Bobby Petrino has the reputation of having a guarded personality. But when it comes to access to his team’s preseason practices, he’s the most welcoming coach in the SEC.
Starting Thursday and going until August 21st, the Razorbacks could (weather permitting) have up to 22 practice sessions open to the public. No other football program in the SEC allows more fan access to fall camp. In fact, no one else even comes close.
There are six teams in the SEC that allow no fan access — zero — to preseason practices: Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Some of these coaches don’t even allow news media in to watch their preparations.
New head coach Joker Phillips and the Kentucky Wildcats are only opening one practice this year, while first-year Vanderbilt coach Robbie Caldwell will open just two preseason workouts. (Although Caldwell might be entertaining enough on the practice field to charge admission.)
If you want to go to Starkville to watch a Mississippi State practice (and why wouldn’t you?), you better go to one of three open workouts this week because the rest are closed to the public.
The only other SEC programs that come close to the access afforded to Hog fans are Ole Miss and South Carolina, who each allow their supporters to attend only the first week of fall practice.
While Razorback fans have become accustomed over the last several years to being allowed to attend some preseason practices, the growing trend around the country is to hold all workouts behind closed gates. Florida State, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Penn State are just a few of the programs outside the SEC that have shut off all access.
And in a world where instant access to information is even more, well, instantaneous…it’s a safe bet that opening up fall practices to the public will someday be a thing of the past.
All the more reason to take advantage of this generous opportunity again this year, Hog fans. You never know when the day may come when it will be taken away from us.
How would you like to be one of those guys (reporters) covering one of the teams that doesn't even allow media to be present during practice? How in the world could you write/cover something you can't see?
Petrino is brash, and it shows when it comes to stuff like this. I guess when you've got a million plays, it doesn't hurt if a bit of information gets out.
I know we make a conscience effort here not to talk about unique formations (until they're seen in a game), trick plays, etc. I know others do the same. Can't wait to get out there tomorrow.
I think it just shows the confidence CBP has in himself and his scheems.
He's not worried about outside sources picking up on somthing they can use against him.
I believe this somewhat reveals a bit of that brashness you were posting about, Tipster, but at the same time, I don't see CBP giving away a lot of what he's going to be doing against Georgia in the 3rd game of the season.
We have 2 games that should be gimmes before we even get to that point, so what we do against them shouldn't really matter that much, especially with Georgia going to a 3-4 defense this season. We'll prepare for the Dawgs much differently IMO.
My take is that Petrino's offense is such that, except for detecting injured players, he doesn't think the opposition can stop him anyway, so go ahead take a look. At the moment, in case anybody's missed it, the main play is Mallet throws it long, reaaallly long, and Childs and other receivers go get it and if necessary fight for it . A trick play is a screen pass. Pretty simple. However, if the out-of-state journalists are not respectful or polite in their criticisms, affable Bobby might just hang out the Your Not Welcome mat. In this day of high technology(think Boston Patriots)I'm not so sure how secret the practices can be anyway.
Two other things: First the Big 10 (?) shuffle. Razorback fans with tunnel vision may not think this is important, but believe me it is. The addition of Nebraska, in Big 10 eyes, has put them in the forefront to challenge the SEC as the premier NCAA league. In recent years the BT has been terrible even tho the upper Midwest and Eastern sportwriters have been their irrational,outspoken cheerleaders. Last year marked a turnaround for the BT. Why is this important to Razorback and SEC fans? Because it should be obvious that the BCS championship game has now become a contest between the winners of the (perceieved) two strongest conferences. Right now the SEC is top dog with the dissolved Big 12 riding right behind. I have already made my prediction that the Championship Game will be between Ohio State (or any other undefeated BT team – Forget Boise State, Utah, or TCU) and the SEC. The BT bigwigs are now mentalizing over two divisions while keeping traditional games. Big deal. This is a no brainer: East with MSU, UM, PSU, Indiana, PU, OSU and West with Iowa, Minn. NW, Illinois, UW, NU. Only problem will be with Minn and Mich and the Little Brown Jug which has been superceded for Mich by the games with MSU, OSU, and ND as traditional rivalries. Some of you out there might want to guess as to what the divisions will be. Again, shortsighters, there will be more BT in the Razorbacks and SEC future, so it's not irrelevant.
