FAYETTEVILLE - Bret Bielema wants there to be no travel logistics mysteries for his Arkansas football team this season.
So the first-year Razorbacks coach went on a recent scouting excursion with a small crew to Rutgers and Florida, the sites of Arkansas’ first two road games this fall.
The trips had myriad purposes: to scout the routes for the buses on game day, to detail locker room layouts, to check out hotel, eating and meeting spaces, discuss the police escort details and troubleshoot for potential snags.
“I wanted to take all the people that are going to be in advance of us being there, as well as my equipment manager [Chuck Hall], my trainer [Matt Summers] and three of my operations guys, so there were six of us total,” Bielema said Friday at the Razorbacks Celebrity Golf Scramble in Bella Vista.
The operations personnel were Mark Taurisani and Peter Weiden, the director and assistant director of football operations, and Kenny DeAngelo, a football operations staffer who oversees recruiting.
“One of the things that’s an adjustment for the SEC that I’m not accustomed to is you stay farther away from your hotels in general,” Bielema said. “Every state kind of has different rules as far as your escort, get a feel for that. Find out any troubles teams have had in the past.
“[The Florida trip] was great because I had never been to Florida. I got to run in and see The Swamp, saw the access that we have.
Actually, it’s a pretty nice setup, really good all the way across the board.”
Bielema said he made the same type of scouting trips his first year at Wisconsin.
Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said the advance scouting trips are routine, but head coaches taking them aren’t as common.
“I’ve never had the head coach do it himself, which shows Bret’s attention to detail,” Long said.
“Certainly always you have the operations person, the equipment person, maybe the trainers, who have never been to a site go in the summer before to check it out. … All of that is just detailed planning.
“Sometimes people don’t think … well, they should think of Bret Bielema that way, because he’s a very detailed guy. Sometimes I don’t think he gets portrayed that way, but he is.”
The Rutgers trip was especially enlightening.
“A couple of people have made comments that it’s just a very unique path from the locker room,” Bielema said.
“And the locker room setup, I was really glad we hit that one.”
Bielema did not plan scouting trips to road games at Alabama, Ole Miss and LSU because a number of Arkansas personnel have been to each of those venues on more than one occasion.
QB news
With Brandon Mitchell’s departure for North Carolina State, A.J. Derby moved into the No. 2 position at quarterback behind redshirt sophomore Brandon Allen. The Razorbacks will be one of the least experienced SEC teams at quarterback next season.
Allen completed 21 of 49 passes for 186 yards with 1 touchdown and 3 interceptions last season.
“I’m very, very excited to see where Austin Allen and Duwop [Damon Mitchell] are when they come in,” Bielema said, referencing the Hogs’ quarterback signees.
Asked if one of the two freshmen might be pressed into service this fall, Bielema said they would play when their time comes.
“I think what it does is emphasize the importance of protection up front for our offensive line, fullbacks, tight ends, to protect our quarterbacks,” Bielema said. “I do understand that Austin or Duwop, probably one of those guys, is going to be in a position to, if not play, definitely travel with us to every game and give us an option if something happens.”Dancing Hogs
Some Razorbacks are enrolled in ballet lessons as a means of working on their flexibility, further expanding the tactics used by Arkansas strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert to develop players.
“I knew some of our guys were going down that road,” Bret Bielema said. “One of the things I think Ben Herbert is always on the cusp of is pushing players to think outside the box. … We’ve used yoga in the past.
We’ll do anything to create flexibility with guys that need it.”Shaping up
Arkansas football coaches cannot conduct workouts with players over the summer, but the strength and conditioning staff can have direct contact with the players.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Bielema said. “We can’t be around them … but I see the kids come through the offices. Grady [Ollison, a projected starting offensive tackle] is two pounds away from 300. I saw him from across the field the other day and you can see him [growing].
“You can see our freshmen come in and see them kind of buy into it and talk about how physical the workouts have been, so it’s been fun. I won’t see the results until Aug. 4, but I know the guys are very excited.”In touch
Bret Bielema meets periodically with the team’s Hog Council, which is composed of two players from every position unit and is led by seniors Travis Swanson, Kiero Small, Byran Jones and Robert Thomas.
“I try to have contact with them every so often,” Bielema said. “We had a meeting [recently] and I recognized 15 guys that had their personal-best semesters academically and some guys that weren’t normally on lists like that. It was kind of neat to see the players’ reactions to guys that have had success in the classroom and how that carries over.”Hoover on tap
Arkansas will appear July 17 at SEC media days, the second of three days of the annual get-together in Hoover, Ala.
The best guess at Arkansas’ three player representatives accompanying Bret Bielema would be center Travis Swanson, fullback Kiero Small and defensive end Chris Smith, all seniors, based on their levels of experience and leadership skills.
Bielema said the final decision has not been made because SEC media days fall during summer school and there are details yet to work out.
Sports, Pages 23 on 06/23/2013