FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas wrapped up its first set of spring workouts under Coach Bret Bielema on Saturday feeling better about what it can accomplish in 2013 than it did when it opened spring drills.
Offensive coordinator Jim Chaney and defensive coordinator Chris Ash talked during the second week of spring drills about slowing down the installation of their schemes to make sure the concepts were sinking in, but both coaches were upbeat about the amount of schemes put into play the final two weeks.
Bielema reiterated that Monday.
“I made a comment to our coaches, we had a number of players that played their best scrimmage,” Bielema said.“A lot of them would say the limited package really helped them.
“I’m like, ‘Exactly, that’s my point.’ I would rather be great at a few things than be mediocre at a bunch of things. I say that all the time to my coaches. It’s human nature. They’ve got too many things. I’m running into offensive and defensive coaches all along that you’ve just got to scale back their packages and be great at what we want to be great at.
“That’s a hard concept sometimes to get through.”
There was plenty more learned during the spring:
The Razorbacks could be sleepers.
Last year’s crash to a 4-8 record has the Razorbacks off the national radar.
That’s a significant change following a couple of seasons when Arkansas was ranked among the top 10 nationally and faced greater expectations.
“A lot of people are looking at us as the underdog right now,” center Travis Swanson said. “In a sense, we embrace it and we like it, because we’ve never really had that here and it’s something new to us. People are going to think, ‘Oh, this is a rebuilding year for them and it’s going to take a while.’ But I feel like we’re going to shock a lot of people this season.”
Receiver Keon Hatcher said everyone is overlooking Arkansas in 2013.
“I think that’s a pretty good role for us, and I think we’re going to come out and shock a lot of people,” he said.
Safety Eric Bennett said whatever role Arkansas is cast in shouldn’t affect their work.
“We still have to go out there and perform,” Bennett said. “It gives us a little extra edge, a little extra hunger.”
The coaches’ offices are open.
The lines of communication will be open between players and the coaching staff, which wasn’t always the case under former coach Bobby Petrino.
“We used to be a lot more businesslike when Coach Petrino was around here,” quarterback Brandon Mitchell said. “Then it got more relaxed [last year] when Coach John L. [Smith] came around, but I think it got too relaxed.
“I think this coaching staff has that middle ground that you want, with it being business out there on the practice field and in the meeting rooms, and also when you’re not talking X’s and O’s being able to be about family.”
Cornerback Tevin Mitchel said players always want to feel welcome in the coaches’ offices.
“You shouldn’t have to worry about going to your coach’s office and not feel like talking to them,” Mitchel said.
“Coach B’s office is always open,” Bennett said. “He’s always in there. We used to have to like schedule times when Coach Petrino was here. That’s the good thing about Coach B and our coaching staff, they don’t care what position you play or none of that.”
Bielema’s plan is underway.
Arkansas’ transition to a more muscular approach on both sides of the ball is afoot. The adjustment began in the weight room over the winter with new strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert, adding muscle and lower-body strength on the linemen and generally beefing up all around.
Bielema has made it no secret about wanting to be a power running team that triggers its play-action pass off the threat of the downhill run.
Fullback Kiero Small, the bigger line and a wealth of tight ends have given the Razorbacks a good start in that regard, and tailback Jonathan Williams has added weight to team with Kody Walker and perhaps incoming freshman Alex Collins to give Arkansas muscular runners to team with the swift Nate Holmes.
The defensive line is stout.
Having a defensive front as the backbone of a team isn’t a bad place to start.
Bielema, defensive coordinator Chris Ash and defensive line coach Charlie Partridge raved about starting tackles Byran Jones and Robert Thomas and ends Chris Smith and Trey Flowers, and they like the depth that is developing on the front four.
“Anywhere I’ve been, if you’ve been good on defense, you’ve been good because you had an outstanding defensive line,” Ash said. “Those four guys up there have been really good so far throughout spring.”
The back seven on defense are a work in progress.
The linebacker starters in the spring game were Daunte Carr in the middle and Braylon Mitchell and Jarrett Lake on the outside, and none of them has started a college game.
Some of the talent behind them, like Austin Jones, Robert Atiga, Myke Tavarres, Martrell Spaight and Brooks Ellis, have had virtually no experience at linebacker on the major college level.
A.J. Turner, who was forced into a starting role after Tenarius Wright’s season-ending injury last season, struggled with a broken wrist in the spring, and fellow sophomore Otha Peters had a hip injury. Those two will get a chance to reemerge in the fall.
Bottom line, there are relatively inexperienced candidates across the board at linebacker, and given position coach Randy Shannon’s previous work at developing linebackers, it’s likely a representative crew will emerge at these spots.
It is true that four starters are back in the secondary in safeties Eric Bennett and Rohan Gaines and corner-backs Tevin Mitchel and Will Hines, but they are working with a new scheme and the safeties are coming off subpar seasons. Hines was slowed by a groin injury in spring, and red shirt freshman Jared Collins wound up taking first-team reps the second half of the spring.
Quarterback Brandon Allen has made big strides.
The sophomore stayed ahead of senior Brandon Mitchell through spring and enters summer atop Arkansas’ depth chart.
Multiple players said they noticed the maturity and improvement in Allen.
“I think my confidence did grow a lot from the beginning of spring to the end,” Allen said. “That’s something I was kind of working on, being more of a leader out on the field.”
Allen and Mitchell seem better suited now to run the offense than they did last year in games against Louisiana-Monroe and Alabama.
“Brandon Allen, really from the first week until the game that you saw on Saturday, made progress all the way along, but just really the last two weeks have been exceptional,” Bielema said. “He’s just continued to make strides.”
Bielema is a straight shooter.
Bielema doesn’t have a problem telling it like he sees it, including airing his hopes of finding a key role for Brandon Mitchell - whether it’s at quarterback or elsewhere.
Bielema also has given straightforward critiques of players, both positive and negative, since his arrival, including the remark that fullback Kiero Small has “a big ass, which is good for a football player,” and that cornerback Will Hines was “backing away” from things in certain concepts.
Bielema also has been upfront about Brey Cook’s future being at offensive guard rather than tackle, and that the staff was concerned about his ability to play in space but excited about his ability to be a brawler on the inside.
Javontee Herndon and Demetrius Wilson are the new go-to receivers.
Herndon and Wilson are seniors, but they have probably been a brief item on opponent’s scouting reports until now. Herndon, Wilson and Julian Horton are likely to be targeted the most in the passing game, along with perhaps Mekale McKay and the running backs.
“It feels great,” Herndon said. “I think this spring the coaches allowed us to show that if you want to go be a playmaker, go prove it. This spring it was a good feeling.”
Sports, Pages 17 on 04/24/2013