FAYETTEVILLE - Given the new head coach’s player receptions for Houston Nutt 1998 and Bret Bielema in 2013, it seems pretty smooth for a player’s coach following a crusty predecessor.
Danny Ford and Bobby Petrino were both taskmasters known to be tough on players.
The post-Ford eventual SEC West co-champion Hogs of 1998 reacted positively to Nutt’s cheery optimism after coming off successive 4-7 seasons.
And it seems these 2013 Hogs buy into Bielema’s more personable style also mirrored in his staff.
Bielema didn’t follow Bobby Petrino directly. But it was still Petrino’s staff, including his brother, Paul Petrino as the offensive coordinator, and much of the Bobby Petrino style remaining even if good cop John L. Smith served as the figurehead interim head coach during the 4-8 injury-plagued disaster unraveling in 2012 after 10-3 and 11-2 successes in 2010 and 2011.
“We can put it behind us,” senior fullback Kiero Small said after Saturday’s scrimmage of abandoning the 2012 past and buying into Bielema. “It’s not a story anymore. It’s not a thing that concerns us anymore. With Coach B we’re working hard but we’re also having a good time.”
Bielema appears a more personable coach than most. However nobody will call it “easy” playing the physical style he demands offensively and defensively that Bielema said some of his Wisconsin opponents said, “took away a little of their manhood.”
It is also an extremely disciplined style regarding minimizing penalties and mistakes that beat you before the snap.
And it’s taking hold given the few flags during the Red-White game compared to some early scrimmages where more flags flew than at the United Nations.
“You guys were there at the first scrimmage,” Small said. “We had a million off sides. I don’t think we had one today. Just things like that we can build on this summer.”
ALL LINED UP
Senior safety Eric Bennett said it’s not just not jumping off sides but the defense aligning in the right place that got better at the end of spring practice.
“We have come a long way on defense,” Bennett said after Saturday’s spring game. “We couldn’t even get aligned right the first couple of days but now everyone knows what they are doing and have studied the playbook so we can have a certain amount of calls like to offensive motion formations.”
Bennett appreciates ex-Iowa nose guard Bielema coming from a defensive background but not specifically coordinating either side whereas Petrino was almost entirely offensive.
“Now we have maybe not just a defensive coach but a coach that cares about both sides of the ball and that’s a good thing,” Bennett said.
BLOOD THICKER THAN HOGS
Three pillars of the Fayetteville community you would expect to come to an Arkansas baseball game rooting for the Razorbacks will pull for the Oklahoma Sooners, or at least one of them, Tuesday night at Baum Stadium.
Sooners freshman lefty closer Jacob Evans of Broken Arrow, Okla., is the grandson of Everett Evans, retired from Ozarks Electric, and longtime veterinarian Dr. Donald Stanton and Susie Stanton.
Sports, Pages 16 on 04/22/2013