What we need… Big Picture… please share your thoughts

Football Insider Board
#1

After thinking on this for a few weeks…what I’d like to see take place with our football team.

First… pride and the intensity that comes form reflecting that pride and representing that pride…. Show pride in your efforts it takes the 353 days (365 - 12 game days) a year you work your body, minds, and emotions to condition yourself for those 12 opportunities you get to compete as Razorbacks!

Second…. We need a better strength and conditioning program, I just see a difference in our physical build and explosion in our players…. Our DL is weak , or OL is weak and flabby…I don’t care, how many yards we have , we are weak in short yardage, 4th and shorts, goal line , etc… and not just this year…

Third…. Skill development, and I am not calling for coach’s to be fired…. But here is the development Id like to see by position… QB, better quicker decision making, in regards to the passing or run options… better decision making in regards to the rout tree… RB… growth in pass blocking… TE more consistency in regards to catching and better blocking at the point of attack… OL stated above… DL, set the edge, get home on more sacks and pressures, crate havoc… LBers, better pass defense, better gap control… DB, better technique, a better ath (Q Mac is a prime example), safeties that can play the ball and defend the run and are not playing chase…Special teams elimination of the one or two boneheaded game impacting mistake in every game…

Fourth… we have to literally look at the whole roster, and make the determination if they are quality SEC level players or have the potential to be… look this is a cut throat conference, always has been… and will only get worse once OU and UT join,… Pittman needs to look at the players he inherited from Morris , and his first classes that in all honesty were impacted from and evaluation stand point from Covid… clean up the mistakes and strengthen the athletic ability of the team…

Fifth… no excuses in recruiting! And that means we sign both of the SEC level DLs in state next year! No excuses.

I don’t think any of this is not something that the leaders of the program are not actively looking for ways to improve and address…

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#2

Collins was Crystal balled to LSU last night by Steve Wilfong which is never a good sign.

#3

I would try to find some way to plow some of the $40 millions plus a year they are making from the SEC back into Arkansas high school football — improving facilities, creating youth interest and that type of thing. You can only build so many facilities on campus and spend money in other ways on campus. What this program really needs is good Arkansas high school football, with development of big linemen, better quarterbacks, and more physically gifted players. That is sorely lacking right now and has been for many, many years. Also, statewide political officials should look at how to improve high school football in Arkansas. Like it or not, the Razorbacks are big deal in the state and when they are doing well, the state, to me at least, seems to thrive a little more. Sure, academics should be prioritized as well, but I don’t see why both can’t be improved simultaneously. For one thing. I would consolidate a lot of these tiny school districts around the state. That would be one way to focus resources and perhaps develop better football players. They are way too many rinky-dink school districts in the state.

#4

If I’m not mistaken, Arkansas does as well as just about any state in producing D1 players.

That said, public schools in LR and Pine Bluff (both areas used to produce lots of great football players) are disasters. Once the premier powerhouse in high school football, LR Central, couldn’t beat St Mary’s Girls school right now (sorry if I offended someone).

Im not sure pumping money into the systems is the answer. The facilities at LR Southwest are second to none. They pay large salaries to proven winning coaches. It hasn’t helped. Their teams are awful, and college recruiters aren’t waiting in line.

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#5

No excuses ! Get it done ! The state of Arkansas does not produce very many SEC level DLs, we can’t let the few we do leave….

#6

Great questions. Coach brought stability and he seems a great guy. Hopefully we can finish strong in year three and do well in recruiting. Hard to lose at home to Liberty and not want to evaluate everything. To me, well beyond Liberty, if we want to compete in high levels of SEC, we need improve much further beyond the talent we have and that’s recruiting. We seem deficient in several areas this year. From D line to Wide receivers. O line appeared disappointing vs Liberty and that’s a team strength. We have all talked for years of improvements needed to recruit with the bigs and of course winning helps so we have to hope for that together with developing talent.

#7

Big picture don’t forget where we were when Coach Sam Pittman took this job!
There’s plenty to complain about for sure. The bottom line our hogs are in much better shape now. It takes time! We as fans need patience.
That’s something we lack.
The one thing I would like to see. More effort to come up with plays down near the goal line to get TD and 2 point plays in the end zone that are unexpected.

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#8

I agree and disagree…… yes we need patience… but we never should accept losing to Liberty…. I don’t care what the situation is…. But great points.

