Hogs offensive coordinator Joe Craddock met with the media Thursday and talked about how things are coming together for the Razorbacks’ offense.
Razorbacks drop road match against No. 48 Florida on Friday
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — No. 12 Florida defeated No. 48 Arkansas, 4-1, on Thursday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
The Razorbacks (5-12, 1-7 SEC) won the doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, but the Gators (13-5, 8-1 SEC) earned four singles victories for the team win.
Razorbacks Giulia Pairone and Mia Jurasic continued their strong play in doubles clinching the opening point with a 6-4 win at No. 2 over Gators Josie Kuhlman and McCartney Kessler.
The Arkansas duo improved to 11-3 this spring with a 6-1 mark in SEC action.
Natsuho Arakawa and Agne Cepelyte scored the other doubles victory 6-3 at No. 3 against Florida’s Katie Kubicz and Peggy Porter.
Razorbacks hosting Top 25 matchup against Mississippi State
FAYETTEVILLE — Closing out its three-week home stand, No. 23 Arkansas hosts 20th-ranked Mississippi State in a three-game series that begins Friday at Bogle Park.
First pitch of the opener is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Admission is free with gates opening one hour prior to the start.
No. 23 Arkansas (25-6/2-4 SEC) vs No. 20/18 Mississippi State (28-6/3-3 SEC) | Game Notes
Bogle Park (Fayetteville, Ark.)
Game 1: Friday, March 30 at 6 p.m. – SEC Network+ | Live Stats
Game 2: Saturday, March 31 at 1 p.m. – SEC Network+ | Live Stats
Game 3: Sunday, April 1 at 1 p.m. – SEC Network+ | Live Stats
All-Time Series vs Mississippi State
Arkansas and Mississippi State have played 64 times prior to this weekend’s series.
The Razorbacks have only played Alabama and LSU more times (65). Mississippi State owns a 16-13 edge in games played in Fayetteville.
Last Time Out
The Razorbacks rallied for a 10-7 win over Missouri (March 25) to secure the series win at Bogle Park. Arkansas tallied seven runs in the fifth inning to erase a 7-3 deficit.
Kayla Green tied the game with a three-run homer while Autumn Buczek drove in the go-ahead run with a double to center.
The win was also the 100th-career victory for head coach Courtney Deifel.
What an Inning
Arkansas’ seven-run fifth against Missouri (March 25) was the program’s highest-scoring inning in SEC play since an eight-run inning against South Carolina in 2014.
The runs came by way of five hits, three walks and an error.
RPI Watch
Taking two of three from Missouri last weekend helped the Razorbacks move up five spots to No. 25 in the most recent (March 26) NCAA RPI.
All 13 SEC teams are positioned within the top 35. Mississippi State, this weekend’s opponent, sits at No. 15 in the RPI.
A Look at the Stat Sheet
Arkansas enters the weekend with 39 home runs, good for ninth in the NCAA.
The Razorbacks also carry top-50 NCAA marks in slugging percentage (.502), team ERA (1.91) and scoring (5.77 runs per game).
Individually, Mary Haff ranks seventh in ERA (0.74) and 15th in strikeouts (140). Fellow freshman Hannah McEwen is tied for 21st nationally with 35 runs driven in this season.
Brooks takes heptathlon title to kick off Texas Relays
AUSTIN, Texas — Taliyah Brooks took the heptathlon title at the Texas Relays on Thursday, recording 5,946 points to begin Arkansas’ trip in Austin, marking her second heptathlon title at the event.
She has finished in the top two in the event at the Texas Relays each of the last three seasons.
“I was decently happy with the results,” said Brooks. “We used this meet as more of a training session, we were trying to just get a qualifying mark for nationals.
“I think overall I had a good two days, we will use the rest of the season for training, sharpening up on my individual events, and preparing for the next heptathlon during championship season”
Brooks, who won the event in 2016 and was runner-up in 2017, began her run to the title Wednesday with with a first place finish in the 100 meter hurdles.
She followed that up with a fourth place finish in the high jump and a ninth place finish in the shot put.
She trailed just once during the event following the shot put, by 17 points, but ended the day with a strong showing and another first place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 23.99 to pull her back ahead.
She was just one of two athletes to break the 20′ mark in the heptathlon long jump, posting a mark of 6.30 (20-8), placing first by more than four inches.
