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Fayetteville

Ferrell dropping UCLA visit, coming to Fayetteville

Fordyce defensive lineman apparently liked what he saw in meeting new Arkansas coach Chad Morris on Wednesday afternoon.

He has cancelled an official visit to UCLA and will be coming to Fayetteville this weekend, according to Recruiting Thursday’s Richard Davenport at WholeHogSports.com.

“I dropped UCLA, I’m going to Arkansas for this weekend,” Ferrell said. “He was saying the rest of the Arkansas recruits were coming in too, and we could connect and our families could connect and that would be better than me coming up by myself and visiting.”

Ferrell, a 6-3, 330-pound lineman with offers from Arkansas, Alabama, Wisconsin and Louisville to go along with others from Colorado State, Arkansas State, Memphis, Massachusetts and others, was swayed by Morris’ message he was needed, according to Davenport’s article.

“He was telling me how I was one of his top priorities of the eight people that he was trying to sign,” Ferrell said. “He said there was a new generation of recruits coming to Arkansas and we could make a big impact.”

Ferrell has mentioned Alabama and Louisville as possible visits he’ll make in January.

 

Could Grinch be Hogs’ next defensive coordinator?

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In the unknown that is Arkansas’ search for a defensive coordinators, Washington State’s Alex Grinch got thrown into the mix Wednesday.

ESPN commentator Brock Huard on his radio show in Seattle threw out the positions at Texas A&M and Arkansas as possible landing spots for Grinch.

No, Jimbo Fisher hasn’t settled on his defensive coordinator, either.

But there is a report from FootballScoop.com that Grinch might not be in the mix for the Aggies job, either

Washington State: Defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is “weighing multiple offers, including Texas A&M and Arkansas,” Brock Huard noted on 710 ESPN Seattle today. Huard added that he’d be surprised if Grinch opts to stay in Pullman. Update> Sources tell FootballScoop Texas A&M has their eyes on another person and that Grinch was never offered Texas A&M defensive coordinator.

Well, that wasn’t exactly the coach at Washington State many Razorback fans had their sights set on a month ago. Many were calling for Cougars coach Mike Leach to take over the Hogs.

Chad Morris’ hiring last week squashed that, but now Grinch’s name has surfaced, albeit only from one mention on a Seattle-based radio show.

He is the nephew of former Missouri coach Gary Pinkel and was the safeties coach for the Tigers until 2015 when he was hired by Leach to be Washington State’s defensive coordinator.

Grinch has done well with the Cougars’ defense.

They are No. 15 in the FBS in total defense, allowing 313.6 yards per game, No. 47 in scoring (24.4 points per game), No. 5 in pass efficiency defense and No. 12 in sacks (3.0 per game).

Washington State is tied for seventh with 8.17 tackles for loss per game.

The Cougars ranked No. 97 in total defense (442.3) the year before his arrival, and improved to No. 84 (416.2) in his first season and No. 62 (405.9) in 2016.

Neighbors on Sunday’s game against Texas-Arlington

FAYETTEVILLE — Final exams may be over, but Arkansas will test itself against the UT-Arlington Mavericks on Sunday at 2 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena.

Arkansas has won two in a row and four of their last five games as the team, under the direction of first-year head coach Mike Neighbors, continues to build momentum. The game airs on SECN+.

 Scouting Arkansas

Arkansas returns to competition after a week of final exams.

The Razorbacks are 7-3 on the year with three non-conference games remaining before the start of Southeastern Conference play. Arkansas leads the SEC and ranks second in the nation averaging 10.0 turnovers per game.

The Razorbacks lead the conference in fewest turnovers (100) and 3-point field goals attempted (294) and rank second in rebounds per game (43.2), 3-point field goals made (80) and 3-point field goals per game (8.0).

 Graduate student Devin Cosper and junior Malica Monk have provided the lion’s share of the offense and have scored in double figures in all 10 games this year.

Sophomore Jailyn Mason has been in double-digits in four consecutive games and the rebounding efforts of Kiara Williams and Taylah Thomas have been key in recent wins.

 Scouting Texas-Arlington

Picked to win the Sun Belt title, UT-Arlington enters the week with a 5-4 record. The Mavericks have lost four in a row including back-to-back road games.

They have a convincing win over Oral Roberts, 70-46, a team the Razorbacks defeated by 11 points earlier this year.

Crystal Allen leads the team with 14.6 points per game. She is the leading 3-point threat as well with 19 makes from beyond the arc. Rebekah VanDijk also averages double figures with 11.6 ppg and leads the team with 8.9 rebounds per game.

