QB Mitchell’s role still up in air

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema hasn’t had his post spring discussion with quarterback Brandon Mitchell, but Mitchell was in the room at the Broyles Center on Monday when Bielema followed up his remarks from Saturday about defining a role for the senior next season - whether it’s at quarterback or elsewhere.

“I’m a big believer in that everybody on this team has a role, I don’t care if you’re the second-string quarterback or the second-string snapper, middle linebacker, whatever it is,” Bielema said.

“As far as with Brandon Mitchell, obviously I think at quarterback he’s got some special gifts that we definitely can use or make better. If there’s another role, him at another position, it’ll be something that we kind of work through together.”

Bielema said he would begin chatting with every Razorback on Wednesday after they finished meeting with their position coaches today. Sophomore Brandon Allen ran at first-string quarterback virtually all spring and is ahead of Mitchell, who played receiver almost all last season, on the first Bielema depth chart heading into summer.

Mitchell was among a large group of Razorbacks in the Miller Room on Monday, preparing to conduct interviews with members of the media when Bielema broached the subject.

“You know, that’s one of my first times really hearing it,” Mitchell said. “I talked with Coach once he first got here, and he asked me what position I want to play and I just told him ‘strictly quarterback.’ That’s nothing that has come up between us. So I really don’t know where to go from there.

“With the competition not being over at quarterback, I’m just focused on strictly quarterback. I don’t even want to consider anything else right now. My mind’s on quarterback.”

On several occasions this spring, Bielema stressed that Mitchell can do good things at quarterback. But he has also pointed out how Mitchell’s red zone interceptions can’t happen and that “we can’t create negative plays on our own. I think Brandon Allen did lot better of that overall and has progressed in a way that has put him in that [starting] position.”

Neither Allen nor Mitchell played well at quarterback last season in spot duty behind Tyler Wilson.

Now that the quarterback job is open, their learning curves took on more importance this spring.

“I think about midway through spring was really kind of a turning point for me,” Allen said. “I think the first part of spring, I wasn’t up to par with my performances.I really didn’t feel great about it. Then the second half I felt a lot better. I was working on getting in the film room a lot more and really taking it a lot more seriously.”

Mitchell said he progressed significantly in his return to quarterback.

“Especially being a year off of playing quarterback and going through huddles andthings like that, throwing the ball on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “From taking a year off from that, I think I’ve made tremendous strides, especially in my footwork and things like that.”

Bielema also announced that defensive end Austin Flynn, who was dismissed from the squad prior to spring drills, and safety Defonta Lowe of Bearden, who sat out spring to concentrate on academics, would not return to the roster.

“Defonta won’t be back with the team,” he said. “He’s still in school. He’s doing really well academically. He’s going to look into the options he wants to pursue here in the next couple of weeks, him and Austin both.”

The depth chart held onlya couple of surprises: Walkon Mitchell Loewen over senior Austin Tate at tight end and redshirt freshman Jared Collins over Will Hines at one corner back spot.

“Mitchell … has been a nice surprise, a walk-on from Hawaii,” Bielema said. “I don’t even know how he got here, but it’s worked out very well for him.

“He’s a kid, because of what we do offensively, will continue to grow the package. I have been very impressed with Austin Tate. I think those two guys could be a formidable pair. Then you bring in a guy like [Jeremy] Sprinkle, who is a little bit more of an athlete guy.

“Alex Voelzke is another walk-on that has been very impressive for us in spring drills. To have a position that wasn’t really recruited or manned up, we actually have a little bit of depth there, which is kind of nice.” Collins began working with the first defense about midway through spring.

“He made a nice couple of open-field plays, made a couple nice pass break-ups,” Bielema said. “The great thing about him is he’s a really good player. The bad news is there’s not a lot of him. He only weighs about 165 pounds and he needs to be a lot better than that in the SEC.” Bielema said last week he talked to Hines about how his play needs to match his physical stature.

“He’s tall, he’s long. I think he’s got enough foot speed,”Bielema said. “He’s got to play smart. He’s got to play aggressive. He’s got to play big. Right now he doesn’t play big. He’s backing away from things and playing a little soft on certain looks. That’s not him.

“To his credit, I think he was a little banged up and didn’t want to say it. He had an issue in his groin, and it just bothered him a little bit more than he was letting on.

So I think the upside for him is great.

“Between him, Carroll Washington and Tevin [Mitchel], that’s four guys that have the ability to play here.”