FAYETTEVILLE -- Austin Allen admired the progression in quarterback play shown by his brother Brandon at Arkansas the past three years, culminating in 2015 with more than 3,400 passing yards and a school-record 30 touchdowns.
Now Austin Allen would like to jump into the role and add to the upward cycle.
QB position glance
RETURNING STARTER none
KEY LOSSES Brandon Allen
WHO’S BACK Austin Allen, Rafe Peavey, Ty Storey, Ricky Town
WHO’S NEW Cole Kelley
ANALYSIS It’s hard to picture any of the quarterback candidates rivaling the numbers put up by Brandon Allen last season — 244 of 370 passing (65.9 percent) for 3,440 yards and a school-record 30 TDs — one of the best seasons in Arkansas history. So chasing the success of 2015, particularly for Austin Allen, brother of the departed three-year starter, will be a lofty pursuit. The threat of a dangerous passing game is paramount to allow the running game, with new or less experienced personnel on the line and backfield, to evolve.
"I just think of it as he was one of the best quarterbacks in the nation last year," he said Tuesday after the first day of the Razorbacks' spring drills. "Why wouldn't you want to play to his level or a step further than his level?"
Austin Allen has been asked on many occasions the inevitable questions that compare his style of play, demeanor, physical traits and leadership qualities with those of his brother.
"He's a little bit more of a scrambler," the younger Allen said. "I'll sit in there a little bit longer. I don't know. He's a little bit more serious than I am sometimes. We're different people."
Allen, as the most veteran quarterback on the Arkansas roster, would be the likely choice to lead the Razorbacks' offense in 2016. But Coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Dan Enos have insisted there is an open four-man competition this spring, also featuring Rafe Peavey, Ty Storey and Ricky Town. They say signee Cole Kelley also will get a fair appraisal in the fall.
Bielema called the quarterback battle a "healthy" one and said he is not locked in to declaring a clear-cut starter by the end of the 15 spring practices.
"I'm not," he said. "I really believe at the quarterback position you need to have one guy, but when that guy comes, be it 10 days out from our opener, it'll be all right. I want the best guy in that position, and I want the second-best guy behind him, and the third-best behind him and see the chips kind of fall out where they will.
"Am I going to be disappointed if there is a clear-cut guy? No, not at all. If there's a guy that jumps out, stands out and proves it ... on more than one or two occasions, he'll be that guy."
A month ago, Bielema asked Enos how the quarterback meetings were progressing.
"He said very antisocial," Bielema said Feb. 29. "I think when [Brandon Allen] was in the room, everybody kind of knew what was going on. I think now all those guys are smelling blood, and everybody's working and competing, and I think that's a good thing."
Austin Allen is the only quarterback on the roster with game experience in college, but his work on Saturdays has been extremely limited. His career numbers -- 9 of 19 for 188 yards, with 1 touchdown, 1 interception and a rushing touchdown -- were mostly compiled in games against Nicholls State and Ole Miss in 2014 and mop-up duty against Texas-El Paso and Tennessee-Martin last season, when he threw only three passes.
With the change at quarterback nearing, Arkansas coaches held Brandon Allen out of six bowl practices last season to give the contenders concentrated work.
"Being the two, you want to act like you're the one, so you take every day like you're the next guy up," Austin Allen said. "You take every day serious. I did that last year and I think it really helped for this year.
"I feel very comfortable with the playbook ... and just being in my second year with coach Enos is a night-and-day difference."
Allen was the only quarterback available for media interviews Tuesday.
"We were all trying to get better every single day," he said. "It's like a friendly competition. We all want that job and we're all working overtime to try and get that job. It's pretty heated in there but we're all friends and it's really, really good."
Bielema said Allen has "true leadership skills" that are quickly apparent.
"That could be positive or negative, depending on how he uses them," Bielema said. "I want him to be more concerned with where the ball is. We're not just going to throw an interception and go to the sideline. It changes games."
Bielema referenced what he termed a "nonchalant" Austin Allen throw into traffic during Liberty Bowl practices after which he harshly reprimanded the quarterback.
"Oh yeah," Allen said when asked whether he remembered that play. "I might act like I'm nonchalant about it, but it p****d me off inside. I get fire inside. Sometimes I don't show it, but yeah, I still remember that pick in practice. I got pulled after that one. It wasn't too good."
The three quarterbacks behind Allen all graduated high school early in order to go through college spring practices as high school seniors. Redshirt sophomore Peavey will begin his third spring at Arkansas, while Storey, an early enrollee last year, is going through his second. Town, a former Alabama commitment and USC signee, went through spring drills with the Trojans in 2015 and transferred to Arkansas early in fall camp.
As a scout team quarterback last year, Town didn't have the same immersion in the Enos playbook and team terminology, as the other quarterbacks, but he hit it hard over the winter.
"I don't think there will be any problem in that regard," Bielema said Monday. "I just walked by the QB room ... and to see those four guys grinding with coach [Enos], I think you'll have a healthy competition."
Bielema said Allen, a son of long-time Arkansas assistant coach Bobby Allen, who is now the program's director of high school and NFL relations, has marked personality differences from his brother.
"He's a little more feisty probably, a little bit more competitive, a little bit more of a gym rat, and it'll be fun to see how that handles itself," Bielema said.
Sports on 03/31/2016