FAYETTEVILLE -- Ceasing searching for the next Martrell Spaight while rediscovering the old Brooks Ellis immensely improved Arkansas' defense.
Coach Bret Bielema and defensive coordinator Robb Smith cited the improvement since they ceased casting Ellis succeeding Spaight as the Razorbacks' weakside linebacker (will) and moved him back to middle linebacker (mike).
Can't really blame Bielema and Smith for moving Ellis from middle linebacker, his starting position from late 2013 through all 2014, to the weakside spot.
It made perfect sense.
Spaight led the SEC in tackles last season with Smith's defense schemed to funnel action to Spaight's side.
Ellis started 2015 clearly as Arkansas' best linebacker. So of course put Ellis where the action is. Particularly since Ellis played weakside and strongside (sam) in 2013 before starting in the middle.
Ellis could have excelled at weakside linebacker, Bielema, Smith and linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves concur.
"You guys know how I feel about Brooks Ellis," Smith said. "I think he could play sam. I think he could mike. I think he could play will. I think he's a tremendous linebacker."
Ellis, teammates and coaches say, is tremendous from the signal-calling middle. He sets the defense with authority.
Ellis moved back to middle linebacker in the third game of the season while freshman and fellow Fayetteville High graduate Dre Greenlaw starts at the weakside position.
The past three games, all SEC games with closes losses to Texas A&M and Alabama sandwiching a victory at Tennessee, the defense jelled. Ellis telling the defense where to go got it going.
"When Brooks was at will you had a mike that wasn't real confident talking," Bielema said. "You had some inexperienced defensive linemen who weren't getting quick calls made at the line of scrimmage. You had some secondary that wasn't talking great to our defense.
"When we moved Brooksie to mike, now the evolution. We had zero alignment issues in the Alabama game."
Plus Ellis made a season-high 15 tackles.
"They had him for 15, but I had him for 20," Hargreaves said after grading film. "As good a performance as I have been around."
Putting everyone else in position to make a play would be vital even if Ellis never made a tackle, senior defensive lineman Mitch Loewen said.
"When we are down in our stance we can't really see anything, but he is looking at the big picture so he can anticipate what routes they are going to run and get people in places they need to be," Loewen said. "That's Coach Smith's guy right there. He's kind of like the general of our defense."
Against Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn's hurry up, no huddle offense, the defensive front needs immediate direction, defensive line coach Rory Segrest said.
"Brooks had a great week preparing for the tempo," Segrest said. "Just him being able to be definitive in his calls has been big getting guys in the right spot."
Sports on 10/24/2015