So now with all the basketball coaching stuff behind us, we’re catching up on our spring football practice reports.
Two weeks ago, Tipster and I caught the Saturday scrimmage. Here are a few scattered shots:
The defense absolutely killed the offense. Casey Dick running for his life most of the time, so you couldn’t tell much. Nathan Emert looked pretty good at times against much less defensive pressure.- Peyton Hillis made a great one-handed catch with his right arm. Then, for good measure, followed it up later with a catch where he only used his left arm.
- Sparse crowd…indoors since rain threatened. Interesting, since last year’s first scrimmage was well attended. Also, last year the offense did pretty well on that first Saturday.
- Houston Dale appears to have resumed his place right in the middle of the offensive huddles.
Yes, the offense got the better of the defense in the scrimmage I saw last Saturday…in a ‘taking candy from a baby’ type of way. It became apparent that it was designed to be that way, as the defense played mostly man coverage and really didn’t appear to be doing anything interesting to stop the offense.
As for the offense…I hope people didn’t get too fond of having DMac, Felix, Hillis and Monk on the field at the same time last year, because it doesn’t appear we’ll see that any this year (unless it reappears in the fall). This is a whole new offense with very little carried over from last year. It appeared to me that the only role for Felix would be at conventional tailback. If so, he’ll be lucky to rush for half the yards he had last year.
Those of you who love only two receivers out on pass plays with max protection in the backfield will be thrilled. That’s not the whole passing offense – there are three receiver sets at times. The tight end was basically not utilized at all, so who knows what’s in store for there. We did throw the ball over the middle a bit. Hit a few backs out of the backfield.
There were big plays due to the man defense – beat your guy and you are gone – but, truthfully, it was impossible to get much of a read on what we have. The defense seemed at about 60% of the previous Saturday’s effort. Herring and Rocker were fairly quiet and probably didn’t even break a sweat in their ‘Omar the Tentmaker’ designed sweat suits.
I was told last week that the coaching staff seemed very uptight. I’ve also been told that the enthusiasm of the players is not what it was last year. The read that I got firsthand is that I’m not seeing the ‘ready to get with it’ bunch I saw last year.
Last year at this time I was optimistic based on what I was seeing. Truthfully, what I’m seeing this year is somewhat depressing.
Things are different out there. I’m not thinking different in this case is good.
It's a bit early to get ourselves into a "tizzy". If we are going to take spring practice at face value, then we have to assume that DMAC and Jones will just sit on the bench next year so they don't get injured. Its been stated that the "Wildcat" won't be focused on in the spring. Wasn't that part of your criticism from last year? That we got overly focused on that package last year.
Come on guys, I will be very careful to avoid the soap opera, but just on an X and O basis, you can't remove Gus from the equation and the little power he was given to actually call plays and replace him with a journeyman QB coach and expect improvement.
Gus was a wonderful offensive mind who forced his influence onto the Dale offense if only a little. This will be the year of Darren at Arkansas where every game plan will be designed for him to carry 25 times with Felix to spell him for two series to start the 2nd and 4th quarters. Casey will throw twice a game on first down and 3 times a game on second down and on every third down over 6 yards that we do not run a draw or screen to Darren or Felix.
The only question is what happens if Saban gets us at Tuscaloosa and we can't beat Auburn at home. The pressure will then be world class.
And of course Hogblogger has that covered as well. The team has never been an object of derision in Arkansas before. Moral cannot be high. It will be next to impossible to make a run to Atlanta once the boos start to fly.
I should have also said, on the other hand, you finish the Alabama sweep on top and hope may be the order of the day. Arkansas fans love Darren and Felix.
man, if only they had fired HDN and kept Gus.
HogBlogger…of all the things you mentioned, I hope the part about not using all of our "weapons" together turns out to not be the case. From the reports, it sounds like they've been working this week on some of that stuff.
Carolina…IMO, using those guys at the same time doesn't necessarily equal "Wildcat." There are other possibilities.
As for jc…I know you're just trolling for a fight. Let's try to keep that from happening on every single football post we do, folks.
No one is getting into a "tizzy" here…this post is nothing more than an early read. HogBlogger went to the scrimmages and gave his opinion. Everyone has a right to post their opinion of this team in these comments. Hopefully, like HogBlogger, they are basing their opinions on the things they've heard about, read about or seen firsthand at practices or scrimmages.
