FAYETTEVILLE -- Mitch Smothers and Frank Ragnow have settled into a center rotation for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Smothers, a redshirt junior from Springdale, has started all five games, but he and Ragnow, a true freshman from Chanhassen, Minn., have split snaps about evenly the past four games.
Up next
Alabama at Arkansas
WHEN Oct. 11
WHERE Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville
RECORDS Arkansas 3-2, 0-2 SEC, Alabama 4-0, 1-0
TV TBA
"I'm feeling comfortable with it," offensive coordinator Jim Chaney said of the rotation. "It seems like they're grading about the same. It's getting two good players on the field, and by doing that we feel we're keeping one healthy and fresh.
"I think it's working out good for us."
Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema said it's important for Smothers and Ragnow to share the workload.
"I don't know if either one of those guys can handle 80 plays," he said.
Having centers split snaps might not be common, but Bielema said that when he was Wisconsin's coach, Peter Konz and Travis Frederick shared some starts at center as well as playing guard.
Konz and Frederick were All-Big Ten Conference centers who earned some All-America honors, with Konz being a second-round draft pick (55th overall) by the Atlanta Falcons in 2012 and Frederick being a first-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys (31st overall) in 2013.
"Those guys kind of went back and forth for a couple years," Bielema said.
Smothers and Ragnow each experienced some center exchange problems with quarterback Brandon Allen in Arkansas' 35-28 overtime loss to Texas A&M last Saturday.
On Arkansas' second drive, Allen fumbled a snap from Smothers on a first-down play from the Texas A&M 41 and the Aggies recovered at their 43.
In the fourth quarter, Allen fumbled a snap from Ragnow on first down from the Aggies 31. Allen recovered the ball for a 2-yard loss, and three plays later John Henson missed a 44-yard field-goal attempt that would have given the Razorbacks a 10-point lead with 2:29 left in regulation.
Allen blamed himself for the fumbles, saying he pulled away from the ball too fast when Smothers was at center and stayed under center too long with Ragnow snapping.
"I need to focus on getting the snaps," he said. "That's on me. I just dropped them."
Chaney said the fumbles weren't all on Allen, that clean snaps are the responsibility of the quarterback and center along with the coaches.
"When those happen, you hate it from the bottom of your heart," Chaney said.
Bielema said the Razorbacks hadn't suffered any exchange problems for three weeks before the Texas A&M game, but that for a team which huddles and rarely lines up in the shotgun formation, clean snaps are essential.
"We definitely have to address it," Bielema said Tuesday before the Razorbacks resumed practice. "It'll be priority No. 1 this week."
Chaney said after Thursday's practice -- the Razorbacks' last before they take a break with an open date -- the offense focused on the fundamentals "to make sure we're touching all the bases" regarding clean snaps.
"We've worked pretty hard on that this week," Chaney said.
Smothers moved from guard to center midway through practice last spring and held off Ragnow in fall camp to win the starting job.
"Mitch is playing better than he's ever played," Bielema said.
Ragnow made his college debut in Arkansas' 73-7 victory over Nicholls State with backups playing much of the game. He didn't play in the opener at Auburn because offensive line coach Sam Pittman said he didn't want to use a true freshman in a road game in rainy weather.
Now the coaches have no hesitation to play Ragnow.
"It's a dream come true, really," Ragnow said last week of contributing as a freshman. "I've been trying to take advantage of every single snap."
Ragnow, an offensive tackle in high school who turned down scholarship offers from Florida State and Ohio State to sign with Arkansas, never had played center until this season, but Chaney said he's not surprised by his performance.
"He's a very good athlete with a very good head on his shoulders," Chaney said. "I'm excited to watch his growth. He's a pretty successful young man about anything he does."
Allen said he doesn't have a problem with rotating centers.
"We have two talented centers, and we want them both featured on the field," Allen said. "Any time we can get rest for both of them, it's going to be good.
"It's up to me to be comfortable with both of them and get the snaps."
Sports on 10/03/2014