Dominique Johnson

I’m curious what happens in the process with him. It does seem he has had his shot to develop and become a contributor at running back and it just hasn’t happened. Now you have an infusion of talent that comes in and fits better in the current offense and he starts being asked to try other positions. I’d love to see him stay a Hog and find another position to help the team, but this is not generally how it plays out anymore.

I’m sure this is not suppose to happen, but do smaller schools in need of a back start pinging him right away? He can transfer before school starts and be eligible immediately for them right?

Why do you think it has not happened? I believe he is solidly in the depth for this season. I think he will play this year.

He will know soon enough how they plan to use him, or not, but we need a big back for special plays. I don’t recall talk about his blocking ability but a big back for blocking is a good thing. I just don’t want a situation where a back, him or another, only comes in when they have a play called for them specifically. Too easy for the defense to figure that out.

Well, he practiced with the TE’s yesterday, so I’m not sure where he’ll end up.

It was just the fact that he worked out with TE’s yesterday that I guess made me think this. I’m happy if he is still with running backs and at TE helping.

It’s like I’ve read from you guys before, running back is the best athlete on the field. Dominique has developed his body and is a great athlete, if he can help us anywhere on the field then great. I just think that other schools probably see a move to TE as an opportunity to get into the ear of a great athlete who is used to contributing to a team more than he has since being a Razorback.

Hopefully what we will get from Dom is that Hybrid/ H-back/ fullback role similar to Hillis. You know the TE coach has plenty of ideas on how to improve his squad. And if Dom can be a big, fast blocker, he could increase his role with the team.

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I think it’s an example of trying to find tight ends. With injuries and Covid, cross train them.

Reminds me of what happened to Blayne Toll. Apparently both are very good athletes, but hard to place where they can excel and be happy. And, maybe being on most of the special teams is not what they had/have in mind. I remember how long it took the coaches to find the best fit for Jason Peters. I think he went 2 years with virtually no playing time.

Exactly. He could be part of a jumbo + goal line package. Tight ends, big back, big quarterback, big line. Even big wideouts. Should be hard to stop.

He might end up being more of an H-Back than a TE, if he really does move from RB. He’s a bit short at 6-1 and more than a bit light at 235 to play very much as an inline TE.

They moved Draper to TE as well, and he has about that same body size as Dominique Johnson. It sounds like they think they are going to have to use H-Backs some because they don’t think they’ve got enough true TEs.

The nice thing about doing that with a guy like Johnson is that you can motion him into and out of the backfield and the defenses have to play him honestly at both spots That can be useful both for play calling flexibility in general and for moving safeties and LBs around to create matchups we like.

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Optionality and misdirection places max stress on the defense which eventually gets you into winning plays.

Didn’t Bielema cross-train TE and FB? I seem to recall Austin Cantrell doing both.

Toll was discussed at the time he transferred, one of the classic Tarzan/Jane guys.

The idea that a fullback/running back can play H-back or tight end is pretty much a common practice.

Maybe he should be a LB? It’s the reason he switched from Mizzou to us, maybe they knew something?

I think running back and H-back are close to the same thing and definitely not linebacker.

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