Archive for the ‘football’ Category

« Older Entries

Screw replaced in the foot of Mallett

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

By Harold McIlvain II

Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett will not be able to put weight on his left foot following a procedure that replaced a screw in the injured leg.

But Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said he expects the signal caller to be back to normal after he takes some time off with the injury.

“He will be non-weight bearing for the next two weeks and I expect Ryan to return fully after that time period,” Petrino said in a statement. “I am completely confident in our athletic trainers and medical staff and the plan they have put in place for Ryan.”

The Petrino said procedure was expected to be done at about this time in the recovery process and was planned to be apart of getting the quarterback ready for the season opener against Tennessee Tech on September 4.

“We fully anticipated this would need to be done in early to mid-June and the timing of it was intentional to allow him to prepare for the season as much as possible during the summer months,” Petrino said.

Mallett, who led the Razorbacks to a 8-5 record last year, finished with 3,624 yards and 30 touchdowns in his first season as a Razorback.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

Razorback football continues to talk national title

Friday, May 21st, 2010

By Harold McIlvain II

FAYETTEVILLE—It’s been a theme and constant topic recently for Razorback football players—talking about a national championship.

After quarterback Ryan Mallett made an apperance on the ESPN show “College Football Live” talking about national title hopes earlier this month, tight end D.J. Williams made an appearance of his own today and spoke about team goals heading into the season that starts Septemeper 4 with Tennesse Tech at home.

“Our mindset is to do the best we can do” Williams said on the show.“A national title is what every team wants in the beginning of the year, and I think that’s a realistic goal for us this year. I do believe we work hard enough to accomplish that goal. It’s just how bad we want it.”

Only nine days ago, Mallett said the only trophy he was worried about was the crystal ball at the end of the season —not the Heisman Trophy.

Expectations and hype—both nationally and locally—has definitely surrounded the upcoming season for the Razorback football program even before securing a 20-17 bowl victory over East Carolina. But the Razorbacks, as Williams said, believe a national title is a achievable goal.

Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino said earlier in the offseason that he had been hearing talk of the Razorbacks being a dark horse national title contender or a team who could reach 10 wins. But he doesn’t mind the hype at all.

“I like the fact there are expectations out there,” Petrino said. “Obviously, our expectations are very high, but I would rather have people think we’re going to be a good football team.”

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

Youngblood, Gordon to transfer from Arkansas

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

By Harold McIlvain II

FAYETTEVILLE – Former quarterback turned tight end Jim Youngblood has been released from his Arkansas scholarship and will look for another school in order to be a signal caller.

The Camden, Ark., native redshirted his freshman year and entered the spring as the third-team quarterback before making the shift to the tight end position last season. Youngblood was in the 2008 recruiting class that included fellow quarterback Tyler Wilson, who is second on the depth chart behind Ryan Mallett.

After totalling 5,562 passing yards, 43 touchdowns and more than 1,600 rushing yards in high school as a quarterback, Youngblood will be looking to return to his old position with a new school—which could be UCA, reports indicate. He never recorded a catch during the season at the new position.

The release was the second of the week after David Gordon declared he would transfer from the program. The Tulsa, Okla., native made 11 total tackles for Arkansas last year while playing 10 games, three of which were starts for the freshman.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

A trip around the SEC…

Friday, May 7th, 2010

Taking a look at the latest SEC updates …

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

Red-White Recap: Defense

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — Until the Arkansas Razorbacks prove their defense can be effective in SEC play, it will be questioned and it will be considered a weakness by most college football pundits and prognosticators. That’s the price the program pays for having one of the SEC’s most porous if not the most porous defense the past two seasons.

But what commentators — particularly ones who aren’t on hand covering the team — believe about a team going into a season doesn’t have to end up being true.

And after watching the Hogs’ spring practice, I believe the Hogs are going to be considerably better on defense this fall than they have been the past two seasons. The Razorbacks were better at the start of spring than they were a year ago, and all they did was improve over the course of 15 practices.

Arkansas’ Red-White scrimmage was a hard-hitting affair, and even without blitzes, the defense held its own against a talent array of offensive performers. The Hogs played faster, hit harder and were more sure of themselves than at any point in the Bobby Petrino era.

Granted that’s not saying a lot, but it is improvement. The Razorbacks are two deep with players who have SEC experience. That’s an advantage the Razorbacks have earned the last two seasons when Petrino and defensive coordinator Willy Robinson had to thrust players into the fray before they were ready. But that experience should pay dividends this season.

Now, with all that said, don’t expect the Razorbacks to be a dominating defense in SEC play. Arkansas does not have the athletic talent to be a dominating defense in the SEC. They don’t have the overall size for that although the Hogs should be a fairly fast defense, but no faster than the larger defenses Alabama. Florida and LSU will deploy.

But, Petrino does not specialize in coaching teams to win 13-10. He’s planning on his Razorbacks’ offense to average scoring two touchdowns a quarter.

