterback ahead of another in fall camp, it does lead to a constant conversation topic for radio talk shows and any gathering of two fans or more.

The view from here is many fans simply haven’t paid close enough attention to what Morris has been saying since the spring.

Being the best passer isn’t a primary measuring stick. This isn’t the same scenario for Arkansas as it was in 2008 when Bobby Petrino took over.

Morris wants to run the ball. Petrino made no secret of the fact he preferred passing, even saying on a couple of occasions he wasn’t patient enough to run the ball downfield, gaining four and five yards at time.

You get the feeling if the Razorbacks were getting 4-5 yards a clip by simply handing it off on the first read in Morris’ offense there wouldn’t be a pass thrown.

And the time between snaps would be so fast you better not look down to grab your popcorn.

Morris has said since he was announced as coach his offense is a two-back, run-oriented offense that will take deep shots down the field. I didn’t think that was very hard to understand, but a lot of folks still aren’t grasping it.

His offenses are remarkably balanced.

At SMU last year, they ran the ball 486 times and passed it 487 times. You don’t get much more balanced than that, but there’s a more important message.

If you thought this was going to be slinging it all over the field in the air like Petrino, forget it. That’s not what Morris does.

While Petrino’s first team struggled the first year, a lot of that was adjusting to a coach who, let’s be nice here, was not a players’ coach. For the players returning, it was in stark contrast to the Houston Nutt style. For high school players, well, there were some who decided before the halfway point of the season they were leaving and had to be talked out of it by Bobby.

There were other issues, too. Most of the skill position players coming in had played a Morris-style offense in high school. For example, it took Tyler Wilson some time to adapt to getting the snap from under center and dropping back. In high school he started back where Petrino wanted him to get to.

An astonishing number of the Hogs’ current skill position players — both returning veterans and newcomers — played a Morris-style offense in high school. Some an offense created after their coach went to one of Morris’ clinics.

The learning curve isn’t that steep. As commentator Greg McElroy pointed out on the SEC Network last week, the learning curve isn’t nearly as steep making this change as it was from Petrino to Bret Bielema’s style.

Now don’t misunderstand me. This team would need a lot of breaks and maybe a miracle or two to get to nine or 10 wins. No way I will go out on that limb and make a prediction in that range.

But there is a path to get there … if they get the breaks and that miracle or two. In Lou Holtz’ first year, he got some breaks:

• After winning the league in their first year in 1976, the Cougars were dealing with a pesky NCAA investigation that finally blew up just before playing the Hogs and they simply showed up as the Hogs romped to a 34-0 win in Little Rock.

• At Texas A&M a month later, the Hogs had to get a very late pass completion from Ron Calcagni to Robert Farrell, on a route they modified for a score to pull out a 27-22 win. Patrick Martin had to intercept a pass in the end zone to salvage the win.

• In Lubbock on Thanksgiving, the Hogs sleepwalked through the first half, threatening to derail an Orange Bowl bid, and finally did just enough for a 17-14 win over the Red Raiders. Tech had lost the previous week to Houston, 45-7, after the Cougars shook off the midseason NCAA slump.

The point is, to win nine or 10 games, there’s always a break or two, plus usually something bordering on near-miracle that makes the difference. Very few folks just steamroll their way to even nine wins.

To have a shot at any of that, Arkansas is going to need a quarterback that makes quick, correct decisions.

And THAT is the No. 1 thing Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock are trying to find on this team.

Which is why worrying about who’s got the biggest arm of the bunch is likely not even in the equation. From what I’ve seen in limited views, every one of the quarterbacks can make the throws required in this offense.

How accurate they are is more important than how fast they get the ball there. Getting rid of it fast is a factor, but still not the biggest factor.

Who starts at quarterback is likely going to be more about what’s going on above the shoulders than anything below that.

And it won’t be surprising if Morris waits until game day to make the decision.

Defensive stand gives Hogs win in first official game of season

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Arkansas did not concede a single shot in its 2018 season opener Friday night against Duquesne and used a strong second half effort to defeat the Dukes, 1-0, at Jeffrey Field.

The lone goal came from junior Kayla McKeon in the 37th minute in the run of play as the first half winded down. McKeon has now scored 14 goals in her Razorback career and has scored once in two of the last three season openers.

Friday night’s victory over the Dukes was Arkansas’ ninth season-opening win in the last 10 years and sixth-straight victory via shutout going back to 2017.

The team will now look ahead to its marquee matchup of the weekend against No. 9 West Virginia on Sunday at 11 a.m., which will also be played on the Penn State campus.

From Head Coach Colby Hale

“The positive is that we won the match. Winning is never easy, but we worked out some first-game jitters against a good Duquesne team. We need to keep progressing in order to reach out final goals. Duquesne had some moments today, but we didn’t concede a shot and it’s good to get a ‘W’ in our first match.” – Head coach Colby Hale

How It Went Down

Pregame Arkansas and Duquesne had to wait out an hour-long weather delay prior to the beginning of the match. The original start time of 4 p.m. was pushed back to 5 p.m. due to heavy rain and thunderstorms in the State College area.

37th minute – Kayla McKeon found the scoresheet for the first time this year when her one-timer in the middle of the box snuck past the Duquesne keeper for the game’s only goal. The play was set up nicely by sophomore Taylor Malham on the right side, who sent the cross in toward the near post where it was back-heeled by Tyler Runnels right to McKeon in front of goal.

For Runnels, the point was her first of her collegiate career, while Malham’s was her 15th of her young career.

Other Key Notes

• The shutout Friday night against Duquesne is reminiscent to 2017, where the Hogs piled up a school-record tying 10 clean sheets during the year. Tonight’s shutout was goalkeeper Rachel Harris’ second of her career.

• Tonight’s 1-0 victory was the first season-opening shutout for the Razorbacks since 2013 when they defeated Kansas, 1-0, on August 23.

• After not conceding one shot to Duquesne, it marked the first time in program history than an Arkansas opponent did not record a shot in a match.

• Sophomore Brooke Pirkle logged a career-high 76 minutes in the midfield and made her third start of her Razorback career.

• Kayla McKeon’s score was her first goal since her rebound put back against Vanderbilt (Nov. 2) in the SEC Tournament semifinals last year.  McKeon had four goals in 2017 and 13 points.

Up Next

Arkansas now sets its sights on No. 9 West Virginia, which it will face on Sunday at 11 a.m. at Jeffrey Field. The Mountaineers will be the Razorbacks 12th top-10 opponent in the last four seasons.

The match will be streamed for free on Penn State’s athletics website, GoPSUsports.com, with live stats available as well.