You can probably consider the quarterback situation at Arkansas resolved at least for a year … at least from an available option view.
Former SMU quarterback Ben Hicks will be rejoining Chad Morris and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock and the Razorbacks will have someone who at least understands what they are wanting at that position. He was 12-12 in two years with them at SMU.
Before you start, don’t expect incoming freshman KJ Jefferson to be the starter this season.
Let’s face it, playing that spot for the Hogs now is not something very many true freshmen can come in and handle. We’re talking having the ability of a Trevor Lawrence at Clemson maybe being the only way it could happen.
Jefferson may be that good, but nobody’s seeing it right now.
Besides, Morris simply doesn’t have a history of true freshmen coming in and everything running like a well-oiled machine. He didn’t do it at Clemson or SMU. Redshirt freshmen MIGHT have a shot, but Connor Noland and John Stephen Jones weren’t ready last year and Daulton Hyatt appears headed for career backup status.
Quarterback isn’t the biggest issue, though.
Quite frankly, any quarterback in today’s read-and-react offensive systems is only as good as his offensive linemen and receivers.
It’s a series of progressions where several positions have to make correct reads and reactions or, well, it ends up looking like what we saw in a 2-10 season.
This is nothing new, by the way. Vince Lombardi’s legendary Power Sweep that many thought was simply force of will required more cohesive movements than a ballroom dance:
• The first tandem was usually offensive tackle Forrest Gregg and tight end Ron Kramer, who had to decide whether to take the tackle and defensive end inside or outside based on how they reacted when the ball was snapped.
• Based on that, pulling guards Fuzzy Thurston and Jerry Kramer kicked the linebacker inside or outside.
• What Thurston and Kramer did created the decision of who to block for fullback Jim Taylor.
• Finally, based on all of that, when Paul Hornung got the handoff, he would either shallow or deepen his run for the correct spacing to “hit the alley” as Lombardi described it … which could be anywhere from the guard to the sideline.
And you thought the playcall was the key thing, huh?
Morris explained all of this to the media back in August. There aren’t any secrets in college football and never really has been.
In case you didn’t know it, Texas coach Darrell Royal and offensive coordinator Emory Bellard basically took a high school offense out of Fort Worth, Houston sportswriter Mickey Herskowitz dubbed it The Wishbone … and the Longhorns had a nice run for three years.
Then Royal had Bellard give all of it first to Barry Switzer at Oklahoma, who was the offensive coordinator for the Sooners at the time, then Bear Bryant at Alabama, who took it and won three national championships in the 1970’s running it.
“If I had it all to do over again, I wouldn’t have been so damn benevolent,” Royal lamented during an interview in the 1990’s.
The Wishbone, by the way, was all read-and-react.
Very seldom was a play called that everybody on offense knew who was going to end up with the ball at the snap. When that happened, by the way, it was usually a pass as Arkansas found out in 1969.
Morris’ offense is all about the offensive line’s reads have to match what’s going to happen with the receivers and running back, then the quarterback has to assume before the ball is snapped that everybody is reading things like he is.
It really is coordinated chaos.
To be honest, a lot of things have to improve outside of the quarterback position. You could have had 2010 Cam Newton behind the Hogs’ offensive line with those receivers last year and it wouldn’t have been much better.
Those were the biggest problems areas on offense last year, not quarterback.
The group of receivers coming in has the potential to be better than the 2008 class (Jarius Wright, Joe Adams, Greg Childs, Chris Gragg). We’ll find out about that.
Morris’ offense requires a quarterback who can — most importantly — throw the ball. He also needs to be able to move in the pocket, extend plays and make the right decisions.
Hicks knows how to make those decisions in Morris’ offense.
He is the leading passer in SMU history, which is saying something considering Chuck Hixson back in the late 1960’s flinging it nearly every down in Hayden Fry’s “ABC Offense,” named for the entertainment value on the only television network carrying college football then.
But there are also unknowns with Hicks, primarily if he’s going to be able to make those decisions at the warp speed required in the SEC.
Whether you like it or not, though, that’s the direction Morris has gone.
We may never know if Hicks was the best they could get to look at the Hogs or if that was the direction Morris wanted to go all along.
Or had to go.