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#9

It doesn’t help when many of those great young athletes are playing basketball instead of football. Muss has a lot of kids in the State wanting to play hoops. And is, for the most part, a lot safer than football.

#10

A schedule that recognizes the physical limits of players and stops scheduling mid season games like BYU and Liberty when the demands of a SEC schedule is going leave you needing breathers. Playing Cincy or some other national power first is great but no more midseason Power 5 foes. We have a team now spent with three SEC opponents coming up and even with a win Saturday this team mis emotionally drained and we all know carrying multiple injuries.

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#11

I realize you are not very intelligent, but I am interested in hearing how consolidation will produce more football players?

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#12

Oh, well, I think I’ll just go ahead sit this one out and not go beyond what I’ve already said. LOL.

#13

Unfortunately, some fans, and local sport show hosts demand a murders row non conference’s schedule. As if playing one of the toughest schedules in the country year after year wasn’t good enough.

#14

No doubt HS football in the state needs to improve. I agree consolidation would help. One can’t develop players when coaching talent is spread so thinly and some schools either can’t play football or are down to 7 (or 8?) man football. Certainly small schools can’t sink money into good athletic development.

However, I don’t think it’s wise use of UA athletic funds to try to fund HS football programs. It’d probably take more than we can reasonably afford, anyway. Instead, we just need to do what we’ve always done when we’ve been successful–get a few really good in-state kids & hope to land the rest from Texas, LA, OK and other surrounding states.

Unlike many on this board, I’m still very confident in CSP and this staff. I suspect we’re putting too much attention onto the “Liberty” name and not taking into account that it’s a good football team (that had 2 weeks to get ready for us & heal their own bumps & bruises).

I’m also sure our own players approached the game with the same attitude. “We’re playing ‘Liberty’ (snicker). How can they be any good? We’re used to playing teams from the SEC. They may be ranked, but we’re a 13 point favorite for a reason.” Coaches can try to fix that attitude, but human nature is human nature & I think our players thought we could win without max effort. Might have been a subconscious thing, but I bet it was there. They got their sh** together by the 4th quarter, but it was just about 5 minutes too late.

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#15

What we need? This year Pittman et al have been out-coached so far by Petrino, Leach, Saban, and now Freeze… suspect Kelly and Kiffin will be added to that list in the next couple of weeks but maybe he can beat Drinkwitz to get them in in some minor bowl. Great guy, good coach but not ready/able to guide the Hogs to an SEC title much less a BCS Championship. Hey Yurachik… accept FB mediocrity or start looking for a new head FB coach.

#16

Shouldn’t it be the 13 days a year they compete as Razorbacks, assuming they compete hard enough, with sufficient pride?

#17

I proudly graduated from one of those rinky dink school districts in Arkansas, so drop that side of gripe crap!

#18

Man, y’all kill me. Were you in a coma during the Morris years? We are a slightly above average football program. That is reality, and has been borne out repeatedly since 1964. Nobody but Sam wanted this job.

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#19

Why don’t we produce a lot of talent? Many answers.

LRSD is a disaster, the recent cluster of players out of Parkview notwithstanding. South Arkansas is increasingly a disaster, with all kinds of small towns losing population as people move out to seek jobs elsewhere.

Consolidation would help. Here in NC, which has 3.5 times the population of Arkansas, each county is its own school district and there are a whole lot of “East Forsyth County” schools which are at least 4A size for Arkansas and some a lot bigger than that. But LRSD schools are big and they still stink.

And the demographics don’t help either. Louisiana is 32% black. Mississippi is 37% black. Alabama is 27% black. Georgia is 31% black. Arkansas? 15% black, with a smaller population than any of those except Mississippi. Look at who’s on the field for any SEC team Saturday and tell me that doesn’t matter.

Kentucky is only 8% black, by the way, but Mark Stoops recruits Ohio very hard to make up for that. Sam is trying to go into Georgia with some success in a similar vein.

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#20

When you “do the math”, Louisiana has twice our population and more than twice our percentage of blacks so that makes them have 4+ times as many of the speediest and most athletic ethnic group than we have. Look at their number of Power 5 scholies and it is a little over 4 times as many as Arkansas produces. If we got our urban football programs better supported and better funded, our numbers of P5 recruitable athletes would rise some, but most of those athletes are identified early and are playing for PA, Bryant, LRChristian, and other schools who claim not to recruit but do. Like Nebraska, Kentucky, Utah, etc. we have to excel at out of state recruiting to succeed. Nothing new about that.

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