I guess the big question is whether or not the Hogs’ defense is good enough to allow the team to challenge the likes of Alabama. Florid and LSU for an SEC championship.

Considering Arkansas’ favorable schedule, it’s possible, but if I were handicapping teams, I would still have to give Alabama, Florida and LSU the nod over Arkansas because their overall defensive talent is better. But Arkansas is closing the gap, and the Hogs’ offense, which was the most explosive in the SEC last season, might be enough to push them to the SEC Championship Game if things fall into place.

Honestly, I doubt Petrino is sweating his defense after the spring. It made progress and even more progress can be made from now until August and from August until the season opener.

But Petrino does have a problem that has to be fixed with place-kicking and punting. If those weakness aren’t corrected or improved to a great degree, the Hogs will not win a SEC Championship. In fact, if the Hogs place-kicking and punting does not improve, they will be susceptible to losing to any SEC team on their docket.

A team can only dodge so many bullets in a season when its kicking game is mediocre to poor, and one SEC loss could take the Hogs out of contention for a Western Division title this season.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in football | 1 Comment »

Red-White Recap Part 4: Tight Ends

Friday, April 30th, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino was up front and honest about why Arkansas’ production at tight end was down during the 2009 season.

“I didn’t do a good enough job of creating a relationship between [quarterback] Ryan [Mallett] and [tight end] D.J. [Williams,]” Petrino said following the Hogs’ Red-White scrimmage April 24. “We’re going to fix that.”

That had to be music to Williams’ ears whose receptions dropped from 62 in 2008 to 31 in 2009.

Petrino explained that the focus last year for Williams was to improve as a blocker, but that he did not want the 6-2, 250-pound senior-to-be’s production to drop like it did.

“Certainly, it had something to do with the way defenses played D.J. last year, but there were times when our offense would have been much more efficient if Ryan had of followed his progression and thrown to D.J. and our other tight ends.”

Williams not only has excellent hands but he is also a fine runner after the catch. In the Red-White game, he made four catches for 49 yards, with a stand-out 21-yard run.

Williams isn’t the only target at tight end for Mallet and the other Razorback quarterbacks to look at in the fall. Chris Gragg had a solid spring coming off an ankle injury last fall and senior Ben Cleveland showed his toughness by returning to play in the Red-White game less than two weeks after having an emergency appendectomy. Austin Tate is also a promising prospect at the position.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

McGee: Obama with a whistle

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — Some things just can’t be denied. When you see it, you just know it, and what I know is that someday in the near future Garrick McGee is going to make some university very proud that he is its head football coach.

This isn’t a great revelation. Anyone who has been around McGee much at all — and my access has been limited as has all members of the media who covers the Razorbacks has — comes away impressed by him. But watching him coordinate the Hogs practices this spring and listening to him address the media both on national football signing day as well as several times following spring practice, it became crystal that the Oklahoma grad is destined to successfully guide his own program one day.

Oddly enough, I got the same feeling back in 2004 when I watched the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention by a freshman senator from Illinois. While I had never heard of that senator before, he had an undeniable stature and charisma that made me think this guy is something else. Of course, we now call that senator Mr. President.

To me, McGee is Barack Obama with a whistle in terms of poise, charisma and stature. You can see him rising to do great things. Now, this is not meant as any type of political commentary one way or the other. It’s just an analogy that when talent is there it is often apparaent.

The Razorbacks are poised to have an outstanding offense, and while the lion’s share of the coaching credit for that necessarily and rightly is bestowed upon Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino, McGee should earn some credit, too.

When Petrino’s brother, Paul, opted to leave his brother’s staff, there is little doubt that Bobby had many coaches willing to come to Arkansas and take the title of offensive coordinator. Working under Petrino on the offensive side of the ball is good for anyone’s knowledge base and resume. Plus with the stable of talented receivers, running backs and quarterbacks returning, it would have made the coordinator’sjob that much more enticing. It says a great deal for McGee that Petrino stayed in house with the promotion.

If the Hogs have the type of season fan’s are dreaming about, McGee will have options in December. Here’s hoping he elects to remain a Razorback.

Here’s food for thought, though. If well-placed scuttlebutt is true, Petrino was about two falling dominoes away from getting a call from Florida to take over the Gators program last December when Urban Meyer waffled over whether he wanted to be Florida’s coach or not.

Should Petrino be poached from the Ozarks in the near or distant future, McGee wouldn’t be a bad coach to consider as his replacement.

Yes, I know all the hubbub about hiring needing to hire a proven head coach. I also know that the perfect replacement for Nolan Richardson is now coaching the Missouri Tigers, and the Hogs could have had him for a song back in 2002.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized, football | No Comments »

Red-White Game Recap Part 3: Offensive line

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

FAYETTEVILLE — Judging Arkansas’ offensive line from the Red-White scrimmage is an unfair proposition. Offensive lines are coached to work as a unit, and by dividing the teams up evenly, Bobby Petrino knowingly broke the cohesion of the group.