What is the deal wit hthe Gus love affair. I swear some of you guys must get excited sexually when Gus is mentioned. I'm not a Nutt lover but neither am I a Gus lover. It's ome thing to win on a high school level but quit another to win on the SEC level . Was he not part of the reason the Hogs lost 4 games? If he was so great why was our quaterbacks throwing more interceptions than touch downs. Get over it all and enjoy the seaon. If we don't win this year fire Nutt and move on.
I'm just saying people have their strengths and building a successful team is a management skill. Gus was all about Xs and Os. Houston is more of an emotional leader, ra ra guy and a smash mouth guy. David Lee seems to be all about technique whether it is the NFL or Kenny's flexbone. It's not about loving Gus. It is about getting a real playcaller in here who understands how to build and run a complete offense.
Maybe we won't need it. We may have the players to smash mouth our way to Atlanta. Gus and Mitch aside, last year was such an emotional rollercoaster just based on USC, both, Paul Eells, Darren's toe, the whole HOT SEAT deal. By the time the kids shot their emotion wad at Tennessee they were done for the year.
That is why I think Houston is the Teen Drama Queen. Every year is one wild ride after another. We either lose early and play from behind the 8 ball until we are excited to make the Weedeater bowl or we have huge expectations we we preserve long enough to get to the top ten only to have our hopes dashed and be excited to make the Cotton Bowl. Keep Houston if you wish. Enjoy the ride. He may one day grow into the job.
Here's the deal. We have had so much blame on placed on FB, HN, & SH that we (the fans) have done as much damage to the hogs as any of them have. The blogs are being qouted on all the sports shows and sports news. We (the fans) are a laughing stock not Frank, Houston or Stan. Can we not just be excited for the Student Athletes and forget about all the other crap. How many are they projecting would be drafted this year in the first round of the NFL draft? 3 have we ever had 3 drafted in the first round? who recruited and developed these players? I understand when you say HN is a rah rah coach but surely he must have done just a couple of things right. Yes he has screwed up a lot to I admit but who is this about? Him or the players? That's all I'm saying
I also remember having a coach by the name of Ken Hatfield. He was a winner. Every year we competed. But guess what for many fans (the ones with the money) were not happy the Ken ran the wishbone and didn't open it up more so what happened? we fired him and then sunk in the toilet for most of the early 90"s. Sound familiar? We fired Stan for the sme reason apparently. His offence wasn't exciting enough. If we are not careful we could end up being like SMU and never regain the notarity that we once had.
These are the ramblings of one person
Mike, I'm glad you are taking up for the kids and the joy of sports and being a fan. I wish FB had done a little better job either selecting or firing coaches. I wish Houston had won something in the last nine years or SH had really looked like any version of a basketball coach. The facts support none of those. IT IS NOT THE FANS FAULT. Some just don't have the patience or similar interests that you do. I hate it too.
Mike and Blind…you fell into jc's trap. See comment #5. Let it go and move on.
You're right Tipster. i was being sarcastic with my comment about Gus. I am more in the "Mike from Magnolia" camp than anything else. I think his point about Hatfield is a good one. I have read other blogs (EDSBS comes to mind) that think Razorback fans are off their rocker.
I'm going to reserve judgement on the new offense and David Lee until the season begins. I hope HDN leads us to another successful season (yes I am referring to last year) and continues to do so in the future.
Go Hogs!
I certainly agree with JC and Mike. It doesn't make sense to tear down the program you "love". The time for evaluating coaches and making changes is after the season. At the conclusion of the season, I agreed that it was time for Stan to go. Football season has basically started and its time to accept that we are not going to agree with everything that goes on, but we need to get behind our teams. We have a chance to do something special in Football. On that note, Kudos to Razorbloggers for removing some of the nonsense from last Friday. That's the kind of stuff that hurts our program.
Random thought: It occurred to me this week that with the basketball program struggling, that perhaps the biggest favor Nolan ever did for Broyles was to file suit against the University and in the process further alienating Razorback fans. If not for that suit, you'd have a lot more people wanting Frank's head for running Nolan off. Time has caused many to forget the lack of production at the end of his time and the fact that he want a little crazy.
Clint Stoerner has a different read on the situation. On 103.7 The Buzz, Clint stated that after watching C.D., he feels he will have a breakout season in 07 and will leave as one of the greats at U of A.
Great news also, it's been reported that ticket sales for the 07 football season are up by 13%
jc – my post had nothing to do with Gus. I didn't even think of him as I was writing it. I was thinking of formations, players, and plays. It is funny how you guys bring up Gus just to tell the rest of us what we must be thinking and how stupid we are. Does it not occur to you that you are the ones having the entire conversation and boring the rest of us with it? Everytime we write something on football you guys just bring the soap opera back up. Razorbloggers quit talking about that long ago.
mike – see comments to jc. i think you guys are the ones that need to get over Gus.
