FAYETTEVILLE — The hype machine at the University of Arkansas is already revving up for next season with Ryan Mallett set to return for his junior year.
Mallett, who announced his decision to leave the NFL Draft on the backburner for at least one more year, will surely have a lot of media attention in the coming months. And when August drills arrive on the Hill, the expectations and attention will hit a fever pitch.
You could tell the UA was gearing up for such a move just minutes before Mallett’s press conference Friday. Arkansas officials handed out a two-age bio sheet complete with a list of honors and stats, and a section titled “What They Are Saying,” about the quarterback who set or tied 16 school records last season.
A couple of hours before that, Arkansas announced that their face of the program would also be on ESPN’s “College Football Live” and the Worldwide Leader’s national radio program, “The Pulse,” later in the afternoon.
The wheels, ladies and gentlemen, are in motion for Ryan Mallett’s Heisman campaign.
And Mallett had a message to the fans Friday, saying simply: “Get ready. Get ready.”
“He did good. I thought he looked good. He was dressed well,” offensive coordinator Garrick McGee said after Mallett left the stage Friday afternoon. “I thought he presented himself very well and I think the message he sent was, he came back to help his teammates win. I think that’s a part of what I’ve said all along — the kid is growing up. The decision for him to take off right now and take the money (in the NFL) while it was there would have been an immature decision. He proved I was right and that we were right about him. He is growing up.”
Maturity and handling the media, McGee said after Arkansas’ 20-17 win in overtime at the Liberty Bowl, was Mallett’s one detracting factor. But the sophomore did show some strides in the right direction as the season progressed when it came to off-the-field situations.
And Mallett will need plenty of maturity to handle all the hype and media circus headed his way. He got a taste of it Friday during his press conference with more than a dozen TV and Internet cameras set up and an equal amount of reporters in attendance to match. As the microphone moved from reporter to reporter, and questions pelted the quarterback, Mallett’s name quickly crossed the national wires and on ESPN.
“He’s seen himself as the best player in football whatever level he’s played on, so I don’t think he’ll be intimidated or shocked by the press or how high profile he’s going to be,” McGee said. “I don’t think that will be a problem for him, because, coming out of high school, he was one of the top players in the country.”
A stint at a high-profile program like Michigan during his true freshman season also should help, McGee said. So should sitting out a season after transferring from the Wolverines’ program to come back home and play for the Razorbacks. He’s been through a lot.
As Mallett said Friday, “I’m not 18 years old anymore.”
“(The attention) is not going to be just because of him,” McGee said. “It’s going to be because we’re going to be playing well. We expect to be in the SEC Championship game. When you’re the quarterback of a team that’s in the SEC Championship game, you get yourself in position to win awards and get yourself in position to win a national championship.”
And that’s exactly why Mallett decided to return to Arkansas, even if mock drafts had the Razorback listed as a possible first- or second-round selection in this April’s NFL Draft. But was Mallett — who says he made his decision to return the night of the Liberty Bowl — tempted to leave with such high marks by prognosticators?
“A lot of people do those things and none of those people are NFL (general managers) or anything like that, so they really don’t matter,” Mallett said. “To me, nothing is guaranteed. You’re not guaranteed to be here tomorrow, but I’m going to take my chances. I love playing for the Razorbacks and we’ve got a great coaching staff and a great team.”
Plenty of fans and media members wondered during these last few weeks whether Mallett would leave because of the harsh realities that faced quarterbacks like Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, who opted to return this past season after a Heisman-winning year only to be injured early in the season and watch his NFL stock plummet. Perhaps Bradford, and maybe even Mallett, should leave earlier than their coaches desire.
Even Texas’ Colt McCoy, who fought four years to reach the national championship as a starter, was injured early last night during the Longhorns’ 37-21 loss to Alabama in the BCS title game. There are reasons out there, obviously, that could stray quarterbacks toward bolting for the NFL.
“That didn’t have any deciding factor because, to me, when you’re not playing hard, that’s when you get hurt,” Mallett said. “When you play hard, you eliminate as much risk to get hurt. That’s why, when I go play for the Razorbacks this fall, I’m going to give it everything I’ve got. I’m not going to go play scared because I don’t believe in that.”
At least in the pre-season, big things are on the horizon for the Hogs. The expectation level in the coming months may only be matched by the pre-season of 2007, when the Razorbacks returned the loaded backfield of Peyton Hillis, Felix Jones and Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden from a 10-win squad.
And Mallett, like McFadden, will be on plenty of Heisman Trophy watch lists in August.
Then there’s the pre-season hype for the team, which very much looks the part of a Top 20 ranking in the pre-season with 17 starters returning. ESPN’s Mark Schlabach already has the Hogs ranked 16th in his — perhaps-too-early — pre-season rankings.
The wheels are in motion.
“Get ready,” Mallett said Friday. “Get ready.”
Yep. Let the hype begin.
Brandon Marcello is the online sports editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Northwest Arkansas Newspapers. You can e-mail him at bmarcello@wholehogsports.com and read his blog, The Slophouse, by clicking here.