Press coverage in Hogs' arsenal this year

Arkansas' Jared Collins (29) covers Ryan Pulley (10) during drills Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015, in Fayetteville.
Arkansas' Jared Collins (29) covers Ryan Pulley (10) during drills Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015, in Fayetteville.

— Jared Collins has made 23 straight starts at cornerback for Arkansas. During his career, the Razorback secondary has been tasked with covering the likes of Odell Beckham Jr., Chris Conley and Laquon Treadwell — all now playing in the NFL.

In most of those matchups, the senior Tulsa native and the rest of Hogs’ cornerbacks have generally played off the line of scrimmage, giving the opposition sizeable cushions.

That may not be as common this fall with a more experienced secondary playing under new secondary coach Paul Rhoads. Press coverage was prevalent in Saturday’s final scrimmage of fall camp, a trend that could very well carry over into the season.

“I absolutely believe we can (play press),” Rhoads said. “If you’re going to be a complete defense, you have to. You can’t always play off in certain situations, certain down and distances and be effective. You’ve got to be able to off zone, off man and you’ve got to be able to be able to press and play zone and man out of that look as well.”

There is a sense that this year’s Arkansas secondary has the requisite talent and experience to better handle playing press coverage, by nature a more risk, reward scheme. Not only is Rhoads game for the idea of playing press coverage more often, he’s teaching it in a way that differs from his predecessor, Clay Jennings.

“We call it a baby peddle,” Collins said. “It’s more of a baby peddle at the line of scrimmage. Last year, we were trying to get hands on (receivers) at the line of scrimmage first. Playing with our feet, that’ll put us in position to use our hands. That’s one thing we’ve focused on this year.”

Even with playing off for the most part a year ago, Arkansas ranked last in the SEC in pass defense, allowing an average of 275.2 yards per game. An inconsistent and sometimes nonexistent pass rush contributed to the secondary struggles. So did the inexperience at safety with Josh Liddell and Santos Ramirez, players with talent but learning the ropes in the SEC. Both have been through conference wars now and should be better suited to cover up any mistakes corners may make if the Hogs opt for press coverage.

“I think Santos really took a big step there,” defensive coordinator Robb Smith said. “It’s nice to have those security blankets back there.”

Arkansas won’t run press coverage exclusively this year. But the personnel should allow it to be more of a tool for Smith, an idea that excites the cornerbacks on campus.

“Just being in a receiver’s face and disrupting him at the line of scrimmage, that gets in his head and the quarterback’s head,” Collins said. “… It puts us in the action. It puts us in a position where we can be successful and where we don’t have that distance and space created with the receiver.”

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