Carolina – I'm not in a tizzy and I certainly didn't take anything i saw at 'face value'. If I were taking things at 'face value' I would have been gushing over the huge output of the offense last Saturday like all of the press did, or bemoaning the fact that the defense played with no real intensity in sets that they would never use in a real game. I've watched a ton of spring practice and I'm not stupid – give me some credit. The offense and the defense take turns winning Saturday scrimmages.
Bluff – Casey may have a breakout season. If you've followed my writings over the past two years you know I've been a big Casey fan since the first day I saw him in practice. My comments really had nothing to do with him, other than he was running for his life in the first Saturday scrimmage. (I think we counted 11 sacks in a row at one point didn't we Tipster?)
You guys making all of these comments bringing up the past and the soap opera are not the least bit interesting. I just told you what I saw on the field on two days, from my perspective, and with the perspective of watching Houston Dale's offense for years in practice and in games. I also talked with several people wearing Razorback shirts and asked them about certain plays and sets, even to the point of what's in the play book and what is not at this point. I've gotten the view of players as well as people who have been around the coaches very closely. Guys, I have sources that stand in the huddles, set throught the film sessions, and that knows all the girlfriends. I don't just sit around and dream stuff up. Go back and look up when we first brought up the 'high school' stuff related to Gus, Herring, etc. last year. (ok, I don't remember when, but I knew about it before spring practice started last year.)
I told you guys some way better stuff in that post than you apparently are able to recognize. Not white washed, not gushing, and with no real agenda other than just lay out stuff that I find interesting. As I've told you before, I'm keeping my season tickets and I've never called for Houston Dale's head. If I had been blogging in the late 80's you would have found out that I actually liked Coach Hatfield and what he was doing. I'll compare lifetime Foundation donations with any of you.
Further, as to 'fans' and such, look at our blog and take note of all the things we are not talking about that are trashing up the conversation in other places. You should note that when coaches are gone, we quit talking about them and moved on to the future.
There was a lot more to last year's success than Gus. There's a lot more missing right now than just Gus. Now is not forever, and there is lots of time to 'get everything in' for the season, whatever 'everything' is. We'll see eventually.
And yes, this week they are doing a lot of Wildcat work. I had been told that would happen. While on one hand that sounds really great, on the other it is a total disconnect from the other parts of the 'new', 'NFL' offense that David Lee has been putting in. That's been Houston Dale's mode for the last several years – several interesting and good in their own way portions of different offenses used in a totally disconnected fashion. It works hit and miss. The hits come early and the misses come late in the season after everything is on film. Defense can identify the plays based on the personnel packages and formations. Other than the first half of last year, it has been that way every year since 1999 with the Razorback offense.
I predict both Felix and DMac will have fewer yards this year than last. I have my reasons. They have little to do with Gus (other than he brought some ideas that put all the 'threats' on the field at once and gave the defense a lot to think about), but do have to do with formations, plays, the offensive line, how the the tight end and H back might be used, and some more thoughts. Might be nice for some of you guys to actually want to talk football and what's going on on the field at some point and we could have a nice discussion about it.
To an extent, I hope D-Mac and Felix do have less yardage next year, compared to last year, if it means we are passing the ball down field more often for completions. We need recievers to get open, and QB's to have better recognition of what the defense is throwing at them. Having Peyton Hillis back in the arsenal, and Casey Dick with a little more exsperiance, should help. In response to HogBlogger's observations, one can only hope that we are not trying to overload the players with too much at one time, and save a little of what's to come for later. Too much now could be just as bad as not enough later.
Hog Blogger………You can insult me all you want but at least I'm not a coach want-to-be. With all your knowledge of x's and o's why aren't you coaching like at LSU…….Just a random thought.
Good God Fellas, Its a good thing your not under any real scrutiny. You can say it, we can respond. Don't take it so personal.
There is alot to look for in this year's team. Key to this discussion, we have a true freshman QB who is learning his 3rd new offense in 3 years. I finally worked for Jason Campbell once he found a guy who put him in situations that were right for him. I to have seen a little Stoerner in Casey from day one but, like a young Campbell, he has only really had a couple of good games in two years. The rest of the time he looks bad. Campbell showed he had a lot more tools than Casey has shown. Stoerner, though often inconsistent for a half, had a good deep ball and would rally himself and put together at least a good half in most games. Casey seems to either be on or off. Looking back, I give a great deal of credit to Joe Ferguson.