Her day ended with a sixth place finish in the javelin throw and an eighth place finish in the 800 meters.
Brooks’ title marks the 24th at the Texas Relays for Arkansas and fourth in the heptathlon.
Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays Heptathlon
1. Taliyah Brooks – 5,946 pts.
(1) 100-Meter Hurdles – 13.28, 1,083 pts.
(4) High Jump – 1.72m, 879 pts.
(9) Shot Put – 11.72m, 643 pts.
(1) 200 Meters- 23.99, 982 pts.
(1) Long Jump – 6.30m, 943 pts.
(6) Javelin- 36.91m, 608 pts.
(8) 800 Meters – 2:21.17, 808 pts.
Brooks’ Career Heptathlon Results
2018 Texas Relays – 5,946 pts (1st)
2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships – 5,795 pts (3rd)
2017 SEC Outdoor Championships – 6,099 pts (1st) – School Record
2017 Texas Relays – 6,075 pts (2nd)
2016 SEC Outdoor Championships – 5,855 (4th)
2016 Texas Relays – 5,991 pts (1st)
2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships – 5,717 pts (16th)
2015 SEC Outdoor Championships – 5,681 pts (7th)
2015 Texas Relays – 5,482 pts (4th)
The Razorbacks field and relay teams will return to action in Austin tomorrow, while the distance crew will begin action in Palo Alto, Calif. at the Stanford Invitational.
Cook named top coach, Shaffer top freshman in SEC this year
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Arkansas coach Mark Cook was named the league’s Coach of the Year, while freshman standout Sarah Shaffer was tabbed as Freshman of the Year by the SEC.
The awards were voted on by the league’s head coaches following last weekend’s SEC Championship.
Mark Cook | Coach of the Year
In his 16th season as the head coach at Arkansas, Cook led the Razorbacks to a record season that was capped by a first place finish in the first session at the SEC Championship and a fifth place finish overall, its highest since 2011.
It was also just the third time in program history that the Razorbacks have scored over 196 or higher at the event.
At the SEC Championship last week, Cook’s Razorbacks led the first session with 10 All-SEC performances from six athletes, along with three All Freshman Team performances.
Cook led Arkansas to the largest turnaround in the Southeastern Conference this season. From this point last season, Arkansas has improved its RQS (Regional Qualifying Score) by 1.245 points, and its season average by 2.045 points.
No other school in the conference has improved its RQS by more than 0.33 from this point last season.
The team was ranked No. 27 heading into regionals last season, compared to No. 10 this year.
Under Cook’s leadership, the Razorbacks set multiple records this season while dependent on six underclassmen competing 15 routines
This season, Arkansas posted scores of 197 or higher in three meets for the first time in program history, including breaking its program record score against Arizona with a 197.275, and then again in Arkansas’ Tri meet against Denver and Iowa State with a 197.300.
The team has set a record high RQS three times this season, including its final score of 196.820.
Coming in at No. 10 in this week’s ranking, the Razorbacks hold its highest ranking heading into regional competition since 2012. Cook was previously named SEC Co-Coach of the year in 2008 and 2016, making 2018 the first time he’s the sole owner of the award.
Sarah Shaffer | Freshman of the Year
Shaffer ranks as the highest ranked freshman in the conference on floor, coming in at 26th-nationally and seventh overall in the SEC.
She has competed in the all-around in 9-of-12 meets this season, and is the only nationally-ranked freshman from the conference in the all-around, coming in at 40th nationally.
She ranks in the top-100 on two more events, coming in at 53rd nationally on vault and 67th on bars.
The Tyler, Texas native has recorded scores of 9.900 or higher 10 times this season, and leads the league’s freshmen with six scores of 9.900 or higher on the floor.
Her score of 9.950 on floor in Arkansas’ Tri meet against Denver and Iowa State marks the highest score on the floor among the league’s freshmen.
In that meet, she posted a season high 39.500 in the all-around, tied for the highest all-around score among freshmen in the conference.
In five meets she has recorded an all-around score of 39.300 or higher which is tops among the conference’s freshmen. In four meets she has recorded multiple 9.900’s and was named the Freshman of the Week three times this season to lead the league.
Shaffer is the third Razorback in program history to be named Freshman of the Year, joining Amanda Wellick, who won the award in 2014, and Paige Zaziski who took the honor in 2015.
