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Morris gets players’ attention early in Monday’s practice
It didn’t take Chad Morris long to finally get the Razorbacks’ attention at Monday morning’s practice.
“You push or I will!,” Morris yelled as he called the players together just a period or two into the practice. “I got all day! I don’t like your attitude!”
He then had the players do up-down drills. If you don’t know what that is, it’s exactly what it says. The players get up, run in place, then drop down flat on the ground, get up and do it until someone says you can stop.
It caught most of us in the media by surprise. That was a scene I saw a few times when Lou Holtz was coaching the Hogs, but not much — if any — in between.
The best way I can put it is Morris showed he’s an old-school coach. I remember coaches yelling they were going to run players until they puked or passed out … whichever came first.
But that was 40 years or so ago. I’m old enough to remember when the coaches told you to run through a wall, you said, “Yes sir!” and headed for the wall. Hopefully you could remember the helmet. Not anymore.
The Hogs on Monday, quite frankly, didn’t appear that surprised.
“People were walking around,” cornerback Ryan Pulley said. “We knew we were going to get punished at some time or another … we just took it to the chin and we just got better today.”
It was a change from the previous regime that appeared to me at times to be supervising recess at playschool.
“We didn’t address it like that,” tight end Austin Cantrell said.
It’s all part of the change that Morris is trying to instill. He doesn’t just talk about playing fast and playing tough.
“I think the biggest difference between the old staff and the new one is the emphasis on the culture that we’re trying to build,” Cantrell said. “It’s not that coach B (Bret Bielema) didn’t emphasize it, but, I mean, it’s every day with coach Morris. We’re pounding it. It all starts with a good foundation.”
“The physical scrimmage and coming off of the off day, the energy wasn’t there,” linebacker De’Jon Harris said. “Even in the walk-through’s and warming up.”
Morris didn’t appear too happy after Saturday’s scrimmage where the offense ran nearly 200 plays by everybody’s guestimation.
“To get tougher we’ve gotta practice tougher,” he said.
You get the idea Morris, who looks more and more like the old-school high school football coach he probably is, would love to resort to some of the tough tactics.
He would probably be the type to do what Bobby Bowden did at Florida State after they opened in the 1988 season in Miami ranked No. 1 and got kicked sideways by the sixth-ranked Hurricanes, 31-0.
Infuriated on the plane ride back to Tallahassee immediately after the night game that was carried live on CBS on the Saturday before Labor Day, Bowden decided to get his team’s attention.
“We drove straight to the stadium, coach Bowden had the players put on those wet uniforms and we scrimmaged,” said Max Howell, who was on Bowden’s staff then. He worked with the secondary that meant he basically made sure Deion Sanders and Leroy Butler were comfortable, but not after getting back to Tallahassee.
“We scrimmaged until the sun came up on Sunday morning,” Howell said. “But we didn’t lose another game.”
The Seminoles finished third in the nation, behind Miami and Notre Dame, when Holtz got his only national championship.
Morris can’t do that now. NCAA rules simply don’t allow things like that.
But you get the idea there could be a situation where he would.
“We’ve got to continue to push ’em,” he said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “We’ve got to continue to push harder in practice.”
It’s a good bet nobody is doubting now he was serious.
Agim getting most of his practice reps at tackle
Razorbacks defensive lineman McTelvin Agim told the media Monday most of his reps in practice are coming inside at tackle, but he is seeing a little more time out at end.
Harris thinks defense is coming along, playing well
Razorbacks linebacker De’Jon Harris said the defense did pretty well in the scrimmage Saturday and even the younger guys on the backend are coming along fairly well.
Calloway details interception in scrimmage Saturday
Arkansas cornerback Chevin Calloway talked with the media Monday after practice and talked about his one-handed interception of a pass during Saturday’s scrimmage.
Cantrell on Patton’s injury, lack of energy at start
Arkansas tight end Austin Cantrell told the media after Monday morning’s practice that fellow tight end Jeremy Patton’s injury wasn’t that bad in his opinion.
