Robert Shields - From the Bench - Mallet won't go in the 2nd Round

Arms Like Mallett’s Don’t Go in the Second Round

Robert Shields

On Thursday, Ryan Mallett will be drafted into the NFL. The former starting quarterback and strong-armed flamethrower for the Razorbacks will finally get paid for his services as maybe he could have if he had gone to another school (Auburn haters can insert them here). Where he will go or in what position has been debated for weeks. His stock rises and falls with each latest report.

The thing is that NFL teams don’t like showing their hand as to who they are going to draft because they think it can give them a competitive advantage in the selection process. I pretend to be and expert at a lot of things, but I will freely admit that I know very little about the strategy NFL teams use to draft. For the most part, they draft the best player possible at their turn like at recess in school (except in the school yard you can’t trade your possible pick for more players later.) To do anything else is beyond the rational-consumer model of economics.

With all that said, I will be shocked if Mallett falls into the second round. His arm is one of a kind in this draft, and that type of ability does not come available every year. The Hogs were lucky he stayed around another year. I had a previous NFL player tell me when Mallett was a sophomore that he would be crazy not to come out early and that no NFL team would pass up that arm.

The extra year in college did not affect his arm and actually improved his understanding of the game. He also proved to be a little more mobile in buying time than in his sophomore season. Pressure bothered him quite a bit his sophomore year, but by his junior year he was much calmer in the pocket and it was evident in road games.

I have seen few quarterbacks have the ability to throw the deep ball with such a low trajectory. Most have to wind it up and let it fall back from outer space as the receiver runs under it. With Mallett, you’re not going to outrun his throw. And when it’s coming to you on a route, you better be ready because it’s going to be there when you turn around for it. We’ve seen a few balls clang off receivers’ helmets over the years from guys who weren’t quite ready for Mallett’s throws.

The fear he may fall in the draft comes from continued reports of his supposed partying. This may have been true when he first arrived from Michigan because he had one incident on Dickson Street. But if you’re a college student at the University of Arkansas and you have never had at least one incident or lost memory on Dickson Street, then you missed out on getting the full college experience.

Since that incident, there have been no other run-ins with the law. There have been no reports. Yet the stigma has stuck with him. The Auburn quarterback, Cam Newton, has been dogged by all types of allegations from a laptop thrown out a window (you need to read the police report), to academic fraud, to Newton’s own father admitting he peddled his son’s services and then was told to avoid Auburn football events and yet still attended at least one. Somehow it has not affected his draft status by the pundits.

Such is life in the public eye as you can just ask the Royal Couple (congrats, William and Kate!). You’re always under the microscope.

I have little doubt Mallett will be drafted high because of his ability. I do not believe all the allegations against him on character, and even if it was true, does it really matter in the NFL where you have one quarterback that was involved in a dog-killing ring and another blamed for sexual misconduct and both still play. Do you think having a few drinks two years ago on Dickson Street matter now to a team needing a great quarterback?

Bobby Petrino says he has never failed a drug test. I am sure NFL teams looking at him also performed one. I bet he passed.

The latest bunk was that he was out partying and missed a meeting the next morning with the Panthers. The story was disproved. My advice to Mallett is that he should have stuck it out with the meetings until the end or until you had to go to the emergency room or be seen immediately by a doctor. My reasoning is that if I’m going to an interview, I’m going to be Iron Man until they carry me out.

I’m going to run with the conspiracy theory that NFL teams are downplaying him hoping to outfox the next team to get a great quarterback at a cheaper price. I will not be shocked to find out Thursday he was the first quarterback taken. Because if I’m on the playground and starting my team, I’m giving no clue to the other captain who is my pick -- and Mallet’s my first pick.

With all this said, the best words of wisdom I heard over the last week in this discussion put things in perspective: “Stop worrying about him. He is about to make more in the next year than most people make in a lifetime. It’s like worrying about Faith Hill if she’s going to find work – you know with her problem of being ugly and having no ability to sing.”



Send your lost Dickson Street memories to fromthebench@yahoo.com.

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From the Bench - Offensive Line Not OK and Neither is Date

Red-White Report: Offensive Line Not OK and Neither is Date for Game

Robert Shields

The weather was mostly great no matter what you wanted to do this past Saturday, and thanks to poor timing, many of you had to choose to miss the Arkansas Razorbacks’ Red-White game in favor one of the largest sporting events in the state that is not an important SEC football game.

For the first time in a couple of years, the University of Arkansas athletic department decided to pit its Red-White game against the prestigious Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn – and lost out on maybe more than 10,000 fans as a result.

Easter is falling late this year, and I’m just hoping it’s a timing snafu that accidentally landed the two events on the same day and is not a new pattern in which the UA goes back to completely disregarding anything else going on in the state. Attention, Vice Chancellor Jeff Long, the Arkansas Derby date is set well in advance so you can start planning for the next Red-White game to be on another date now.

