FAYETTEVILLE -- After seeing Arkansas' massive Arkansas Razorbacks starting offensive line covering the Razorbacks' football media guide cover may have given some enterprising Arkansan an idea.
A T-shirt fronted with four massive men, perhaps Arkansas' defensive line, grumbling: "The offensive line gets the media guide cover and all we get is this lousy T-shirt."
Too late now if anyone thought of producing an Arkansas defensive line T-shirt that could be called an original.
Coach Bret Bielema already has T-shirts designed for his D-line 2-deep and beyond. Bielema makes amends as he insists he always holds both lines in the trenches with equal respect.
Deep down, Bielema perhaps respects the D-line even more considering his origins.
Bielema was a walk-on nose guard earning a scholarship at the University of Iowa and defensive coordinator at Kansas State and Wisconsin before becoming the head coach at Wisconsin for six years and now three years as Head Hog.
Two of his 2013 and 2014 Arkansas defensive linemen, end Trey Flowers and tackle Darius Philon, were taken in the NFL Draft last spring and now play for the New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers respectively.
But Arkansas' offensive line, the largest not only in college football but even in the NFL, fills the media guide cover. And 325-pound offensive guard Sebastian Tretola likely still gets airtime somewhere for throwing a touchdown pass off a trick play last year against Alabama-Birmingham.
"Since I have come here, there has been such an emphasis on Coach Bielema and the O-line and all of that," Bielema said after Saturday's scrimmage. "And really in my entire career it has been O-line and D-line. It just kind of got overemphasized here with some of the dramatic things that went on with personalties and stuff. I wanted those guys to know we will go as far as we go as a unit I think defensively by what our D-line does."
Hence the T-shirts.
"It's Front Force spelled with a 4," Bielema said. "They'll probably be wearing them around campus every day."
Following Saturday's scrimmage, both the first and second D-lines drew Bielema's praise, even with veteran ends Deatrich Wise and Brandon Lewis withheld by injuries and one of the major successes of the preseason, end Tevin Beanum, hampered by a "tweaked knee."
Yet another defensive end, JC transfer Jeremiah Ledbetter, made the defensive play of the scrimmage, picking off a Brandon Allen screen pass and returning it for a touchdown.
Meanwhile in the interior, tackles DeMarcus Hodge and Hjalte Froholdt excel alternating on the nose while Taiwan Johnson and Bijhon Jackson excel alternating at the 3-technique.
"I would say our D-line probably has been the best surprise of fall camp without a doubt." Bielema said. "Last year we were kind of a good D-line because of two good players that played well. This year we are a good D-line because we have got eight players that play very, very well. Maybe nine."
Sports on 08/24/2015