Media days in the can, two a day practices underway, and now we can begin to speculate on just what lies ahead for the Arkansas Razorbacks this year on the football gridiron. Certainly the schedule is softer now than it was a year ago----all you have to do is note the absence of USC to know that----but a lot of questions persist. Today, I'll address the offense.
Let's start, as will most, with the tailback depth. Darren McFadden enters his third and final season at Arkansas as the preseason fave to win the Heisman Trophy. He's so good, adjectives don't do him justice. Think of the best running backs ever to play the game----Jim Brown, O.J. Simpson, Barry Sanders, Gale Sayers, Eric Dickerson, LaDainian Tomlinson----and McFadden truly does seem to have the skillset of the best of the lot of them. He's very strong, extremely fast, and highly agile, but he also possesses the one football attribute that can't be measured: Game IQ. Knowing when to cut, when to feel for a defender, and being able to anticipate things happening before they even do, those are the things that make up a player's Game IQ. The great ones had it, and D-Mac does too.
Even with a superback in McFadden, Arkansas' fortunes in the backfield do not rest on him alone. He's also got a great backup in Felix Jones. On any other team, Jones would be the star, but with Arkansas, he's got to fight for his opportunities. Averaging over seven yards per game again would be a great way to earn more of them . . . And woe is the plight of third string running back Michael Smith! He's certainly good enough to start for half the other schools in the SEC, but it's hard to see how he'll get the football much at all this year.
Yet the story with Arkansas' backfield success this year will---as is the norm---have more to do with the men blocking than with the speedsters themselves. Namely, Peyton Hillis. Already rated by some draft publications as the best fullback in the country, Hillis was a huge cog in the ground and passing attacks for the Hogs a year ago. With Hillis on the field, Arkansas maintained its versatility, never allowing opponents to know whether it intended to run or pass. With Hillis out of the lineup at the end of the year, Arkansas flat out struggled to move the football. It's up to Hillis to stay healthy, keep his head down, mouth shut and carve up nice chunks of space for his host of talented tailbacks. If he can do those things, he'll get his number called more often as well.
And then there's the offensive line. It was so good last year, with seniors Tony Ugoh, Stephen Parker and Zach Tubbs leading the way. The question now is whether guys like Jose Valdez, Nate Garner, DeMarcus Love and Mitch Petrus can stabilize a unit that has its stars entrenched in center Jonathan Luigs and guard Robert Felton. I'm of the belief that it can and will be a truly strong unit once again. It's also important to remember that tight end Wes Murphy was essentially a sixth lineman for Arkansas last year; now, with him gone, talented pass catching TE Ben Cleveland is going to be expected to improve his blocking drastically, while 6'7 Andrew Davie gets his share of opportunities to play, if only because of his intimidating size.
To the quarterbacks we go. Last year it was a battle to the end of August camp to see who would emerge as Arkansas' starter. Freshman Mitch Mustain pushed Junior Robert Johnson to the brink, all but taking the starting position from him. At the time, Casey Dick was battling a bad vertebrae in his back. Fast forward to now. Mustain went 8-0 as a starter before getting benched and later transferring to USC. Robert Johnson was converted to wide receiver. And Casey Dick's back is now healthy. It will indeed be Dick as the starting quarterback to begin the season for the first time in his Razorback career. He has all of eight starts under his belt, but at times seems to have a good command of the offense. How he is able to work with new offensive coordinator David Lee on correcting his mechanics is going to have as much as anything to do with his success this year. Hog fans want to know whether 3 for 19 against LSU was an aberration or a sign of more of the same from their quarterback. Beyond Dick, it's anybody's guess. Nathan Emert, Clark Irwin and froshes Joe Chiasson and Nathan Dick (Casey's younger bro) comprise a depth chart that isn't wowing anybody. And that's putting it lightly. It just may be the case where one significant injury to Casey throws the whole Hogs' season out of whack.
And who will these guys be throwing the football to? Marcus Monk dabbled with the idea of going pro, but wisely decided to return for his senior season. He's already Arkansas' all-time leader in touchdown receptions, and a tremendous number one option, but even he lacks gamebreaking speed. Beyond Monk, it's entirely up in the air: seniors like Chris Baker and Robert Johnson, junior Reggie Fish, sophomores London Crawford and Carlton Salters, and freshman Marquez Wade are all jockeying for position on the wideout depth chart. If there's one huge question mark hanging around the offense (besides QB depth) it's got to be the unproven wide receiver play.
Put in charge of all this stuff is offensive coordinator David Lee. Back for a third stint with the Hogs after time with Bill Parcells' Cowboys, Lee has been handed---we're told---complete control of play-calling in Houston Nutt's offense. Last year, the public was told the same thing about Gus Malzahn, and anybody reading this article who wasn't living under a rock knows how well that worked out. Still, this is different. Nutt and Lee aren't being forced to work together: they're actually friends. Houston will have his share of input (and he should, as a head coach) but come Saturdays it will be Lee's decisionmaking on the offensive side of the ball. How he balances the running and passing games, how often he uses Darren McFadden out of the Wildcat package, and how many spread sets he goes with are all decisions he'll have to make. And the Razorback faithful is certainly curious to see how it's all going to work out.
RBs: A+
O-Line: B+
QBs: C+
WRs: C
TEs: C-
Offense: B+
-JAB
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