Saturday’s Arkansas Derby drew 62,364, and you can trust that number as all have to pass through the turnstile to enter the park. The UA estimated – emphasis on “estimated” -- its crowd to be around 42,000 and they have had a tendency in the past to way overestimate on spring football events. Regardless, you can figure Oaklawn stole several thousand from whatever the actual number is, which is a shame as Arkansas fans desperately want to compete with the other big SEC schools in attendance for the spring game.

Those of you who went to the Red-White game – or maybe caught a few minutes from a television at Oaklawn – seem to be worrying about the quarterback for the Razorbacks. Let me break it down like this: The quarterback will be OK if the offensive line is OK, and right now the offensive line is not OK.

The O-line is definitely a work in progress and it’s never good to have to start a true freshman at tackle, which is what the Hogs may have to do next season. Brey Cook is all that – but he is still a freshman and nobody needs to explain the difference between an 18-year-old boy out of high school and a 22-year-old man. He will be great, but it’s going to be a baptism by fire starting such a young student. In the SEC, he will be going against men on the other side of the ball.

By no means is this a slam on Cook for the poor offensive-line play nor is he to blame. There is plenty of inexperience across the board, and they will need to gel as a unit to have any success. No area needs teamwork more than an offensive line. The offensive line was the reason Auburn was so good last year. Cam Newton is not the same player without that senior laden offensive line. You can insert your Auburn or Cam Newton insult here.

John Madden always said he could tell how good his team was going to be in August when he saw how is offensive linemen pushed the seven-man sled. He named it appropriately as “Rosebud.” It is always a great indicator. If you can push that sled like it’s nothing, your offensive line will win most if not all short-yardage situations. But you have to do it as a team. Here is to them being able to push it like a bulldozer this fall.

The stat from the Red-White game that was probably the most disappointing was the yards per carry by Knile Davis in the scrimmage. Some last year were wrongly trying to draw comparisons of him to Darren McFadden. Davis was a great back by the end of last season, and the radio guys have raved about him during the offseason and how he had put on extra weight that would help him.

Rarely have I ever found that putting on extra weight is a good thing for a running back. I remember how the radio guys raved about Cedric Cobbs during the offseason and how he had put on more weight. For most backs, if they are good they are at the right weight. Extra weight will almost always make you slower. Maybe it will make you more powerful, but I am a believer that it’s a bad tradeoff.

In the SEC, speed kills, and Davis needs to be fast. Fast don’t lie. I don’t know if the extra weight for him is good, but I know in general terms for most people it is not. If you put on enough weight you’re no longer a tailback – you’re the fullback.

But back to the key for the quarterback, the lack of yards by Davis could be blamed more on the offensive line play than his new body. Time will tell.

After the Red-White game, little doubt was left going into the fall for now that Tyler Wilson will be your starter. He is not Ryan Mallett so the receiving corps will have to elevate its level of play in making yards after the catch and definitely holding onto the ball.

So now that practice is over until August, the preseason predictions can start. What else is there?



Relatives of players, send your complaints to fromthebench@yahoo.com.


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From the Bench - Worst Coaching Changes at the UofA

Worst Coaching Changes at University of Arkansas

Robert Shields

After former Razorback women’s basketball coach Gary Blair won the national championship with Texas A&M last week, someone posed the question asking what was the worst coaching move at the University of Arkansas in any sport. The Razorbacks have had some doozies. So here is my attempt to wade into those waters, and as usual, I do my listings in reverse order. Switch it.

6) Running off Lou Holtz
Holtz was being blamed for poor recruiting. Many blamed him for squandering the opportunity of winning the Orange Bowl against Oklahoma and wasting time going on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. I thought the appearance was brilliant and today you just can’t buy that kind of publicity showing off the Uncle Heavy’s hog hat. The Hogs came out of this coaching change with a great hire in Ken Hatfield. Some, though, wanted Jimmy Johnson, who would in turn go to the University of Miami and come back to kick the crap out of Hatfield’s Hogs.

5) Passing on Mike Anderson twice
Not promoting Mike Anderson was costly. The UA lost future NBA player Andre Iguodala, and J.J. Sullinger transferred leaving future coach Stan Heath to scramble just to find warm bodies to put on the court. Anderson went on to great success at UAB, bringing their program back to life and defeating Kentucky in the NCAA tournament before being hired to fix the mess at Missouri, which he did.

4) Not hiring Dick Booth to replace John McDonnell
The University of Arkansas has dominated one sport like it owned it, and that was track. Emphasis on “was.” There has probably not been a dynasty in any college sport like the Razorback track program since UCLA dominated basketball. The new track coach has a new philosophy that differs from the past coach. If you have not been paying attention, it has not worked. The UA stinks at track now and is not even competitive. The dynasty in track for now is dead. What a shame.

