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FAYETTEVILLE — The roster is not dotted with more than a couple all-SEC type players.
The coaching staff — at least, the assistants — do not seem to be garnering much fanfare across the rest of the college football landscape.
But tucked in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains lies a real sense of high expectation. Arkansas coach Bret Bielema gives a wink and a nod when asked about his team’s realistic chances this year.
We found that out Sunday at the team’s Media Day.
The culture has changed so much in the last three years that even Media Day itself, for those of us non-players, was the best it has been in several seasons.
Bielema, beginning his third year, has only two SEC wins in 16 tries. Yet he’s something of a demigod on campus. And the n’er-do-well columnists aren’t calling for his job. Bielema inherited a Superfund site and the clean-up is ahead of schedule.
So what did we learn Sunday? A lot. And not a lot. Depends on how you look it. Kind of the same as what to expect when the cold weather of the regular season arrives: TBD.
Remediation
Not a single negative headline has escaped the Fred W. Smith Football Center since the spring. In an offseason seemingly every other SEC team had issues, the Hogs avoided them.
Defensive end Tevin Beanum’s arrest for DUI in February was a lone pockmark on an otherwise-glimmering offseason. Bielema let go reserve linebacker Randy Ramsey after determining Ramsey’s academics were not coming around, but beyond that, almost nothing ill made the news.
That’s been Bielema’s credo: stay out of trouble. Keep your grades up. Focus on football. Those who can’t follow those simple rules are left to walk. Korliss Marshall found that out midway through last season.
The weeding-out process finally is providing dividends.
“This is probably the hardest 105-man camp roster I’ve ever had to make,” Bielema said. “Not only the 85 scholarship players but to add 20 walk-ons into that group was pretty difficult. It wasn’t an issue, we were trying to find guys my first couple years.”
Ride Or Die With Allen
Bielema had never actually come out and said what he needed from quarterback Brandon Allen until Sunday.
The fifth-year senior will be the most important variable in the success, or lack of success, of Arkansas’ season. The Fayetteville native was solid, but unspectacular last season, finishing with 20 touchdowns and four interceptions. The latter number is acceptable, great, even. The former needs to be upped.
More than anything, though, Bielema said he needed Allen to provide some memories.
“I think if Brandon Allen is going to take the step he has to be big in big moments,” Bielema said. “So four quarters, the moments where we really need a fifth-year senior to shine through on the road in big ballgames. Those things have to be very apparent.”
The Bad News Bears
Every preseason All-SEC selection from Arkansas came on the offensive side of the ball. That unit was rather middle-of-the-road last season, finishing 60th in the country in total offense.
The defense? That was top 10 in scoring and total and top 12 in rushing. And it returns six starters.
Yet listen to talk radio in the Natural State — and, really, read any preview by local or national folks, either one — and you’ll find whispers or outright curiosity about whether those high rankings were a mirage or simply the product of three NFL players now gone.
“I think (defensive coordinator) Robb (Smith) and that crew has a lot of pride in how they do things,” Bielema said. “Robb gets a lot of credit as he deserves, but between (secondary coach) Clay (Jennings), (linebackers coach) Vernon (Hargreaves) and (defensive line coach) Rory (Segrest), those are three of the strongest defensive coaches I’ve had to support a coordinator and his thoughts and ideas.”
Smith is becoming highly thought of, but he isn’t there yet. Not that it matters in real life, but Smith’s Wikipedia page is all of four sentences long. The skepticism outside of Arkansas remains both in the coaching staff and the players.
A bunch of no-names who surprised – that’s why Bielema called them the Bad News Bears.
Eric Bolin is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football and Arkansas.
