Storey’s grabbing QB spot, line stability are positives

Chad Morris isn’t the only first-year coach struggling.

And he may not be the one struggling the most.

ESPN+ ranked the first-year coaches and the rating was based on how big the train wreck was that he inherited.

Morris is next to last. In this case, only Jonathan Smith at Oregon State is the only first year coach who inherited a worse situation than Morris did in Fayetteville.

To be honest, I didn’t think it was going to be THIS bad. What I really didn’t understand was just how bad the Razorbacks’ offensive line had fallen with the NFL equivalent of a graduate assistant coaching them the last two years.

That’s not a knock on Kurt Anderson … okay, not with a sledgehammer. Just about anybody that replaced Sam Pittman was going to show a dropoff with that position group. Add in that Anderson couldn’t carry Pittman’s whistle as a recruiter and, well, there you go.

There were other things, notably no experience coming back at quarterback where Cole Kelley, bless his heart, has done the best he can but it was clear from his experience last year that was never going to work in this new offense.

But the glaring inconsistency in the offensive line has been the biggest issue. No matter who the quarterback is I keep expecting a rusher to have to wait on the ball to get to the quarterback … wait, that happened in the North Texas game with Connor Noland.

Ty Storey finally showed what he could do that impressed his coaches and teammates against Auburn on Saturday night. That was basically getting beat up.

“It was evident by the color of his jersey that he was hit and hurried, but he competed,” Morris said at his press conference Thursday.

It’s not that Storey is a great runner, but Morris’ offense doesn’t require that. It does require intelligence, quick thinking and enough mobility to string out plays when things break down. Hopefully the line will stabilize down the road where that doesn’t have to happen a second after the snap of the ball.

Offensive coordinator Joe Craddock didn’t waste any time pointing that out to everybody.

“We showed the whole offense the beating he took,” Craddock said on Monday. “That’s what he did … take a beating. He played gritty. He’s a tough kid. We all saw that. They kept knocking him down and he kept getting back up.”

In the spring and preseason scrimmages, quarterbacks are protected like a priceless antique. That could be one reason it took some time for Storey to land the job on what appears to be as permanent as it will get.

Craddock figured he was going to get what he saw against the Tigers.

“It’s something we can build on,” he said.

Now they’re hoping the offensive line can put together something, starting this week against a Texas A&M team favored by 20-something points, depending on you want to use.

Coaches are confident the move of Ty Clary to center will let Hjalte Froholdt go back to guard, where he was selected to several preseason All-SEC teams. Colton Jackson will start at left tackle.

“(Froholdt) gave us more athletic ability there,” Craddock said, talking about hopefully getting some stability in the line where injuries made it a weekly game of musical chairs. “We got him back in his natural element. Center was new to him. We just had to get Ty (Clary) comfortable making the snaps and we got that done in the last few weeks.”

There were a couple of high ones against Auburn, but none of the snaps sailed over Storey’s head, so it can be worked on.

It was the play of Storey, apparently stabilizing the quarterback spot where it might not be spectacular, but it may not be the train wreck it was earlier.

“He missed a motion in the red zone that would have helped, but he got us in the right checks and the right calls,” Craddock said about maybe the most important thing coaches were looking for.

But there was the nagging issue of 3-of-17 on third down conversions.

“We just have to do better on third down,” Craddock said.

Getting the quarterback spot stabilized, seeing Rakeem Boyd start to shine at running back and some smoothing out in the line apparently has the offense headed in the direction the coaches want.

“We did some things we can build on,” Craddock said about the Auburn game. “We will be on the right track when we get into October.”

Ah, October.

The schedule turns a little better for the Hogs then. Well, after starting it with Alabama.

Then comes four straight games inside the state and only one against a currently-ranked team — No. 5 LSU on Nov. 10 after an open date.

If this team is going to string together some success, that’s the stretch it could happen.

But only if the pieces come together like they think.