From the Bench

Spring Practice Closes With Optimism for Fall

Robert Shields

The good news coming out of spring practice and the Red-White game is that the team appears to have more depth. In particular, the quarterback position seems to have talent behind Ryan Mallett.

Jacoby Walker is going to be a good one, but the coaches are going to have the luxury of redshirting him. Tyler Wilson and Brandon Mitchell will be ample backups to Mallett. Walker will be a better quarterback for it in the long run.

Mitchell proved he has the speed and savvy to be dangerous. I expect he will be used some this next season in certain situations. While Mallett shows no ability to be a game breaker with his legs, Mitchell is very capable of beating the other team running the ball. It will give defenses one more thing to prepare for when they meet the Hogs, and it makes the Razorback playbook even larger because the chance of Mallett running the option was none.

Mallett, who will head to the pros after next season, will struggle in the fall at times. It will be good for the team to shift into a different speed during those times. It will only help Mallett.

The defense next year will be better. How much better? Nobody knows until Clay Henry issues his opinion at the Little Rock Razorback Club dinner in late summer. He was correct last year. It could be substantially better or it may be marginally better. Hog fans will find out when they enter conference play.

The bad news coming out of spring practice is that special teams is still a train wreck and will cost the Hogs a game or two if it is not corrected by kickoff of the 2010 season. The two kickers signed in the last class of incoming freshmen will be needed.

I may be suffering sampling error, but I have witnessed the kicker that was recruited from Russellville, Zach Hocker. At the high school level, he is one of the best that I have ever seen. Will he be that way in college? Who knows? The transition is difficult. I was most impressed with his punting ability.

The Hogs’ other signed kicker was Eduardo Camara. Out of the two of them, maybe the team can find a good package to put together a solid kicking game. Both kickers, though, are not big guys according to their stats. As a fan, you just hope they have big legs.

Besides those freshmen heading into the fall, I expect anyone who can play the role of linebacker may have a chance to hit the field. The Hogs have some linebackers, but largely it’s still a patchwork group. It still lacks that “thumper” in the middle. I do not expect a freshman to fill that role either this year.

It was also good to see Joe Adams on the field in the Red-White game. Hopefully whatever distraction was happening over a week ago is long gone. The same can also be said for Jerry Franklin. As a fan, you want both of them to have great summers.

Kudos to the UofA for another year of planning the Red-White game to stay off the Arkansas Derby weekend. In the past there were quite a few times when they arrogantly decided to go head to head with it and lost. With it being on separate weekends, it allows a winning situation for all sports fans.

In other news, this column may be too positive as my initial editor of my column tells me it’s not negative enough.


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