 Up Next

Arkansas returns to the road for their sixth game away from Bud Walton Arena traveling to Arizona State on Dec. 21.

The team breaks for the holiday and hosts Grambling State on Dec. 28, in the final non-conference contest.

SEC play starts early this year as Arkansas welcomes Ole Miss to Bud Walton Arena on Dec. 31.

Is Hogs’ 2018 QB on campus or in high school?

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Chad Morris hasn’t conducted a single practice yet and everyone is already wondering who will play quarterback.

The overwhelming view of many is that it won’t be Cole Kelley. While that may be true, the fact is the quarterback in Chad Morris’ offense isn’t necessarily a running threat.

Oh, it’s nice to have someone who can make some yards when things break down, but there’s not a lot of required

At SMU last season redshirt sophomore Ben Hicks didn’t do a lot of running, averaging less than four carries a game. But if you look at some offenses that come out of the same bag as Morris’ desires, the quarterback averages 9-10 carries a game.

Some of that is not designed. He scrambles out of trouble, but there will be some option in the offense, too.

What the quarterback has to have in Morris’ offense is quick feet. Really quick feet. That is something you can count on, based on what people who do know that offense say.

That is not exactly something we’ve seen from Kelley.

In looking at who Morris has offered (that we know about) in less than a week on the job, three of the offers have been to quarterbacks: Highland Park’s John Stephen Jones (a blueshirt offer), Greenwood’s Connor Noland and Earle’s Gerry Bohanon.

All three have eye-popping stats and run an offense similar to what Morris wants to employ. Noland is more ready to step in immediately, Bohanon may be the best athlete and Jones has a lot of development potential.

Ty Storey, who’s already on campus, may have the best upside of any of the quarterbacks already there. Yes, I know Daulton Hyatt’s on campus, but he redshirted and from what limited things I’ve seen he’s not ready.

Morris’ offense won’t be the problem in 2018, I’m guessing. There are players on campus that can run his offense better than the one they were trying to run. You may not buy into that, but some of the former offensive assistants believe that.

Yes, people are concerned no one’s talking about the defensive coordinator much or even the defense in general.

That’s because football has changed. You may find this shocking.

Offense wins championships now. Defense will win you a few games.

Look at the championship teams the last few years, especially the last three national championship games.

Ohio State outscored Oregon, 42-20. Alabama outscored Clemson, 45-40. Clemson outscored Alabama, 35-31.

You’ve got to score more than 40 points a game to win a championship and you’re probably going to give up more than 30 a game.

That’s not what any traditional football thinker has in mind.

The rules favor offense. Until that changes, most coaches are going to place a major emphasis on it.

You have to score points to win these days. To do that you have to have a quarterback that makes lightning-quick decisions and have really quick feet.

Unfortunately, Cole Kelley hasn’t shown either one of those two things.

 

 

Schultz ready to compete against best at Winter Nationals

FAYETTEVILLE — Following a month-long break, freshman diver Brooke Schultz dives back into action Wednesday, competing in the one-meter and three-meter springboard events at the 2017 USA Diving Winter National Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“We are excited for Brooke to compete at the Winter Nationals this week. Several Olympians will be competing and for Brooke being a USA World Championship member, it is important for her to display her current good form. She has had an amazing fall freshman campaign and we are looking forward to seeing her continue that this week at the Nationals in Greensboro representing the Razorbacks.”

Schultz has won each of her first 12 dives to start her collegiate career, by an average of 39.48 points in the 1m and 30.67 points in the 3m.

Through five meets this season, Schultz has three separate pool records (Arkansas – 1m and 3m; UCLA – 3m) and four Arkansas school records in the 1M (twice) and 3M (twice).

The Fayetteville native has won all four SEC Diver of the Week when eligible.

In her last outing at the Art Adamson Invite, Schultz scored a 362.15 in the 3m prelims, just shy of her school record to win and move on to the finals. In the finals, she broke her school record set earlier in the year, scoring a 370.95.

In the 1m prelims, she paced the field, scoring 350.60 to finish first and advance to the finals, where she won with a score of 328.15.

Records Broke This Season
Arkansas school record – 1m (twice – 369.90) and 3m (twice – 370.95)
Arkansas pool record – 1m (369.90) and 3m (366.38)
UCLA pool record – 3m (345.20)

Schedule
Wednesday, Dec. 13
1-meter prelims – 10:39 a.m.
1-meter final – 3:24 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 15
3-meter prelims – 9:00 a.m.
3-meter semi-finals – 1:10 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 17
3-meter final – 12:00 p.m.