Well, Sam Pittman has said from the start he thought Arkansas needed more size in the offensive line and more speed.
Apparently mama’s cooking helps with the former.
“Their mamas must be pretty good at cooking,” Pittman said in a Zoom conference Tuesday afternoon. “It was quality weight. Right now I’m very pleased with the size of our offensive line. To me, bigger’s better as long as we can move, and that’s what we’re trying to get done right now.”
The fact it’s quality weight was the eye-catching part of that comment. What that could mean is the virtual training the players did with no spring practice worked about as well as it could have.
It may be awhile before anybody admits it, but it’s not that big of a reach to not be surprised to find out coaches were worried about them coming back fat and out of shape.
Pittman can’t watch the ongoing voluntary workouts or really dig into a lot of what happened (a silly rule that really makes absolutely zero sense). It doesn’t mean the coaches are struck deaf.
Running back Rakeem Boyd does get to see the offensive line and even works out with them somewhere away from the campus in their team-led workouts.
“That’s probably the most impressive group right now,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
Offensive tackle Myron Cunningham has gotten a lot of folks’ attention. Pittman said the senior was around 285 last season and now is tipping the scales at 319, he said. He needed it and NFL scouts have probably noticed.
“It’s hard to set the bull when you don’t have enough butt to set it with,” he said. “I had a nice conversation with him and I’m thinking he’s going to have a nice season. But he worked hard at gaining that weight and staying in shape.”
Listening to Boyd, Cunningham may not be the only one that changed.
“This is the best they’ve ever looked,” Boyd said. “They look in shape and they’ve communicated. We’ve got workouts and the whole group is together game-planning.”
His excitement was visible.
“As a running back when you see something like that you can’t do nothing but smile because you know what is gonna happen during the season,” he said. “Those guys are in shape.”
If that translates on the field it would be welcome news for Hog fans who have seen an offensive line decline since, well, Pittman left after the 2015 season.
“We’re in pretty good shape for where we’re at right now and at this point in time of the season,” he said. “We’ve got a much bigger football team than we had in mid to late March.”
