Hog calls

Bielema: Familiarity breeds success

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema speaks to media at the Southeastern Conference football media days on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Hoover, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
Arkansas coach Bret Bielema speaks to media at the Southeastern Conference football media days on Wednesday, July 16, 2014, in Hoover, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Reviewing film of his 3-9 Razorbacks' 2013 season, Bret Bielema saw from their heads why they were behind.

"What jumped out to me a lot was that when the ball was snapped there were certain times our guys' heads were looking the wrong way," Bielema said Wednesday at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/NWA Media Kickoff Luncheon. "They may have been trying to get a call or maybe talking to their buddy or doing something that took their eyes off what was happening in front of them.

"When that happens, that tells me there was confusion before the snap, that they aren't locked into what exactly we want them to see as the ball is being snapped."

The consequences of a misplaced head obviously puts you behind, Bielema asserted.

"If you are on the field and are not looking where you are supposed to be looking when the play is beginning to happen, you are going to play slower," Bielema said. "You are going to play softer. You are not going to be as effective as you could be. So we really made a huge emphasis at being better with our football IQ."

Bielema said he expects the team's improved academic grade-point average to reflect on the field.

"You have a guy that can think right and do everything they are supposed to away from the game, there is a really good chance they are going to do what you want them to during the game," Bielema said.

Bielema lauded the incoming freshmen for fitting right into summer school and the summer conditioning workouts, although he said some were due a comeuppance.

Veteran players often can deflate an inflated freshman ego even more effectively than a coach can, Bielema said. Now in his second year at Arkansas, Bielema says he knows which upperclassmen are suited to the task.

"We had some freshmen that decided they didn't need to be hearing some of the freshmen orientation," Bielema said. "I will be so excited to see them answer in front of their peers why they should be different from them. Peer pressure is a wonderful thing when you have the right peers.

"Now to have that trust and rapport with them is awesome. One thing from year one to year two that will be incredibly different is I know my roster. It's like night and day how more comfortable we are."

Thanks in part to strength coach Ben Herbert, Bielema thinks even more of sophomore offensive guard Denver Kirkland because there is less of Kirkland to think about.

Kirkland contributed amazingly last season as a true freshman starting guard originally recruited to play tackle, but injuries impaired his conditioning last winter and he ballooned to beyond 350 pounds for spring ball.

Arkansas' recently released media guide lists Kirkland at 6-5, 330.

"Our strength coach is a wizard," Bielema said. "He does a tremendous job of developing specific position players. You look at a Denver Kirkland last year to this year, you are going to see a different body. He is 25 pounds lighter. He's different. He's matured."

Sports on 07/26/2014

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