But QB is not our strength. We are now Tailback U. Much like Matt Jones, I have to wonder if we shouldn't just run the wildcat or wing T and let Darren run or throw to the single reciever again. I can almost predict it if they don't commit to really developing a passing game. Of course Darren and Felix will get their yards, however many those are. I just hope that they will use them equally so that Darren is not over worked and injured at the end of the season.
Of course recievers is the other thing we have not had since 99. Monk is wonderful, and Hillis and the new kid out of the backfield will provide a second option. Somebody smarter than me would have to figure out what kind of offense that is. No tight end, no second wideout, is it the flexbone? Are we back to the wing T again? It will be fascinating to see what they build. And of course that is why Dale specializes in package plays rather than an offense. His pieces parts are missing. His coloring box is missing half it's crayons. Having Alablama and Auburn early should help. Tennessee and LSU, not so much.
Finally, in the SEC, the O-line is key. I can't remember an SEC team that followed a good year with a second while replacing their O-line. When you look at Darren's stats and the passing, that will be the key.
I agree about the O-line BlindHog, but it will also be interesting to see what kind of play calling we get from our new OC, to offset some pretty good SEC defenses. I don't think, however, that we are losing as much as we have in the past. Luigs is an all-SEC and potential All-American, at center. Felton is back, and should be solid. Gardner should be ready to step up, as well as Valdez. Part of the reason we were so good on the O-line last year was because of depth. I think they have real potential this time.
I don’t disagree a bit. We are not starting with redshirt freshmen and sophomores. These guys have some experience. There is still the experience as a group factor. The last bunch had played alot of games and a lot of games together. But it could work out very well.
I asked once before if Lee had ever had any experience as a playcaller. i don’t thing anyone knows if he will get any this time.Houston says so little that is detailed that it is still hard to know after 9 years is he has an offensive philosphy.
Houston knows alot more about the game than most give him credit for. His professionalism is what people see and start to question. (EXAMPLE) Houston bitting his nails, while pacing the sidelines. Most people probably think this is pretty unprofessional, and start to question his ability to coach. The carryover of Houston’s bad habits, which is a direct result of his persona, has put him in question with a lot of fans over the last 9 years. Personalitys clashed when Gus came onboard. I believe it was too much, too fast, with nowhere to go for Gus. If Houston is eventually going to be the coach that takes us over the top, his experiances from last year, hopefully, will make him a better coach. If he is comfortable with Lee, from past exsperiance, and has confidence that they are on the same page, this will make a big difference in Lee’s freedom to call plays. Having said that, the only thing that is in question now is weather or not Lee can sucsessfully put the right combination of personell on the field, with the best play call for the opposing defense. I have high hopes for the coming season. With the personell we have coming back, and the weak non-conference scheduel we have, there is no acceptable reason we cannot repeat a 10 win season.
With this schedule we should win 10 easily.
To say that it was too much for Gus is a pretty easy out. Everyone in Arkansas knew who Gus was and what he brought to the table. If Houston made a decision he couldn't live with he at least had his eyes wide open. But, that is all dirty water under the bridge. The real question is, as posed, can you add 6 or 8 pro pass plays to the wildcat and I formation come up with an offense that will win in Tuscaloosa, Knoxville, and Baton Rouge. It is really just that simple.
I do think in Dale's system that play calling is overrated. I imagine he had been doing the same offense by committee all along. With Ferguson he had a built in passing game and since then nothing. Markuson seems to be the first amoung equals in this equation as the running game only gets more and more attention.
BlindHog, I agree… but with a 10 win season with this schedule, I only consider tihs to be a slightly above average opportunity. Like it or not, I believe that we probably need to see at least a 12 win season (including SEC championship) to enable a great season. I'm not remotely expecting this!
No doubt about it, a 10 win season this coming fall would not be considered an improvement. As a matter of fact, if we don't win more than 10, it should be looked at as a big disappointment. I hate to sound greedy, but it is, what it is. We have to win on the road, period! Our biggest games of the season are what BlindHog mentioned above. If we cannot win at least 2 of those, I have trouble seeing our season being very sucsessful. I don't believe Hog fans should exspect anything less than a return trip to Atlanta. One of the best quotes Nolan Richardson made while coaching here was "when you create a monster from all the winning, you then have to feed it". It looks like it's Houston's turn to feed the monster.