Hog Calls

Williams rolls even as the role changes

Arkansas running back Jonathan Williams carries the ball during practice Saturday, April 4, 2015, at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.
Arkansas running back Jonathan Williams carries the ball during practice Saturday, April 4, 2015, at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- From the day Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema set foot campus in December of 2012, he's been molding and remolding the role of running back Jonathan Williams.

Bielema inherited Williams, a Bobby Petrino signee who played enough for John L. Smith in 2012 to catch eight passes for 208 yards, most of the yardage coming on touchdown receptions of 77 and 74 yards.

Nonstop praise was lavished on Williams, a rising sophomore, but Bielema saw more than an off-the-bench pass-catching specialist.

So, he made a power back out of Williams while rotating him with newcomer Alex Collins, and the result was 900 rushing yards in 2013 and 1,190 in 2014 but very few receiving yards.

Williams' attitude alone is a treasure, Bielema and new Razorbacks offensive coordinator Dan Enos both say.

"He is one of those guys that you look at and say, 'I wish we had 105 like him," Enos said. "He does things right on the field. He does things right off the field. He is very gifted and his character matches his talent."

Williams' receiving yardage is likely to increase with new play-caller Enos opening screen doors in the passing game for Williams and running mate Collins.

"We worked on it a lot last year, we just didn't call it," Bielema said of screen plays. "It's one thing Dan has been very good at. The personnel fits it. I think Alex and J. Will both catch the ball, very, very well."

Williams said he can laugh when some forget how productive he was in the passing game as a freshman.

"After my sophomore and junior year everybody feels that I am a big, power back," Williams said. "But my freshman year everybody was wondering if I could be a power back because I was just a catching back. Everybody tries to make me as one or the other, but I feel like I am a complete running back."

Bielema and Enos concur completely.

GOOD LUCK, SEAN

Best wishes to Sean Rochelle, who is leaving in September as executive director of the Razorback Foundation to become executive director of Vold Vision in Fayetteville.

Rochelle loved the Razorbacks growing up nearby in Elkins, but went to the University of Arkansas-Monticello as a scholarship quarterback.

He then worked his way from the ground up at Arkansas, first as an graduate assistant coach under Ken Hatfield then as a versatile administrator upon achieving UA master's and doctorate degrees in Fayetteville.

Rochelle has come the closest to fully relating to the Razorbacks' impact on the state and the state's impact on the Razorback since Razorbacks fixture Harold Horton, a Hall of Honor member, retired.

Most longtime Razorbacks boosters won't relate to anything less.

Sports on 08/03/2015

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