Like It Is

Don’t expect UA's Chad Morris to start tapping brakes

Arkansas football coach Chad Morris (right) shakes hands with David Carlton, a former player from Tulsa, Okla., his wife, Rebekah, and their 1-year-old daughter, Kinsley, Saturday, April 14, 2018, during the annual Hogfest, a fan appreciation day in The Gardens on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.
Arkansas football coach Chad Morris (right) shakes hands with David Carlton, a former player from Tulsa, Okla., his wife, Rebekah, and their 1-year-old daughter, Kinsley, Saturday, April 14, 2018, during the annual Hogfest, a fan appreciation day in The Gardens on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville.

It seems that since Dec. 6 of last year Chad Morris has slept about four hours, maybe five.

When he was hired as the head football coach of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, he hit the ground running. He’s probably the single most reason to invest in Red Bull.

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The man has one speed. All out.

His first recruiting class was typical of first recruiting classes: Try to hold on to commitments and sign whoever else you can.

He got a late start because Gus Malzahn wouldn’t tell the UA no until he had secured a raise at Auburn, meaning he wasn’t leaving The Plains for the mountains. There was never going to be a homecoming for Malzahn. He feels, as does much of the world, he has a better chance of winning a national championship at Auburn than he does at Arkansas.

Auburn is situated where he can recruit two of the best states in the country for producing college football players, Georgia and Florida.

Arkansas has to keep homegrown talent and recruit heavily in Texas. Frank Broyles recognized that early in his career.

So once Malzahn was truly out of the picture it was logical to go after someone who had ties to Texas, and Morris, a friend of Malzahn’s, stood out.

He coached 16 years in Texas high schools, won a couple of state titles and in 2010 made the leap to college when he became offensive coordinator at Tulsa. After a year there he went to Clemson because Dabo Swinney needed someone to jump start his offense.

By the time Morris left to become the head coach at SMU, Clemson was part of the national radar.

Morris’ first two recruiting classes for the Mustangs made some minor headlines. Every signee was from the state of Texas.

Morris is 100 percent Texan. He grew up there, played quarterback at Edgewood High in Edgewood, which at last report has a population of 1,441. He went to Texas A&M and got his degree in mathematics with a minor in logistics.

At that point, he probably never envisioned himself living anywhere but the Lone Star State. He is probably more comfortable driving a pick-up truck than a car.

All of that fit what Arkansas was looking for, plus, like new Athletic Director Hunter Yurachek, he’s a religious person who lives his life the right way.

It has been written here before and warrants another mention, Morris’ situation with the Razorbacks is very similar to Nolan Richardson’s when he became the head coach.

Morris doesn’t want to play fast, he wants to play faster.

He inherited a team of conventional smash-mouth players, but like Richardson, he’s making small changes with major alterations planned.

Coming out of the spring game no one was suddenly predicting a bunch of wins for the Razorbacks, and they shouldn’t.

There is some talent, just not enough of it and in the last six years the SEC has distanced itself from the Hogs as almost every team, certainly the ones in the West and Georgia in the East, have improved.

The last six seasons the Razorbacks have been 13-35 in SEC play.

Yet, Morris is unfazed. He is all out in his recruiting as he searches every nook and cranny for players who play his style of football, and his style is what the Hogs need. In the most conventional football conference in America you better be unconventional if you want to have a chance.

He’s approached the hard part of spring — all the meet-and-greets at Razorback clubs — with the same unabashed enthusiasm that he does football and life. It will be a longer journey than most are hoping, but Morris started it in an all out sprint.

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