Capps on making adjustment from defense to o-line
Razorbacks offensive lineman Austin Capps was moved from the defense last week and talked Monday with the media about how that’s coming along and what he needs to improve.
Pulley on slow start at Monday’s practice, up-downs
Chad Morris stopped the Hogs’ practice Monday and had everyone doing up-downs and cornerback Ryan Pulley talked about how they picked up the pace during the drills after that.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Monday
John & Tommy discuss Saturday’s scrimmage, craziest hog calls, make fun of Ole Miss’ new mascot, plus an interview with ADG’s Tom Murphy.
PHOTOS: Day 9 of Razorback practice in pictures
Arkansas kicked off Day 9 of fall camp with the standard part of the media availability, including the “W Drill,” which is ball-carrier with offensive lineman vs. defensive lineman, tight end vs. linebacker and defensive wide receiver vs. defensive back in an alley.
Photos by Andy Hodges | HitThatLine.com
Capps’ move to offensive line could be good for everybody
Chad Morris was pretty straightforward in his press conference after Saturday’s scrimmage on the status of the depleted offensive.
Austin Capps, buried in the numbers on the defensive line, has been moved to offense. To some, that was his best position coming out of Star City as a four-star lineman in 2016. The previous staff didn’t believe he was tall enough at 6-foot-4 and moved him to defense.
Morris had to have been a little surprised to see the depth of the offensive line when he took over and it’s basically a group that has been without much above the graduate assistant level of coaching for two years under the previous regime.
It appears Capps didn’t have any issues with the move.
“He told me he’d do anything to help us win,” Morris said Saturday.
Hjalte Froholdt, the only member of the offense getting much preseason recognition, has moved to center and he said Saturday it shouldn’t be a big transition.
“I’m not worried about Cappsie making the transition one bit,” Froholdt said after the scrimmage Saturday. “He has played in the offensive line before. He knows how to pull. He knows pass sets. So he’s ahead of where I was when I moved. He’s mature. He is taking to it.
“He’s played in the SEC. He is ready for what we do. And, I don’t think he’s surprised by anything the defense is going to do. He knows the trigger points and where the blitzes are going to hit and where they are coming from.”
Froholdt made the move from defense to offense a couple of years ago and former center Frank Ragnow (now with the Detroit Lions in the NFL) helped him out, but he thinks Capps is ahead of where he was.
“He’ll come to me if he needs something,” Froholdt said. “He’s not a greenie. He knows more than I knew when I made that move. He’s smart and he will be fine. He’s patient and will stay with it.”
For Capps, it’s a way to get more playing time. There were 16 defensive linemen and just nine healthy offensive linemen. Just from a numbers standpoint he starts off at second team if he can keep walking.
That’s not a slight. Considering the way things have gone with the offensive line the last couple of seasons, staying upright is an accomplishment.
“We’ve had a lot of moving parts,” Morris said of the offensive line that got a lot of attention in the scrimmage.
And Capps had help from Froholdt and offensive line coach Dustin Fry, who’s been busy as they are bringing freshmen Noah Gatlin and Silas Robinson into active duty on the line.
“Fry has been behind him on everything,” Morris said. “He’s helped him out.
“We are moving guys around. For today, it was the first time for Gatlin at left tackle. I’ve bragged on Noah and Silas. Sure, they’ve made some mistakes, but they are doing good things for freshmen.”
With Morris’ offense, the installation process will likely be never-ending. There will be things added constantly, mainly because that appears to be his approach.
But they’ve hit the point where getting ready for the games that count has to start soon.
“We’ve got enough in,” Morris said about the offense. “Now we have to figure out what we can handle.”
Like Capps’ move to the offensive line, the entire personnel situation will likely change on a regular basis and could halfway through September.
“We will see where we are in another week,” Morris said. “We’ve got a long ways to go.”
And an ever-shortening time to get there.
