FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks, 4-10 since Thanksgiving 2016, are out to make a statement today.
The downtrodden Hogs, picked to finish last again in the SEC West, want their debut under Coach Chad Morris to signal a fiery, fresh start.
"You know, for one year everyone has told these guys, this football team, told us all offseason who we are and what we're going to do this year," Morris said. "And Saturday we get a chance to begin telling our own story. That's my message to our football team."
That story begins today at 3 p.m. against Eastern Illinois at Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
The signs of a new era will be everywhere at Razorback Stadium. From the renovated north end zone section -- which virtually encloses the bowl for the first time -- to jumbo scoreboards in both end zones, to the Razorback logo high on the outside of both ends of the stadium and sharing space in the south end zone corners with Wal-Mart logos, the new era beckons.
From a state-of-the-art locker room in the $160 million north end zone expansion, the Razorbacks will run through the "A" after a jaunt through the Touchdown Club suites while donning all-white jerseys topped by white helmets, a first for the look at a home game.
The Hogs have a new theme -- "Football in its Natural State" -- and a new athletic director in Hunter Yurachek, who came aboard one day before Morris and provided a ringing endorsement for the new direction.
"From the day he was hired, he and his staff have infused a new level of energy and enthusiasm surrounding our football program," Yurachek said. "I know our student-athletes are ready to take the field, and as I have traveled around the state, Razorback fans have shared with me that they are ready for the Chad Morris era to officially begin."
The veteran Razorbacks remember the team's 5-3 SEC record in 2015 and would like to return to contention after slipping to 3-5 in 2016, then 1-7 in the league while dropping to 4-8 overall in 2017.
"I think the most important thing is it's the first game back from going 4-8, so I think a lot of guys just have a chip on their shoulders," senior linebacker Dre Greenlaw said. "We're definitely excited and happy to get the Coach Morris era started on the right track, and that's what we want to do: Start off the first game 1-0 and carry on from there."
Said senior safety Santos Ramirez: "It's a new culture. I'm just glad to be able to be a part of something new and bring Arkansas back to its old ways."
Sophomore Cole Kelley emerged from a long battle with junior Ty Storey to win the starting quarterback job. He acknowledged the feeling of renewal engulfs the Razorbacks.
"Definitely, in many ways," Kelley said. "New stadium, new coaching staff, this is going to be my first time as the true starter, not just filling in. It's just a bunch of new things. But at the end of the day, it's just football."
The Razorbacks will bring new approaches to both sides of the ball. Coordinator and quarterbacks coach Joe Craddock is at the controls of the Morris offense, which uses tempo and the constant run-pass threat to keep defenses guessing.
On the other side of the ball, veteran SEC coordinator John Chavis takes over a statistically weak defense that has a big veteran presence and personnel motivated to play the new pressure schemes.
Two of the most eager Razorbacks to get back in action are receiver Jared Cornelius and cornerback Ryan Pulley. The senior Cornelius is recovering from surgery to repair his Achilles from last September, and the junior Pulley is back for the first time since suffering a torn pectoral muscle in last year's season opener.
Both spoke about the new season this week.
"We're ready," Pulley said. "We're all ready. The defense is ready. We're just ready, like Coach Morris said, to go out and write our own story."
Cornelius cracked on himself during an appearance on Morris' radio show Wednesday night.
"This fan base and the team, the whole staff is ... fired up, you can tell," Cornelius said. "I've been here for what, 10 years? But I can honestly say this is the most excited I've been. This is the most excited the fan base has been."
In a strange twist, the head coach of the opposing team has been involved in more games at Razorback Stadium than every member of Morris' coaching staff except for tight ends coach Barry Lunney Jr., the former Arkansas quarterback.
Fifth-year Eastern Illinois Coach Kim Dameron, a two-way player for the Razorbacks while lettering from 1979-82, will lead the Panthers into their first game against an SEC opponent.
Dameron has watched the school's hype video for the new north end zone project, and he's aware of the new brain trust at Arkansas.
"Hiring Chad to come in there and spark up the offense, and with coach Chavis, a legend in the SEC, coming in and being the defensive coordinator, it's going to be a formidable task," Dameron said. "I've talked to our kids a lot just about the atmosphere and some of the best fans in America and one of the greatest game day atmospheres in America and playing in front of a hostile crowd and all that. We're excited about the opportunity though and can't wait to get there."
The Panthers have their own versions of "new" in store, as Dameron hired Scott Parr, a disciple of the Texas Tech brand of "Air Raid" offense, to pep up an offense that averaged 294 yards and 17.6 points per game.
"When you only average about 17 points a game, you've got to do something offensively," Dameron said.
The Panthers are also heavy on run-pass options and have a pair of transfer quarterbacks -- Harry Woodbery and Johnathan Brantley -- who are expected to operate the attack.
"You expect some things, and then again there's always the unexpected when you don't have film of this team running this offense," Chavis said. "We may see a lot of motion out of the backfield to try to tip our hands, or get us to tip our hands. There's a lot of things we know we may see, but the first game, you've got to know the expected and expect the unexpected."
Offensively, Kelley will be working with a line that has three starters back -- Hjalte Froholdt, Johnny Gibson and Brian Wallace -- all on the right side, with redshirt freshmen Shane Clenin and Kirby Adcock preparing for their first starts on the left side.
A glut of skill position talent returns, with Devwah Whaley, Chase Hayden and T.J. Hammonds leading an array of backs; Cornelius, Jonathan Nance and La'Michael Pettway heading a big cast of receivers; and Austin Cantrell, Cheyenne O'Grady and Jeremy Patton fronting a veteran bunch of tight ends.
"We've really done a good job in the spring finding out what our guys can do and then trying to get them in the best position to succeed that we possibly can," Craddock said. "There's a lot of things we've done over the years that we haven't introduced yet, we haven't installed. But there are things we're doing differently than we did before that are playing to our strengths."
The Razorback Nation eagerly awaits cracking open the whole book.
Sports on 09/01/2018