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Slow down on assumptions … we have no idea what we don’t know

You may want to pump the brakes on asking what anybody thinks about this Razorback team two practices in because we really don’t have a clue what we don’t know.

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Two days into the start of another football season at Arkansas, the questions are coming fast and furious about what fans should be expecting this season.

Pump the brakes on that, dude.

It’s really too early to even be wondering what we should be asking about and no evaluations made now are binding beyond the next practice. Even for coaches.

While a lot of folks like to strut around giving their opinion — regardless whether anybody asked or not — the fact of the matter is nobody knows anything right now except the Razorbacks have managed to find their way from the dressing room to the practice field.

Don’t expect a lot from the brief time anybody gets to watch practice. For some reason, Chad Morris likes to keep a somewhat tight rein on anybody finding out that quarterbacks hand off and throw the ball.

Through two practices, we’ve been asked not to film field goals in one and punts in the other. I have no idea, so don’t even ask.

In the first 20 minutes of practice (which consists of four five-minute periods), we see the same basic formula we’ve seen since spring practice in 2018 … in almost exactly the same order.

None of that’s a complaint. It is what it is and nobody asked before making that decision. It’s kind of a strange way to build enthusiasm around a new program, but whatever. For those that don’t know, NFL locker rooms are required to be open every day during a set time and coaches required to stand in front of the media. There are some that would never be heard from if there wasn’t a requirement.

All of that is just a prelude to tell you we don’t see enough to make a lot of judgements.

Quite frankly, the coaches may like what they see after two practices, but they aren’t going to make a lot of decisions based on that.

For example, the working theory at quarterback is graduate transfer Ben Hicks will start the first couple of regular season games, then give way to another grad transfer, Nick Starkel, who will take over and be the caretaker for KJ Jefferson, who will take over next season.

If you watch the workouts in shorts, you have to wonder why Starkel would be behind. The ball literally jumps off his arm on passes. It gets to the receivers on some routes we’ve seen a full one-two steps ahead of what we saw last year.

By Starkel’s own admission on Razorback Media Day on Saturday, we found out he’s just a hair under 6-foot-5, which is something I’ve suspected since 2017 standing next to him at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. He’s listed at 6-3 and I’ve wondered if he slouched or the measuring tape slipped.

Jefferson looks like he could walk on the field right now and take things over.

But that’s without pads. That’s without a defense coming at him with the general goal of rendering him null and void as many times as possible.

At this point, we don’t even know what to be questioning other than the same routine queries about who’s doing what at this position or that position.

About the only thing we know at this point is the team, as a whole, looks completely different this year.

Physically, they are bigger, faster and look far more confident than even the last couple of seasons. Even some of the returning players that were recruited before Morris got here have changed their bodies and their body language is different this year.

Whether that means a thing or not probably won’t be known until they start playing games.

Shoot, we may not even know until the end of September.

Of course we won’t know if we should know that until October.

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2024 Razorbacks Football

Thu, Aug 29vs UAPB (Little Rock)W, 70-0
Sat, Sep 7@ Oklahoma StateL, 31-39 2OT
Sat, Sep 14vs UABW, 37-27
Sat, Sep 21@ AuburnW, 24-14
Sat, Sep 28vs Texas A&M (Arl)L, 21-17
Sat, Oct 5vs TennesseeW, 19-14
Sat, Oct 19vs LSUL, 34-10
Sat, Oct 26@ Mississippi StateW, 58-25
Sat, Nov 2vs Ole Miss11:00 AM
ESPN
Sat, Nov 16vs Texas11:00 AM
Sat, Nov 23vs Louisiana TechTBD
ESPN+/SECN+
Sat, Nov 30@ MissouriTBD
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2024 High School Rankings

Following is the Arkansas Sports Media High School Football Poll including the Overall Top 10, the top five in Classes 7A, 6A, 5A, 4A, 3A and 2A, plus the top three in the 8-man division, as voted by a panel of sports media from around the state for the week ending August 24. Ranking is given with first-place votes received, records, total points and ranking from last week's poll:
OVERALLRecordPtsPrv
1.Bryant (18)8-02521
2.Conway (6)8-02302
3.Greenwood (2)8-02103
4.Little Rock Parkview7-11714
5.Bentonville5-31416
6.Benton7-11265
7.Fayetteville6-21008
8.Pulaski Academy6-2757
9.Rogers5-3459
10.Shiloh Christian6-24010
Others receiving votes: Marion 13, Valley View 9, Joe T Robinson 8, Mountain Home 4, Cabot 3, Elkins 3.
CLASS 7A
1.Bryant (20)8-01241
2.Conway (6)8-01052
3.Bentonville5-3753
4.Fayetteville6-2455
5.Pulaski Academy6-2354
Others receiving votes: Rogers 5.
CLASS 6A
1.Greenwood (26)8-01301
2.Benton7-11022
3.Shiloh Christian6-2713
4.Marion7-1524
5.Mountain Home7-131
Others receiving votes: Little Rock Catholic 4.
CLASS 5A
1.Little Rock Parkview (23)7-11271
2.Joe T Robinson7-1902
3.Valley View (3)8-0803
4.Hot Springs Lakeside7-1484
5.Farmington7-130
Others receiving votes: Camden Fairview 4, Maumelle 4, Morrilton 3, Greenbrier 2, Harding Academy 1.
CLASS 4A
1.Elkins (19)8-01161
2.Arkadelphia (5)6-2792
3.Little Rock Mills (1)8-0703
4.Warren6-2404
5.Malvern (1)8-0315
Others receiving votes: Dardanelle 22, Southside Batesville 11, Mena 8, Bauxite 7, DeWitt 4, Highland 2.
CLASS 3A
4.Bismarck (15)8-01054
5.Fordyce (4)8-0765
Prescott (3)7-1531t
1.Osceola (2)6-149
3.Mayflower (1)8-036
Others receiving votes: Booneville (1) 31, Rivercrest 19, Mansfield 14, Charleston 4, Rison 3.
CLASS 2A
1.Carlisle (21)8-01211
2.Conway Christian (4)8-01042
3.Des Arc7-1663
4.Bigelow (1)6-2455
5.Murfreesboro6-230
Others receiving votes: Marked Tree 10, Mineral Springs 6, Junction City 5, Cross County 1, Mount Ida 1, Poyen 1
8-MAN SANCTIONED
1.Strong-Huttig (25)5-0761
2.Midland (1)7-0502
3.Cedar Ridge7-1253
Others receiving votes: Rector 5.

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ESPN ARKANSAS 99.5 IN FAYETTEVILLE, 95.3 IN THE RIVER VALLEY, 96.3 IN HOT SPRINGS, 104.3 IN HARRISON-MOUNTAIN HOME.