The mixing and matching linemen no doubt feed into the assignment mistakes that had the Hogs yield a combined 11 sacks in the scrimmage on April 24, which the Whites won 31-21.

Arkansas stands to have a solid if not strong offensive line for the 2010 season, and while I’m stepping out on a limb here since Petrino has not released a post-spring depth chart as of yet, I’m guessing it will be different than the pre-spring depth chart, and I would also hazard a guess that the offensive line depth chart for Arkansas’ opener against Tennessee Tech will be different from the post-spring chart, too.

Why?

Because at three of the five offensive-line positions, there is a great deal of competition, more than Arkansas has had since I first covered the team in 1989.

Senior tackle De’Marcus Love (6-5, 315) and junior center Seth Oxner (6-4, 315) will be hard to dislodge from their starting posts. Love has matured into a big-time tackle, while Oxner most experienced back-up would be Wade Grayson (6-4, 302), who started at guard last year but will have to fight of competition to hold that spot in 2010.

The guard spot is where most of the heat will be in August. Alvin Bailey (6-5, 323) moved into the starting lineup when Grayson suffered an injury and did not give the spot up in the spring. And the emergence of Anthony Oden (6-8, 328) at the tackle opposite Love allowed first-year offensive line coach Chris Klenakis to move starting tackle Ray Dominguez (6-4, 329) inside to guard.

Klenakis said the Dominguez/Oden experiment was an attempt to get the most physical and best lineman in camp on on five-man squad. But don’t think that Grayson and Grant Cook (6-4, 322) aren’t going to fight to regain their starting spots. August should be very competitive up front.

Grant Freeman (6-7, 298) is currently working behind Love at tackle, and Travis Swenson (6-5, 305) shows promise behind Oxner.

Once the dust settles, the Razorbacks ought to have an offensive line capable of rolling up big numbers whether protecting for the pass or knocking holes open for the run.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

Red-White Game Recap Part 2: Running Backs

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

4550483519_34c79d6a24Photo by Ross Brown: Arkansas running back Dennis Johnson.

FAYETTEVILLE — Going into Arkansas’ spring scrimmage, Arkansas’ coaching staff felt like it had a strong, deep and versatile stable of running backs, and nothing happened on the field that should change that feeling.

Each of the Hogs top four running backs had their moments in the contest that saw the White team score the game’s final 17 points to post a 31-21 victory.

Ronnie Wingo Jr. led in carries with 18 and total yards with 88, but Knile Davis, Broderick Green and Dennis Johnson each average more yards per carry than Wingo’s solid 4.9 average. Davis carried 6 times for 49 yards for an 8.2 ypc. average, while Green had 8 carries for 53 yards for a 6.6 ypc. average and Dennis Johnson had 6 carries for 38 yards for a 6.3 ypc average.

The only truly disappointing aspect of the backs play was the fumbles by Wingo and Davis. Davis actually suffered a broken collar bone on his fumble. He had surgery Sunday. It is expected to take about month for him to recover.

Wingo reeled off the longest run with a 37 yard scamper. He hit the holes hard and seems to have gotten over his habit of trying to dance around in the backfield that tripped him up at times as a freshman. He also caught two passes for 28 yards, one that went for a 31-yard touchdown.

Green seemed to pick where he left off last season. He is a punishing runner that doesn’t mind pounding defenses with is 5-, 245-pound frame.

Johnson is as nimble and tough as ever. He seems to have the best vision and cut-back ability of the group, and he also has nifty hands. He caught two passes for 42 yards with one going for a 38-yard gain.

Like Johnson, Davis has a nose for the hole and has a good combination of speed and strength. His only issue is his proclivity to be injured. This is the second spring that he has been hurt. But Davis did go through all of the 2009 season without being hurt.

The only real issue is that while all four backs had productive springs, none of them truly separated themselves from the pack from my point of view. Johnson did show a great amount of leadership and earned compliments from the coaching staff for doing so. But there is no clear No. 1 from my view, though any of the four would seem to be an improvement over last season when injuries kept Michael Smith from being all he could be as a senior.

Wingo and Davis also had fumbles.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

Davis suffered injured collar bone

Monday, April 26th, 2010

Arkansas head football coach Bobby Petrino said that sophomore running back Knile Davis suffered a broken collar bone in the first half of the Hogs’ Red-White Game last Saturday during a speaking engagement on Monday, according to local TV reports.

Davis had surgery Sunday and is expected to be fully recovered in about a month. Davis injured his ankle early last spring, but returned healthy for the 2009 season.

Freshman quarterback Jacoby Walker appeared to have hyper-extended his knee late in the scrimmage. Petrino said Walker will rehab his knee for a few weeks before it is tested agaill,n.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in football | No Comments »

« Older Entries