FAYETTEVILLE -- What afflicts Chad Morris' Razorbacks afflicted Frank Broyles' Razorbacks 45 Arkansas football seasons ago.
Morris now and Broyles in 1973 became beset with having to play an offensive line before its time.
Opening with respective 17-0 and 38-6 losses to Southern California and Oklahoma State immediately convinced Broyles he was wasting Dickey Morton -- who had 1,188 rushing yards in 1972 as an I-formation tailback in a passing offense -- as a 1973 Wishbone halfback. And he saw that too many in his thin corps of offensive line upperclassmen just weren't sufficiently talented.
So Morton again dotted the 'I' while the careers of then-true freshmen offensive linemen R.C. Thielemann, Greg Koch and Gerald Skinner began prematurely.
All three became All-Southwest Conference players and advanced to the NFL. They rank among Arkansas' best-ever offensive linemen.
Not that 5-5-1 1973 season, though, even as Morton -- only 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds but with an amazingly quick first step -- rushed 1,298 yards.
"We really didn't block for Dickey, we just tried to stay out of his way," was the consensus 1973 recollection from Thielemann, Koch and Skinner.
Physically and mentally, it's usually so overwhelming for rookie offensive linemen that they redshirt and generally still do more apprenticing than playing in their second freshman year.
That's why, starting with the July back surgery sidelining junior incumbent left tackle Colton Jackson indefinitely thinning an already thin offensive line, Morris must wince inwardly. He readies redshirt freshmen O-linemen Shane Clenin, Kirby Adcock and Dalton Wagner (as Wagner recovers from last week's appendectomy) and true freshmen Noah Gatlin and Silas Robinson for starting or backup roles.
"You would love to have the depth where they (Gatlin and Robinson) don't get that many reps and you slowly bring them along," Morris said. "But we've tossed them in there and they've done a great job."
Offensive line generally is deemed the toughest position to play early other than quarterback.
That's an understatement, Arkansas third-year sophomore quarterback Cole Kelley asserts.
"Definitely as hard as quarterback, if not harder," Kelley said. "Because they have the mental aspect and the physical aspect. They are having to move 300-pound guys. I don't have to do that. It's very difficult. Definitely difficult being in the (SEC) league we're in."
But likely less difficult, Kelley believes, in Morris' Spread offense than in the pro-style offense he quarterbacked last year for Bret Bielema.
"Being in the pro-style offense we were in before, it was a lot more complicated with the protections and stuff," Kelley said. "I feel like with this offense, our coaches are very good at simplifying it for them."
Right guard Johnny Gibson, one of three starting senior O-linemen, sees daily progress with his young teammates.
"They all work hard on technique and footwork," Gibson said. "They stay level-headed like Coach (offensive line coach Dustin Fry) tells us. They play hard doing it and they've been doing it really well. If they're out there, that means Coach trusts them. And if Coach trusts them, I know I trust them."
Sports on 08/20/2018