Razorback Report

Hogs take their shots at buddies

Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen and the rest of the Razorbacks enter the room Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, during the annual Razorback Kickoff dinner at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.

FAYETTEVILLE -- A handful of Arkansas players showed their comedy chops Friday night at the annual Arkansas football kickoff dinner at the Holiday Inn and Northwest Arkansas Convention Center in Springdale.

A group of 56 Razorbacks came to the podium in alphabetical order, introducing the next player in line by name and hometown, and a few of them couldn't resist taking a few jabs.

Quarterback Austin Allen set the tone while introducing junior punter Toby Baker.

"I think he's at practice once or twice a week," said Allen, which became a running joke about the team's specialists.

Tight end Jeremy Sprinkle drew laughs when he said cornerback Henre Toliver's favorite TV show was Say Yes To The Dress.

Tight end Alex Voelzke noted that running back Kody Walker had been granted a sixth year of eligibility for 2016.

"He's going for the record for oldest-ever Razorback," Voelzke said. "He might have to change his name to Grandpa."

Linebacker Dwayne Eugene introduced freshman defensive lineman Hjalte Froholdt by saying his dream job is to be a car detailer, and offensive tackle Dan Skipper didn't waste an opportunity to poke fun at line mate Mitch Smothers, a senior from Springdale.

"I'm introducing Mitch Smothers," he said, "Springdale's finest, self-proclaimed best-looking center in the SEC and cover boy on the Arkansas media guide."

Rubbish!

Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema offered further context Friday night to the trick-play touchdown pass thrown last year by 350-pound lineman Sebastian Tretola to snapper Alex D'Appollonio on a fake field goal.

Bielema explained that he originally doodled the play on a little piece of note card in his office at the Fred Smith Football Center. The paper made it home where he showed it to his wife, Jen, who he said likes to know what's happening with special plays "so she can take a little credit for them."

After the play's success resulted in notoriety for the program and a faux-Heisman Trophy candidacy for Tretola, Bielema said he came home one night and asked Jen what happened to the original play design.

"She looks at me and goes, 'I wrote the grocery list on that this morning,' " Bielema said. "We had to go home and dig it out of the garbage that night. So a little piece of folklore was in our garbage."

Top rated

Tight end Hunter Henry holds a special distinction among players coached by Bret Bielema, the coach said.

After telling the crowd at the annual kickoff dinner that Henry and junior Jeremy Sprinkle are as good a tight end combination as he has ever been around, Bielema added that "I think Hunter Henry ... has the highest ranking as an NFL grade of any player I've ever coached."

Earlier in the week, Bielema said the Razorbacks could have eight juniors on the roster with good NFL draft grades. Bielema did not mention names, but the group presumably would include some combination of tailback Alex Collins, Henry, Sprinkle, offensive linemen Denver Kirkland and Dan Skipper, linebacker Brooks Ellis, defensive linemen Taiwan Johnson, JaMichael Winston and Deatrich Wise, and defensive backs Jared Collins and D.J. Dean.

Bad timing

Bret Bielema said it's a different feeling preparing to play Texas-El Paso in the opener after opening at Auburn last season.

"A conference rivalry game, a game where I really don't like them people all that much, there were a lot of things going into the opener," Bielema said.

The Tigers, who beat Arkansas 45-21, finished 8-5 and lost four of their last five games. The Razorbacks won three of their last four games to finish 7-6.

"I'd have loved to play them Game 12 rather than Game 1, because I think I saw where we were going and where they were going, and it was kind of in opposite directions," Bielema said. "Which is fun to watch."

UTEP QBs

Texas-El Paso Coach Sean Kugler said Friday that he'll likely announce the team's starting quarterback for the Arkansas game Monday.

Redshirt sophomore Mack Leftwich and junior Garrett Simpson have been competing for the job.

"It was a great quarterback competition and those guys are still finishing that up as we head into the weekend," Kugler said. "They're both good quarterbacks."

Bret Bielema said the 6-7 Simpson is "a Ben Roethlisberger type of guy" and added that "if the littler guy is in, they may be a more quarterback run type of game."

Allen's alibi

Bret Bielema gigged quarterback Brandon Allen during their appearance on the coach's radio show Thursday about being intercepted by a 5-8 walk-on.

Allen responded: "My excuse is I couldn't see him because he wasn't on his phone book at the time and he popped out of nowhere."

Birthday boy

Freshman tailback Rawleigh Williams celebrated his 19th birthday Friday, a fact that was pointed out by Bret Bielema at the Razorbacks' kickoff dinner.

"He's a very, very special player with a lot of talent," Bielema said.

More tricks?

Bret Bielema said it's a plus that new No. 1 deep snapper Drew Gorton was also a receiver at Fayetteville High School.

Gorton, a fifth-year senior, had 61 receptions for Fayetteville in 2010.

"I might work him into a little trick here or there," Bielema said at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club. "As you guys know, I like a couple things here and there."

Alan D'Appollinio, the Razorbacks' deep snapper the previous four years, caught a touchdown pass on a fake field goal last season against Alabama-Birmingham and caught a pass on a fake punt in 2013 at Rutgers to set up a field goal.

"I've got a snapper who can catch, that's kind of exciting for me," Bielema said. "It's not erotic or anything. It's just exciting."

Bielema drew a lot of attention at SEC media days when he said it was "borderline erotic" being able to take a knee in the Texas Bowl and run out the clock in a 31-7 victory over Texas.

Tough crowd

Answering a question Friday night at the kickoff event, Bret Bielema said the biggest difference between the Big Ten, his former conference, and the SEC is the quality and depth of defensive lines and the hostile road environments.

"You go into those environments and it's 12 guys on the field," Bielema said. "It really is. It's a different environment offensively when you can't hear play calls."

Bielema said becoming a better road team is a point of emphasis for the Razorbacks this season. He pointed out that the past five SEC West champions are 18-2 in league road games. Arkansas has lost its past nine SEC road games since downing Auburn 24-7 on Oct. 6, 2012.

Geography lesson

Bret Bielema told the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club on Wednesday that it's nice to know his way around the state better going into his third season.

"I remember my first year ... I thought Fort Smith was north of us," Bielema said. "I'm beginning to get a grasp on geography and everything from A to Z.

"When you're doing all these Razorback Clubs and different events around the state, you fly to a lot of places, so you don't really know where you're at. You just kind of land and get out and people are there."

Sports on 08/30/2015