Razorbacks Report

Hogs find off-field successes

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema works with his team before the start of a football scrimmage Saturday, April 12, 2014 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

BELLA VISTA -- Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema is certain his program's approach to academics and other off-the-field issues, as well as improvements in communication and physical conditioning will eventually lead to better results in the win-loss column.

Bielema, asked about the importance of experiencing some success in 2014, made no predictions about how the Razorbacks will fare this fall.

"Anybody gets more excited when you win a game," Bielema said.

"Our guys take a tremendous amount of pride in that their team GPA has been higher than it ever has. Their community service is higher than it ever has. The guys staying away from issues away from the game have been very, very good. I think all that stuff is an indicator from the inside of what we've got going."

Bielema pointed out how a squat max exhibition for the team's bigger players pointed out their strength gains.

"To be quite honest, we'll be better on offense, defense just because we're so much stronger in the lower body, the lower half, than we were before."

700 club

Three Razorbacks -- defensive tackle DeMarcus Hodge, fullback Patrick Arinze and offensive lineman Jonathan McClure all squatted 700 pounds or more in the team's lifting exhibition set up by strength and conditioning coach Ben Herbert on Thursday evening.

Bielema said Hodge and Arinze have the perfect bodies for squatting large weight, while defensive line coach Rory Segrest was happy to see Hodge make the big lift.

"It's impressive," Segrest said. "As slow as he took it down, I was wondering if he was going to be able to get back up. But I tell you what now, those guys have put a lot of time into that weight room and you can definitely see it pay off."

Line games

Cordale Boyd's swap to the defensive line isn't the only change on the offensive front. Line coach Sam Pittman said Grady Ollison, who started the first five games at right tackle last season, then moved to guard for spring drills, is back in the tackle rotation with projected starters Brey Cook and Dan Skipper.

"We'll see if he can go compete against Brey out there," Pittman said.

Camp will open with Luke Charpentier at left guard and Mitch Smothers at center on the first team, along with right guard Denver Kirkland and Cook and Skipper at tackles, but with talented newcomers like Brian Wallace, Sebastian Tretola, Frank Ragnow and Cameron Jefferson coming in, competition for starting jobs is expected to be fierce.

"That's the only way you can get good," Pittman said. "We're finally getting close to where there will be competition at most every spot."

Injury update

Bret Bielema said only three Razorbacks would be limited when camp opens on Aug. 4.

Cornerback Tevin Mitchel had off-season shoulder surgery, defensive end Mitchell Loewen missed 2013 following knee surgery and defensive end Brandon Lewis had arthroscopic clean-up work done on a knee after spring drills.

"Tevin Mitchel and Mitch Loewen both are OK for practice, [but] they'll both be limited in the first two weeks," Bielema said.

Lewis will be held out of one of the two practices on days when the Razorbacks have two-a-day workouts in camp, Bielema said.

Sack hunt

Steven Conley, whose 14 sacks in 1995 are tied for Arkansas' season record, said he's ready to see fellow defensive end Trey Flowers move to the top of the list.

Conley shares the record with Henry Ford (1993) and Jamaal Anderson (2006), and his 122 lost yards on sacks for the 1995 SEC West title team are the most by a Razorback.

Flowers has 12 career sacks, but Conley figures he's got a lot more in him.

"I've talked to Trey on a number of occasions and told him if he breaks the season sack record they'll definitely go to a bowl game," Conley said Friday at the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Club Celebrity Scramble. "He can be one of the best D-ends to ever play at Arkansas if he does what he's capable of doing."

Conley, a third-round NFL pick who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts, lives in Fayetteville and is a personal trainer.

"Records are meant to be broken, so I hope he gets it," Conley said.

Boyd swap

With Arkansas putting some depth in on the offensive line, interior player Cordale Boyd has moved to the other side of the ball to help shore up the defensive interior behind projected starters DeMarcus Hodge and Darius Philon.

"He's got some athleticism," defensive line coach Rory Segrest said. "He's got some good power. So it's going to be interesting to see what he can do once we get the pads on and can go out there and get a good evaluation on him."

The challenge

Coach Bret Bielema understood he was taking on a challenge at Arkansas after the Hogs' 4-8 season in 2012 and his inheritance of a roster with some glaring weaknesses. Last year's 3-9 record, 0-8 in the SEC, and a nine-game losing streak to enter the season hasn't changed his outlook on what lies ahead.

"I came here for a challenge," Bielema said at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/NWA Media kickoff luncheon last week. "This is how I'm wired.

"I wanted to do something that hadn't been done. I wanted to compete against the SEC West."

Backing Bret

Former Razorbacks Brad Taylor and Steven Conley said they're confident Arkansas is moving in the right direction under second-year Coach Bret Bielema, who as the team's third head coach in three years went 3-9 in 2013 after installing a more run-oriented offense.

"I know everybody wants to win, win, win, now, now, now, but it's going to be take a little while," said Taylor, a former Hogs' quarterback. "Bret's got to get his players in here to run his kind of offense and get everybody used to it, and we've got to get better on defense, too.

"If we win six or seven games, I think that's great. Sometimes people think we ought to win nine or 10 games, and you want to say, 'Guys, just give it time.' It's tough to win that many games starting off."

Conley said he believes the Razorbacks could play in a bowl game this season and should be winning eight or more games within two years.

"I think our first string is a lot better this year," Conley said. "But we've definitely got to work on our depth."

On the way

The final two new Razorbacks who have not made it to campus yet -- offensive linemen Cameron Jefferson and Sebastian Tretola -- should be on the way very soon.

Offensive line coach Sam Pittman said the parents of both players were working out air travel plans for the players on Friday.

Jefferson has graduated from UNLV, which makes him immediately eligible at Arkansas, and needs some paperwork to get cleared. Tretola had to finish up classwork at Iowa Western this summer.

Sports on 07/27/2014