3) Not renewing Gary Blair’s contract
The genesis of this list came out of the fact that former women’s Razorback basketball coach Gary Blair won himself an NCAA national title at Texas A&M. Let’s repeat that fact -- at A&M. Blair was always competitive in the SEC. He took the Ladybacks to the Final Four. He won more than his fair share of games. It’s a competitive league as it is in everything, and don’t forget Tennessee loves their women’s basketball. He was never going to dominate the conference, but he was apparently good enough to win it all.

2) Running off Ken Hatfield
The departure one early Sunday morning of Ken Hatfield to Clemson could almost be No. 1 on this list. The handling of it all was poor. Frank Broyles scrambled to hire a new coach, and it came in the form of Jack Crowe, who lasted into the first game of his third season. He was immediately fired after the opening game against Citadel in Fayetteville. Hatfield’s departure began almost a decade of horrible Razorback football, which came at a very inopportune time as the Hogs were still trying to get their legs entering the cutthroat football conference of the SEC. Hatfield had accomplished back-to-back 10-1 seasons before he had to find a way out of Fayetteville.

1) The firing of Nolan
His success alone at the UofA allows me to use his single name like Madonna and you instantly know who I am talking about. Yet, this is the guy the school fired. This action caused severe repercussions not only to the basketball program that has languished for a decade and still not recovered its overall image as it struggled through a racial discrimination suit. The UofA hierarchy was put on trial, and it was not pretty. You can blame who you want, but the damage was the same. It’s an understatement that it affected basketball recruiting during the Heath years. Then the firing of Heath led to the hiring of Dana Altman, who left after one night because things were apparently less tasteful than he had imagined. The Hogs took a chance on John Pelphrey and it never panned out. The firing of Nolan was devastating to Razorback athletics, especially in the revenue column.



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From the Bench - Be Patient with New Players

Be Patient With Razorback Basketball as New Players Learn How to Win Robert Shields It appears at least for now that new Razorback basketball coach Mike Anderson may have passed one of his first big hurdles by keeping this heralded recruiting class together. If that is the case, the expectations and crowds will grow for next season, but I believe fans will be realistic enough to know there will still be some tough losses while the younger talent is merged with the existing team. There will be losses reminiscent of the loss against 14th-ranked Florida State in 1989. If you don’t remember, let’s begin the dream sequence: The Hogs had a superb recruiting class with Todd Day, Lee Mayberry, and Oliver Miller. Lenzie Howell was also a junior college transfer in that group. On the other side, Florida State had a great shooting guard in George McCloud. The game was close as the Hogs pressed a lot and held lead at times. In the end, the game went into overtime and the Hogs folded down the stretch and lost 112-105. But in that loss, you could tell the team was special and that Florida State was just glad to get out with the victory. It was a learning experience. That team with those three freshmen made the NCAA tournament, yet got schooled in the second round by Louisville. It was another learning experience. The next season, however, those players took the Hogs to the Final Four. I expect maybe the same type of learning games next year. Be patient. They may dominate weaker opponents, but it will be a mixed bag against top-tier teams winning some and losing others. I don’t expect they will lose to bad teams in the SEC, so Auburn, you had your chances over the last few years. Howell was the glue of the team. He was the kind of guy who did whatever needed to happen to win. He would go virtually unnoticed during a game and you would wake up the next morning and see he had 20 points. He dominated the SWC tournament in 1990 and was the regional MVP in the NCAA tournament as the Hogs beat North Carolina and Texas to make the Final Four. I have not seen a Razorback player in uniform with that kind of heart in a long time. Who will it be next season? - Defense Dominates at First Scrimmage The first-team defense dominated early in the first spring football scrimmage, as should have been expected. This is good for the team. The partially rebuilt offensive line should struggle against the more veteran defense. It would have been scary if the offense would have come out and dominated the defense and would have been a bad bellwether for next season. Instead, you got what you needed. Tyler Wilson will be an accurate passer and move the sticks. He proved last year he could hit deep strikes as he did against Auburn. He will need time, though, so the offensive line will have to grow up. You know this offensive staff will have them ready by the fall. Garrett Uekman looked good at tight end, and he will be needed with the departure of all-around great guy D.J. Williams. There is also still a need for the development of a good fullback. Maybe one will emerge before next season starts, but don’t count on it. This will be the offense’s problem spot. - Rockin’ the Sugar Bowl Gear So Coach Bobby Petrino is still wearing the Allstate Sugar Bowl cap. I think it’s a reminder to Ohio State and their coach to send the Sugar Bowl trophy back to Arkansas. The “Tat Five” should not have gotten to play and everyone knows it. At the very least, the win should be vacated and the UA should not have to count the loss in its record book. Note to SID Kevin Trainor: Go ahead and make the correction for next year’s media guide and put the footnote at the bottom explaining why. Same goes for the loss to Auburn, which every week looks more and more like one of the most corrupt football programs in college football history. Yet somehow the Arkansas kids still seem to find something that appeals to them about the cow college at Middle of Nowhere, Alabama. Send you basketball memories to fromthebench@yahoo.com. end