FAYETTEVILLE -- The last time Arkansas was bowl bound, the 2011 Razorbacks basked at 10-2 going into the prestigious Cotton Bowl but had just fired their defensive coordinator.
Now they stand but 6-6 as does their opponent, the Texas Longhorns, going into the Texas Bowl on Dec. 29 in Houston. Yet Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith adorned the original list of nominations for the Broyles Award, which is give annually to the nation's top assistant coach.
It's a new defensive day at Arkansas from when defense was deemed the drag even as Bobby Petrino's offensive juggernauts of 2010 (10-3) and 2011 (11-2) advanced to the Sugar and Cotton bowls.
Now, after posting successive SEC shutouts over LSU (No. 17 at the time) and Ole Miss (No. 8), defense headlines the most improved portion of Coach Bret Bielema's entirely improved Razorbacks.
Nobody knows that better than Alan Turner, the fifth-year senior from Junction City. Arkansas' starting safety since 2012, Turner remembers as a redshirt freshman in 2010 and special teams letterman in 2011 when defense was second-class during first-class seasons. Everything crashed in the 4-8 season in 2012 under John L. Smith and the 3-9 remnants Bielema inherited for 2013.
So Turner takes pride in this strong emergence of the old weakest link.
"It's real big for us," Turner said. "The image the last few years has not been a good defensive school. It put a chip on our shoulder to try to come in and get better each and every day."
Senior Trey Flowers, a two-year All-SEC second-team defensive end, remembers a defense dwarfed in the 2011 offensive heights.
"My freshman year was an all offensive team, so for us to be able to make a name for ourselves as a defensive team was big time," Flowers said. "That just shows you how much credit goes to Coach Smith and Coach Bielema and all the other assistant coaches. That just shows you how much the players bought in that this doesn't have to be just an offensive team. It can be a defensive team as well."
Two lean years and Bielema, a former defensive coordinator, drove home that both sides of the ball need each other.
"We understood that Coach B was a defensive-minded coach but he is a coach in general," Flowers said. "He doesn't want a strong defense and a weak offense. He wants a strong team in general."
The defense made its generally vast improvement with first-year Arkansas defensive coaches Smith, Clay Jennings (secondary) and Rory Segrest (line) joining second-year linebackers coach Randy Shannon.
Did their chemistry truly make the difference?
"Oh, yeah," Flowers said. "It's evident from Day One when Coach Smith came in. For them to come in do that, that is evident in the detail."
Turner also calls the defense ahead on Smith's details.
"There is just something about him, the energy and the way he explains things," Turner said. "I feel him being really detailed helped us out."
Sports on 12/13/2014