FAYETTEVILLE -- Upon his December Arkansas arrival Chad Morris clairvoyantly described his Arkansas struggling September.
"You either have speed or you are chasing speed," the then-brand-new Razorbacks coach said.
Seems when they punt or kick off, these Razorbacks that Morris inherited are apt to be chasing speed.
Lack of speed especially manifests on special teams. Especially if compounded by lack of depth.
The Razorbacks lack both. That especially hurts special teams because they preferably rely heavily on reserves. Reserves on special teams can spend more time on special preparations. Their special presence allows position starters not to get overloaded from special teams duties tiring them for all phases by the fourth quarter.
Long term Morris must recruit the speed he spoke of last December.
Meanwhile for his 1-3 Hogs paying the price for special teams breakdowns in consecutive 34-27, 44-17 and 34-3 losses at Colorado State, in Fayetteville to the University of North Texas and last Saturday's SEC opener at Auburn going into Saturday's SEC game against Texas A&M at the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium, Morris and his staff strive to change "unacceptable" at least to palatable.
The coach cringes knowing his Hogs got fooled by North Texas on a 90-yard touchdown punt return off a faked fair catch then were outrun and outperformed by Auburn on a 96-yard kickoff return touchdown plus burned for three long punt returns and one punt blocked and another partially blocked.
Not especially what he expects lent from special preparation spent.
"The amount of emphasis we place on special teams around here and to put the production out that we did was unacceptable," Morris said Monday.
Speed is vital but still can be at least somewhat compensated by being in the assigned place fundamentally doing what's assigned.
"Your fundamentals have to hold up under pressure," Morris said. "That's something we've got to go back and look at. It was unacceptable. We've got to get better in all phases in our special teams."
And they will, he asserts.
"The thing about this, it can be fixed," Morris said.
It likely will take more starters from both the defense and offense on special teams for Morris' special fix.
Working with razor-thin depth already, Arkansas defensive coordinator John Chavis and offensive coordinator Joe Craddock privately might wince.
Publicly they especially profess doing whatever it takes to fulfill these special needs.
"If they need to use (starting quarterback) Ty Storey I feel good with that," Craddock said hyperbolically but truthfully. "That's a third of the game, special teams. If they have to use our best players, so be it."
Chavis dittoed.
"It's simple," Chavis said. "We've got to do what we've got to do to win. If that's going to help us, I'm all for it."
Given the Hogs trailed their last two games 37-10 and 24-3 after three quarters, it would seem special if overworked starters on special teams can make it a four-quarters game.
Sports on 09/26/2018