FAYETTEVILLE -- They say you never fully appreciate what you have until it's gone.
They are correct, Razorbacks receivers coach Michael Smith said.
With senior Jared Cornelius, 32 catches for 515 yards and 4 touchdowns last season, resting an injured hamstring while 2016 receivers Keon Hatcher, Drew Morgan, Dominique Reed and Cody Hollister audition for NFL scouts before the NFL draft, Smith's current University of Arkansas, Fayetteville spring practice crew consists of a couple of third-year sophomores lettering last year just as spare parts, a sophomore converted from running back, a redshirt freshman and just one healthy of the two January enrolled junior college transfers.
"I was spoiled," Smith said. "I think the Arkansas fans have been spoiled the last couple of years with the guys we've had. I know ourselves as a team and myself as a position coach, I was spoiled to have the group of guys I had. Now it's going to be a process to develop those guys again to get to those standards that we had for them."
Sometimes returnees Deon Stewart, LaMichael Pettway, and 2016 spare running back T.J. Hammonds, redshirt freshman Jordan Jones and JC transfers Brandon Martin and Jonathan Nance (idled by a bruised knee) make plays meeting, sometimes maybe even exceeding, old standards.
And other times ....
Smith explained the ups and downs with Jones' scrimmage-leading 4 catches for 99 yards on April 8 and nothing in the next scrimmage April 15.
"I'm striving with him just to be consistent," Smith said of the freshman from Smackover. "There are certain things that Jordan does extremely well and there's certain things that's he's still going through the process. I need him to be on the way up the whole time. That's something I'm challenging him with. He's still a pup and he's going to be fine. He's just got to grow up fast."
Martin, 6-4, 215 and the most heralded newcomer much like JC transfer Reed in 2015, snagged a touchdown in last Saturday's scrimmage that Hatcher or Morgan would have been proud to call their own.
The next practice Martin ran a fade route to oblivion, Smith said.
"He still needs to really dive into the playbook," Smith said. "When he knows what he's doing you can see it and you saw that Saturday. He brought a little physicality and made a nice catch in the back of the end zone for a touchdown. He went up and showed strong hands and got both feet down. It was a great play. That's what we brought him here for."
They didn't, Smith said, bring him for what happened next.
"He had the opportunity to run a fade route and wasn't able to make the play," Smith said. "I told him, 'Hey, man, we've got to be able to be consistent. You have got to make those type of plays. That's what we brought you here for.' "
That's why they bring them all in during spring practice.
Sports on 04/22/2017