It’s a different approach with Morris on nearly everything
Wednesday showed just how different things are around Arkansas football these days.
The Razorbacks practiced outdoors in a misting rain and over 100 people stood around watching it.
“I was a little bit disappointed,” Chad Morris said later. “I was really disappointed. I was hoping it was raining harder.”
With the fancy indoor workout facilities most teams have these days, they choose to work out indoors, out of elements like water coming out of the sky and other things.
Not Morris, who looks at some things with an old-school view. Apparently staying indoors wasn’t considered much … if at all.
“There was no way in the world we were going to stay indoors,” he said. “I was really hoping for an absolute torrential downpour to see how our guys responded.”
In Morris’ view, they may have to play in it so they may as well have some experience in it. You get the idea he doesn’t make excuses and the weather dang sure ain’t going to be one he’ll even consider.
But the main priority in Fayetteville these days is recruiting … always recruiting.
“As of the last count, and I believe it was Monday, we were sitting at about 850 high school coaches that have come on campus this spring, coming in and out,” he said.
No one knows (or if they do they aren’t saying) but it may be a safe bet there haven’t been 850 high school coaches on campus to visit the football offices over the last 10 years combined.
That is a noticeable difference. At almost every practice it’s not uncommon to see school buses from Tyler, Texas, Tennessee or other states.
And coaches are coming just about every day of the week.
“We welcome them every day,” Morris said. “We’ve got a portion of our day set aside that our offensive and defensive staff goes and meets with these high school coaches. We didn’t have a clinic, we we just opened our doors and said, ‘come on, we’re going to talk ball.’
“We’ve got some that come back every day, some that come back once a week. That’s been very beneficial. It’s a little bit more of a personal touch.”
Morris is counting on it paying dividends with good players choosing to be Razorbacks.
“We’ve had some top-tier recruits … we had some here today,” he said. “We’ve had a LOT of people on campus. When you get ’em here — I’ve said it before — we’ve got a beautiful campus, we’ve got something great to sell.”
The sales pitch is to come to the Hogs and be the one that puts them on the map in what Morris is planning to be a return to the world of relevancy in the SEC.
“We tell recruits you can come here and be THE guy, be the reason,” he said. “Some guys like that and some guys don’t. They don’t want to be THE guy. They want to go where someone else has been THE guy and already done it and that’s okay.
“We’re going to get great players here and then when you get ’em here, you’ve got to develop ’em.”
Like I said, things are very, very different.
Oh, and Morris is expecting a big turnout for the Red-White game in Little Rock on April 7.
“Let’s pack that place out,” Morris said. “We’re going to have some phenomenal recruits there that are just going to be in attendance, just like a normal fan.
“Unfortunately we can’t have them on the field and we can’t put them in a certain section. They’re going to be all over the stadium and we have to bring that passion that I’ve seen since the day I walked in here to the spring game on April 7 because that’s going to be a big day for us.”
Don’t expect to see anything approaching the complete package for the Hogs to be on display at War Memorial Stadium.
“Offensively, we’re at about 25 percent install to be honest with you and that’s okay,” he said. “I’m fine with that. It’s not how much we can get in, but how much we can do. I want to get really good at something and these guys are and right now it’s getting an understanding how to play fast and just get the base system down.
“All that other stuff will come. We’ve still got a lot of time ahead of us. We’ve got summer workouts and these will be player-led workouts.”
Playing fast has been the biggest thing Morris and his staff has been pushing during the spring. For Razorback fans, it will appear to be at warp speed.
“We were snapping today with about 27 seconds on the play clock,” he said. “We want to be snapping it with 30 or even 32 seconds on the clock at times.”
He didn’t appear too concerned, though.
“From where we started to where we are right now, I would say we’re right on schedule,” he said. “Again, I knew we had a long way to go. You can talk to me after the 15th practice and I’ll tell you the same thing … we’re not there and we’ve got a long way to go, but we’ve come a long way, too.
“These guys are learning us, learning the staff, they’re learning our expectations and learning what our standard is. It’s about the little things.
“If you can’t take care of the little things how can we expect you to step on the field on third-and-2 and make a stop. We’re getting there. I feel like we’re on track.”
Like we said earlier, things are changing.
Morris on loving rainy practice day, spring quarterback battle
Arkansas coach Chad Morris talked about wishing it would have rained harder at spring practice Wednesday as he took the team outside to scrimmage.
