FAYETTEVILLE -- Under normal circumstances, Brandon Allen might be in the midst of a comfortable spring of refining his skills in a familiar offense while preparing for his third year as Arkansas' starting quarterback.
Normal wouldn't describe the succession of men running the Razorbacks' offense recently, so Allen is busy at work learning under his fourth offensive coordinator in five seasons.
First-year coordinator Dan Enos has brought his own style and verbiage to blend with Bret Bielema's offense, giving Allen a new system to study and operate as he enters his senior season.
"It's just kind of how the dice fell for me," Allen said of the coordinator carousel. "If anything, I've gotten experience with a lot of different coaching styles and different offenses.
"I've broadened my knowledge of the whole game in general, so I think it's actually pretty helpful looking at it now."
Allen, a former Fayetteville High School standout and the son of longtime Arkansas assistant Bobby Allen, has never gotten to pass the ball all over the field the way predecessors Ryan Mallett and Tyler Wilson did or with the flair that he did in high school.
However, Allen ranked eighth in the SEC with 175.8 passing yards per game last season, eighth with 20 touchdown passes and ninth in passing efficiency.
Enos, who described Allen as "eager and smart," said he's been impressed with the quarterback's learning curve.
"You can tell he's been around a lot of football with his dad and basically three coordinators now, and he's seen a lot of different ways to skin a cat," Enos said. "He asks very intelligent questions and has very good responses when I'm asking things and why he was doing this or that. He can articulate them very well."
Allen, whose 20 touchdown passes and five interceptions last season gave him the second-best touchdown-to-interception ratio in the SEC behind Georgia's Hutson Mason (21-4), has shown a steady progression in his Arkansas career even as the coordinators have come and gone.
He redshirted in 2011 in Garrick McGee's final season as coordinator, then he saw a moderate amount of playing time in 2012 when Paul Petrino returned to coordinate the offense. Jim Chaney took over in 2013 in Bielema's debut season and lasted two seasons before moving on to Pittsburgh.
Allen completed 42.9 percent of his passes in limited work in 2012, 49.6 percent of his passes in 2013 when the Razorbacks went through their massive overhaul to Bielema's style, and 56 percent last season. Allen's touchdown passes increased from 13 to 20 while he was cutting his interceptions in half, from 10 to five.
He will enter the 2015 season with a streak of 90 consecutive passes without an interception, a four-game span that dates to his final pass in the end zone in Razorbacks' 17-10 loss at No. 1 Mississippi State.
Allen has a chance to become the first three-year primary starter at quarterback for the Hogs since Matt Jones did it from 2002-04.
Allen said the calling of formations has been simplified and other aspects of the offense under Enos have undergone changes of varying degrees.
"A lot of terminology's different, and a lot of the route structures and things are carryover," he said.
Allen said he is completely up-to-date with the offense.
"I know everything we've installed so far," he said. "So right now I'd say I'm 100 percent capacity, but we're going to keep installing and keep moving forward.
"Especially as a quarterback, your job is to be on top of it at all times and I think I'm a lot more experienced now, so I'll be able to do so. I'm not worried about the load that we install. I think we're going to get our whole offense in this spring and really tone it over the summer and the fall."
Allen brightened when asked how his relationship with Enos has progressed.
"I like Coach Enos a lot," he said. "A very approachable guy, really nice guy. He's played the position, which is really nice. Him being my coach and knowing he's been there at the D-I level and played QB and knows the things I'm going through and what I'm seeing makes it really relatable in that sense."
Bielema said he's gathered from Allen in his meetings with the quarterback that he's enjoying the transition to the new offense.
" I think he just enjoys the drill work that Dan has brought, being able to relate to a guy that played the position and can put it in terms they really understand," Bielema said.
Enos said inheriting a senior quarterback like Allen in his first year at Arkansas is a big plus.
"I like him," Enos said. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun to work with him."
Sports on 04/03/2015