Hog Calls

Hogs' defense looks better front to back

Arkansas defensive end Deatrich Wise goes through drills in practice Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016, in Fayetteville.
Arkansas defensive end Deatrich Wise goes through drills in practice Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016, in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The contrast in Arkansas' defense now from this time last year stands out like Donald Trump's hair.

They don't go unnoticed.

Although Deatrich Wise started 2015 in obscurity and never actually started a game, his emergence was so prevalent that the senior defensive end starts this season on watch lists of three national defensive awards.

Dre Greenlaw, a safety at this time last year fresh out of Fayetteville High School, started Arkansas' final 11 games at weakside linebacker.

Greenlaw surged to second on the 2015 Razorbacks in tackles, and Coach Bret Bielema believes he could become the SEC's tackling leader as a sophomore.

Defensive coordinator Rob Smith's defense, manned at middle linebacker by senior co-captain and 2015 leading tackler Brooks Ellis, tends to funnel plays to the weakside linebacker. With Ellis in the middle, enough in 2014 was funneled to then-unheralded second-year junior college transfer Martrell Spaight for Spaight to lead the SEC in tackles. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins after the season.

Bielema said if Greenlaw listens to linebackers coach Vernon Hargreaves, the sky is the limit.

"I told Dre," Bielema said, "if you just line up and listen to what Vernon's telling you and plug yourself into the roles that you're going to be in, you might be one of the top performers in our conference."

Wise is a standout on a deep line, and the linebackers are primed to go. But Bielema also expressed confidence in a secondary that finished dead last in SEC pass defense during the 2015 season.

Bielema believes the burning pride to atone for being so often burned in 2015 and the players' positive response to former Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads as the Razorbacks' new defensive backfield coach turn this secondary into a primary force. And a deeper one.

"In the back end, I don't know if at any time since I've been here, where we can have two guys [at each position] that we believe can play every snap of SEC football and be successful," Bielema said. "I think we have three, and possibly four, at the safety position. You have obviously Josh Liddell and Santos [Ramirez, the first-team safeties], but De'Andre Coley [the top alternate at both free and strong safety] has probably had the best camp of anybody. Those three guys are starters. You have possibly five corners if you add DJ Dean [the junior two-year starter coming off a recent hamstring pull] back there healthy. Five guys at the corner that you feel play winning football in the SEC."

This time last year, Bielema acknowledged not knowing what to expect from a defense losing many key players from the previous year.

On the 2016 defense, Bielema says he knows a lot and likes what he knows.

Sports on 08/27/2016

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