FAYETTEVILLE — Follow along as Bret Bielema, Dan Enos and Paul Rhoads review the opener against Florida A&M and preview the TCU matchup.
Bret Bielema
— Nice to get into a regular game week. Kids were locked in yesterday and got good work. Healthier for this game than last week, except for Ryan Pulley.
— "Some bumps in the road, but I thought our guys handled the game pretty well." Had 27 guys play their first college football, including 8 true freshman. Only had 2 penalties. Kicking game, only miscue was Colton Jackson not getting out there on a PAT. Early issues with blocking is "stuff that can easily be corrected."
— TCU has a ton of seniors with experience. "Very talented, very athletic, very fast" on offense. Defense is very good on the back end and gets to the ball. KeVontae Turpin is one of the best returners in the nation.
— Should be a live crowd. "2:30 atmosphere should be awesome." Construction has made a "significant difference" in the volume. TCU communicates at the line a lot, so volume will make a difference.
— Kevin Richardson has played corner as well. Kamren Curl, Chevin Calloway and Britto Tutt have excited them. "Who starts on Saturday will be a lot based on what happens this week."
— Pulley hasn't had surgery yet. His parents are coming into town. Significant time out but he has his redshirt year. It's football. "The game is a violent sport and at any given time anyone can get hurt."
— Doesn't think Richardson moving to nickel is the main way to solve the issue.
— TCU has smaller players. Works on edges a lot, but can get lost when they're inside.
— No one offense that made him think about changing to the 3-4. But it fits what Arkansas wants to do better.
— Randy Ramsey is very powerful and a natural pass rusher. He's a very talented athlete and they're going to try to maximize his reps. Nicest surprise in camp has been Dwayne Eugene. They compliment each other well. He and Randy play the same role defensively.
— Ran an iso play behind Ty Clary the first snap of the game and he walled his man off. Only had 2 mental errors or busts all day. Played extremely hard and was on his feet all day. "I don't think the game ever got to big for him."
— Brian Wallace came in and played really well. All the backup linemen did. Gives them more flexibility going into this week. As Clary got more and more reps, he looked like a natural at that spot and he hasn't seen anything against that since.
— Johnny Gibson will be the right tackle unless something changes this week. He and Clary were more athletic than they thought they were in the recruiting process once they got in camp. Very intelligent.
— Hayden Johnson made a really good jump in camp and is a good duo with Kendrick Jackson. They alternated series Thursday. A lot of tight, A-gap plays were one-on-one blocks by fullbacks.
— Devwah Whaley played well. Doesn't see anything that'll change him out of that spot. David Williams did extremely well for his first time playing in this offense. SC doesn't ask a RB to do anything close. Has great hands and good vision. Chase Hayden "wasn't even close to what he's shown us at times." Admitted he was a little taken back in the first half. T.J. Hammonds rolled in a little and will play in that role at certain times.
— Brandon Martin was really limited until 2-3 days before the game. Hammonds can be one of their top 3 WRs. Wants La'Michael Pettway to be more consistent.
— Thinks Jared Cornelius will play more this week.
— Gary Patterson has a tremendous reputation. Saturday's film was everything you'd expect. Playmakers on offense and the defense plays like he wants. Big matchup. "I want to make this our time of game, an SEC game, an Arkansas-type game at home."
— "There was a lot that we didn't do" on offense and defense. Played sound, fundamental football on defense. On offense, Jordan Jones, Jared Cornelius, Jarrod Barnes, Hammonds and Jonathan Nance are very good at vertical routes. That in combination with the run and play-action game should be good.
— Austin Allen could've had a very impressive day without the 2 drops. Hadn't been hit since Virginia Tech. The third-down scramble woke him up. Did get hit 5, 6 times. Two were protection breakdowns. Two were pressures they hadn't worked. Definitely don't want him to be on the ground.
— Josh Paul is on campus and is redshirting. He's practicing. Alexy Jean-Baptiste isn't totally cleared yet.
— Koilan Jackson is "right on the verge." Had a good camp and was slowed by injury. Lot of WR depth. He's never played WR full-time. Learning the details of the position. Doing everything right, but they have a lot of guys and he could be really good in 3-4 years.
— "I'm excited to play nonconference, big-time (games) and TCU is as good as it gets." On the verge of playing for it all a few years back. Seems like Arkansas always plays the other place first. Excited to get them back here.
— Sound "is definitely resonating on the field a lot louder" with the new structure. New locker room "is lights out."
— The speed of the game got to Colton Jackson on the third-and-1 and Austin Allen's interception. "He's a very willing soul." Hjalte Froholdt graded out best of all the linemen. Nominated him for SEC OL of the Week. Lot smarter than a year ago. His pass protection was significantly better. Frank Ragnow was solid. Ty was good. Johnny Gibson was solid and Brian Wallace was good. He'll get some starter reps this week.
— "Don't think you'll ever see me sleeveless." Wore a golf shirt once "and I'm fairly sure" they played poorly. Sat behind the bus driver now.
Dan Enos
— "Thought we played good." Got stopped on third-and-short and had a turnover early. Those were the 2 negatives. Other than that, our guys played hard.
— Ty Clary and Johnny Gibson played very well. "Obviously who they're playing against will change this week. Clary had good pad level and bend.
— TCU is very athletic. They move their defensive front a ton. Secondary is very experienced. Well-coached and understand their scheme very well.
