Democrat-Gazette recruiting writer Richard Davenport said recruits out of state most familiar with Jalen Catalon, Treylon Burks with Hogs.
Murphy on what Loggains’ NFL experience might bring to offense
Democrat-Gazette writer Tom Murphy has heard good things about new tight ends coach Dowell Loggains, who brings high-level NFL experience to Hogs.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast: What is Arkansas best known for?
Tye & Tommy on the NFL protocol news, the NBA Calapari report, Richard Davenport joins and more!
Welch’s homer could be defining moment of season, says Henry
Hawgs Illustrated’s Clay Henry said Charlie Welch’s big home run against Nebraska will be moment he remembers about this season.
Kopps, Wicklander, Franklin named to writers’ All-American team
Kevin Kopps, Patrick Wicklander and Christian Franklin are All-Americans.
The Razorback trio received the honor from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Wednesday, becoming the 29th, 30th and 31st Arkansas players to earn All-America status.
Kopps took home first-team honors from the NCBWA, while Wicklander was voted to the second team and Franklin landed on the third team.
Kopps, college baseball’s most dominant pitcher in 2021, finished the campaign with a 12-1 record and 11 saves.
He recorded the nation’s lowest ERA (0.90) and WHIP (0.76), striking out 131 in 89.2 innings of work. Opposing hitters had a .162 average against the right-hander, who set the program’s single-season record for ERA during his historic year.
The SEC Pitcher of the Year and Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year, Kopps is a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award — two of college baseball’s most prestigious individual awards.
He is also a finalist for the College Baseball Foundation’s National Pitcher of the Year Award as well as the NCBWA’s Stopper of the Year Award, which is handed out to the nation’s best relief pitcher.
Wicklander emerged as the Razorbacks’ No. 1 starter after beginning the year out of the bullpen. The-left hander, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes prior to the season, finished with a 7-1 record and 2.09 ERA in 77.2 innings of work, punching out 85 batters while limiting opposing hitters to a .226 average.
Franklin, meanwhile, slashed .274-.420-.544 with 13 home runs and 54 RBI during the 2021 campaign. The outfielder also hit 15 doubles and 2 triples, swiping a team-best 11 bases on the year, while playing elite defense in center.
Along with Brady Slavens, Robert Moore and Jalen Battles, Kopps and Wicklander were also recognized as American Baseball Coaches Association-Rawlings South All-Region honorees. Kopps was voted to the first team, while Slavens, Moore, Battles and Wicklander earned second-team praise from the ABCA-Rawlings.
Slavens, the Razorbacks’ everyday first baseman, slashed .284-.347-.560 with 14 homers and a team-leading 63 RBI in 2021. Moore, who slashed .283-.384-.558 on the year, blasted a team-high 16 homers and drove in 53 runs while playing superb defense at second base all year long.
Battles, meanwhile, slashed .269/.371/.407 with six home runs and 43 RBI. The slick-handed shortstop was named the SEC Tournament MVP as he powered Arkansas to a sweep of the conference regular-season and tournament title.
King doesn’t see much changing with playoff other than money schools get
Nashville Sports Radio’s Bill King thinks the winners will keep winning even with an expanded playoff, but the money-grab is too good to pass up.
Pittman’s hiring of Loggains should work well with Briles’ offense
Jon Brice of FootballScoop said on The Morning Rush that Sam Pittman bringing in Dowell Loggains should be good fit for Hogs’ offense.
Goode thinks Loggains experienced with variety of different offense
Former Razorback and Packer Brett Goode talked with Tye Richardson and Tommy Craft on The Morning Rush about hiring Dowell Loggains.
Bud Light Seltzer Morning Rush Podcast: Eliminating divisions in CFB
Tye & Tommy on potentially eliminating divisions, Coach Loggains introduced, plus where you stand on PDA!
Expanding playoffs means pushover games will disappear soon
Even though Arkansas has some rather cupcake football games scheduled down the road don’t be too shocked if they get replaced by much stronger teams.
Well, that’s only if the Razorbacks get good enough for just winning six games not being a primary objective every year. That’s where they are now.
The first expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams is going to pretty much guarantee that and Sam Pittman’s former boss, Kirby Smart at Georgia, may have had the best comment of all on it recently.
“It’s not the losses that are going to kill you … it’s not playing the best teams,” Smart told ESPN’s Marty Smith and Ryan McGee over the weekend. “Losses won’t kill you when you start talking about top 12. You’ve got to have a powerful schedule and go play good teams.”
With the announcement last week that a 12-team playoff is now recommended, some fans will think their non-Power 5 school will get to play for the title.
Other people will talk about it being too much for the players, which is a ridiculous argument because the extra games will happen during the downtime between semesters. For the few schools with extra games the only thing it may interfere with is a trip home.
Don’t use the “too much risk for the players.” They are 18-21 years old. NFL players are older and play 17 regular-season games in a sport that is far faster and more physical than anything at the collegiate level.
It’s a blatant extra cash-grab for college football, but what it will do is allow a program like the Hogs to have a better chance to play for a title if that ever becomes a realistic possibility. They don’t have to win the SEC West to stay alive and could even finish third to have a shot.
Under a 12-team playoff format, the SEC would have had 14 teams over the last four years in the top 12, Bill Connelly at ESPN.com wrote last week after doing a dive into the numbers.
Here’s the breakdown of SEC teams in an expanded playoff system since 2017:
• 2017: Alabama, Auburn, Georgia
• 2018: LSU, Florida, Georgia, Alabama
• 2019: Florida, Georgia, LSU
• 2020: Georgia, Texas A&M, Florida, Alabama
Don’t get it wrong. You can’t win just six games, lose to six SEC teams in close games and expect to get in.
But you could go 10-2, have close losses to Alabama, Georgia or some other highly-ranked powerhouse and still have a legitimate chance to get in there.
For a program like Arkansas, it can give fans hope in a year unlike anything they’ve had since 2011 (the second straight year the Hogs won 10 games and finished third in the final polls in their own division).
One loss won’t kill you. The guess is two won’t, either … if you don’t have a bunch of rent-a-wins on the schedule.
Most of the talk is about how this provides hope for Group of 5 schools to get into the playoff the real winners could be teams in the SEC.
At least some will have hope when they have their best seasons.