Second; Masoli again (I was the anonymous guy in the previous post who forgot to put in his handle). Wally Hall got on Nutt's case about Masoli. but he and other other sportswriters are missing something here which may go beyond this year and impact the Razorbacks and other SEC teams in the future. Masoli is from a close knit Samoan community in Daly City, California. If reports are correct, even with his bad behavior, he apparently has strong support from the Pacific Islander community. Masoli does not fit the profile of typical NCAA miscreant from the "Hood". His grandather was a Marine and founded a Congregationalist church and his family structure is very strong. Some of this may have gone into Nutt's thinking, other than panic and desperation, to give Masoli another chance. Now what has been missed here is if Nutt can successfully rehab Jeremiah, this will give him a direct pipeline into the Samoan communities for recruitment. This ethnic group produces more than it's fair share of talented players. In nearby Texas, there is a perinneal high school powerhouse (Trinity Euless) whose players are predominatley Samoan and Black. I am sure that Nutt has spoken to leaders in the Samoan community and he's ahead of the game. My own feeling about this is that it's the NCAA's fault for not instituting ironclad rules regarding behaviour because the individual institutions are obviousy not capable of this. Coach Kelly at Oregon was in a hard place since he allowed a key player back last season after he sucker punched a Boise State player, an action for which he should have been suspended for a season. When Masoli screwed up again with the pot bit, Kelly had no choice. One thing is for sure this season; Every game an SEC team loses to Ole Miss because of Masoli will elicit screams from fans and coaches alike.
Two things:
The Big Ten is going to have to beat somebody first. When was the last big Big Ten out of conference victory on a national stage? Maybe the Big Ten should stand for, "we have a Big out of conference victory every Ten years." Admittedly they do very well in their bowl games. They seem to win the CapOne bowl pretty regularly. Maybe the title game will make them more relevent. Something needs to.
Second: (see above) When was the last time a transfer came on to a team to make a huge impact? I know there is an example out there somewhere. I just can't think of it. He's coming late to the party. He doesn't know the coaches, players, playbook, opponents, school, culture, nada. It's asking a lot. Brent Schaffer was not very successful. He might be good for a win or two. I'm holding out for 'Bama.
Make no mistake, Masoli is a great player, and has big game experience on a national stage so he is used to playing in the spotlight and under pressure. The key question marks I think are:
Can he tear up the SEC defenses like he did the Pac 10? I don't think so…SEC is much faster and stronger.
Can Nutt develop an offense to take advantage of his skills? Maybe – he figured out how to use MCluster half way through the year. It may not take him that long to figure out how to use Masoli. The big problem Nutt will have are talented recivers for Masoli to throw to once the SEC defenses contain him.
One thing's for sure, Ole Miss has a chance to win 1-2 more games with Masoli.
I agree with your assessment of Masoli at Ole Miss. You did bring up one of the mysteries of the SEC season. Why did it take Nutt so long to fully utilize one of the premier players in the SEC? Should be interesting to see if Nutt learned his lesson. Masoli had made contacts with West Virginia and Kansas State. The latter is understandable, but WVU? Hmmm. There was probably more feelers out there that were not made public but the hangup was probably not Masoli's past behaviour (Nutt is not the only desperate coach out there)but finding a graduate program in a good football school that he could qualify for. A doctorate program in chemistry or theoretical physics would have been highly suspect. If not Nutt and the Rebs, then Masoli would have turned up somewhere else. I agree that the SEC defenses are presumably stronger than the PAC Ten, but Ole Miss' OL guys are definately SEC quality too. One thing for sure, Masoli will be a marked man by SEC coaches. But he will be also marked by the media. Early on Masoli and Mallet will be the two most discussed SEC players by the press. Ingram will be somewhat left in the dust, figuratively speaking. I'm thinking that the only thing stopping Masoli will be Nutt. However, I am also thinking that the Wildreb (or as someone drolly pointed out herein, wildfelon)will be the main offensive set for the Rebs. But it may take Nutt half a season to figure it out.
Masoli Won't look as dominant at Ole Miss as he did at Oregon. The defenses are faster and more physical in the SEC year in and year out. This year will be no different.
USC's defense was down compared to previous seasons, so the dominating performance Masoli had against them is a little over-rated.
Stanford whipped USC on their own turf pretty badly if I remember correctly.
To begin with, Masoli won't have the weapons surrounding him on offense like he did at Oregon anyway, unless we're talking about RBs and run-blockers up front.
All this really adds up to is just another run-dominated scheem under Nutt, much like we seen at Arkansas in the Matt Jones era.
Masoli doesn't have the speed nor size Matt Jones posessed. He needs reliable WRs to compliment his talents.
"When was the last time a transfer came on to a team to make a huge impact? I know there is an example out there somewhere. I just can’t think of it." Offhand, Golf, I'll give you one. Ryan Mallet.
I thought of that. He only sat out a year and then looked like a sophomore going 7-6. I expect him to have a big year his third year on campus though.
Golf: Mallet's stats were definately not sophomoric. And that 8-6 record with the worst defensive and special teams stats in the SEC was remarkable. A FG here and there and eliminate a bad call or two and the Hogs could have been 10-4 or 11-3. It is not reasonable to compare Masoli and Jones. They are completely different physical types although both were (are) slippery and adept scramblers. Even Nutt knows that the two are different and will adjust to what Masoli will give him. You're on target tho with the receivers. They need to know how to find open spaces in front of the QB. (Being open means nothing if the QB can't see you).
True. I was giving Skip the benefit of the doubt for having his team play so hard and so well.