— Patterson is a defensive coach and has had successful defenses. Takes smaller guys who are explosive and fast and uses them.
— Feel good about Devwah, Chase, David and T.J. in any situation. Wanted to get Chase Hayden quite a bit of reps because he's a freshman. Wanted him to get a majority of the carries because he's going to a major role. Expect Devwah to get more carries this week, along with whoever the hot hand is.
— Starting Ty "wasn't a tough call because of the way he practiced." Extended camp helped guys like Clary. Kurt Anderson kept saying he had something and might be able to help. Just continues to get better. "Smart football player with great strain and he plays tough."
— Thought Allen played good. Had a couple plays he'd like to have back. "He's not very happy with how he played," but he played solid on the tape. They'll need him to play better against better opponents. Made great third-down and red-zone plays. He's a perfectionist.
— Jared Cornelius looked the best he's seen him yesterday. T.J.'s role will continue to get going as he gets more comfortable.
— Didn't think the QB-WR chemistry was off. Had one play where someone released outside instead of inside. Didn't create explosive plays, but a lot was dictated by coverage. FAMU played a lot of 3-deep zone, wasn't going to let a lot over the top. Had a few drops that have to be eliminated. Very pleased for the first game.
— Jarrod Barnes just makes plays. He did that in camp. "He's extremely athletic. He's very explosive, has great change-of-direction and ball skills. The sky's the limit." Was like 'whoa' when he watched him play basketball. Very fluid, smooth athlete. Never been a WR full-time. Once he learns nuances, he can be special.
— ID'd the front wrong on Allen's TD to Deon Stewart. Devwah picked up the first guy who came loose.
— Cole Kelley did a nice job. Was very composed and poised. Never know how they're going to react in their first game. Cole's a gamer and very competitive. Likes to get the most out of every play. The screen to David Williams showed his size and his strength which allows him to make plays some guys can't. Had great communication.
— Lowering his shoulder, he "might not live to tell that tale" against some of the teams they play. Needs to slide. Wished he'd have throw it to the FB in the flat.
— Thought OL overall did what they should've done. Colton had a couple critical mistakes, but other than that, thought they were solid.
— Hjalte played very well.
— Last year was a great college football environment and game. Two really good teams who played hard. Ton of respect for Patterson.
— Gained "quite a bit" of confidence in Austin last year at TCU. First two games last year, he played a big role in comebacks.
— Patterson is the architect of the 4-2-5 structure. Lot of guys have learned it from him. He's brilliant. He's sharp. He's had good defenses for many years. He knows how to take things away from people. He's got a great reputation as a defensive coordinator and head coach.
— Called a couple deep plays. On one, Allen tripped and fell. The other one, he threw a comeback off Deon Stewart's hands. Had another to go to but the game got out of hand. "We'll keep our bullets in our gun and use it for another day."
Paul Rhoads
— Kamren Curl moves into the job just like he did Thursday night. There'll be an ongoing competition and rotation among him, Henre' Toliver, Calloway and Tutt.
— Kevin Richardson is versatile. Gets reps at corner, safety and primarily nickel. That'll still be his primary focus, but he's always available to play where needed.
— Great first game. Candid about that to the kids. Kids played smart, hard, fast and tackled well with few busts. Limited big plays. Graded out "very favorable."
— Huge challenge to make your first start as a true freshman no matter who you're playing, but playing TCU compounds it. Easier to play the further you are from the ball. Kamren, Chevin and Britto have a big challenge ahead.
— Curl is "a very mature young man. Along with that maturity comes a seriousness. He's an intelligent football player." Picked up what they're doing quickly. Plays to strengths. Good, physical tackler. "Not that there's significant separation between him and the next guys, but enough to give him the nod."
— TCU is quick and extremely fast. "I don't know if I've ever seen a football team put the sheer number of guys that can flat-out fly on the field like they did." They're up-tempo, so a key will to be aligned properly.
— Limiting Kenny Hill's scrambling starts with a disciplined edge. Have to retrace pass rush and know when to come out of coverage at the right time.
— He's a proven winner who can do it with his feet as well as his arm. "Great amount of respect for Mr. Hill."
— "Gary's a tremendous football coach." To last as long as he has at one place speaks volume.
— Patterson probably favors speed over side. Always been big on the interior but on the edge has leaner, longer guys who can run. Helps them force negative plays and turnovers. Had great success taking offensive skill players and turning them into great defensive players.
— The shortness of TCU's offensive guys plays a role in their success. Troy Davis at Iowa State in the 90's was short and has the only back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons in NCAA history.
— A country fumble is one in the open field you try to scoop-and-score. City fumble is in traffic and you just fall on it. Terminology like that gets through to players. Toliver's was a country fumble.
— Enjoyed being part of the game on the sideline.
— Knew he needed a get-back guy so he got Kiero Small to do the job. Penalty wasn't on him.
— Gabe Richardson makes mistakes, but plays very hard. His effort led to a touchdown.
— Being on the sideline helps the defense. "A huge part of this game is for our offense to stay on the field and win the time of possession." Had given up 0 points at halftime last year. Told Robb Smith they were tired at the half. Could tell they would be gassed the second half. Have to play a lot of guys and stay fresh.
— Randy Ramsey is the kind of player they're recruiting for OLB. "He's a guy people have to game plan for" where he's going to line up. His ability and mental capacity allows us to do that with him.