FAYETTEVILLE — Frank Ragnow bust into a big smile when I wondered aloud at media day back on Sunday on how things might work out with the offensive line. How do you replace three starters and just roll out a physical running game once again?
No worries, came the response from Ragnow, it's what head coach Bret Bielema does. It's his gift.
Ragnow is one of the two starters returning, but now at a new spot, the man making all of the calls at center. He played there some as a true freshman before Mitch Smothers blossomed. Ragnow, now a junior, was the right guard last year.
“We are Offensive Line U,” Ragnow said. “Coach B is going to get it figured out and our new offensive line coach is a genius.”
That's Kurt Anderson, someone hand picked by offensive coordinator Dan Enos. It was during their time as rivals in the Mid-American Conference that Enos became an Anderson fan. Bielema plucked him from the Buffalo Bills staff last January.
OK, I'm a believer now after watching two practices this week, including the first major scrimmage of the fall on Saturday in Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
There are tons of highlights from the scrimmage. Devwah Whaley's twisting, churning run for a 14-yard touchdown was a big one. He pulled away from both Dre Greenlaw and McTelvin Agim on a play that should give fans great confidence that they have another Alex Collins at tailback.
Rawleigh Williams will start. The sophomore coming back from neck surgery answered all questions, too. He is quicker and sharper in his cuts than last year. His ability to read blockers was always good, but he's got a better understanding on how things are going to unfold now. It's a wonderful sight.
It's the way that offensive line blocked that gives me confidence that Bielema is making the right calls for the offense. Austin Allen can be a great trigger man at quarterback. But it's what's happening up front that is going to give Williams and Whaley the right creases.
Bielema and Anderson are going about their craft patiently, tugging this way and that with a talented group of offensive linemen. They've got enough and are starting to get them plugged into the right spots to get that cohesive look that will make things easy for Allen in the play-action passing game that Enos calls so nicely.
Dan Skipper has made the transition back to left tackle. He's given them a beast look on that side paired next to the converted defensive tackle, sophomore Hjalte Froholdt. If you wanted to see something beautiful, you could do what I did Saturday and focus tightly on Froholdt.
“He's up to about 330 pounds now and you can't tell it,” Bielema said. “He's had 25 practices at left guard and he gets better every day. What he does that's really great are the pulling plays. He does them effortlessly. They are about the hardest thing to do. He makes them look easy.”
Skipper and Froholdt crashed through the middle of the first defense on the goal line as Williams scored on a fourth-and-1 play. That was two plays after Skipper had limped off with a lower leg injury, probably a cramp.
It appears things are shaping up elsewhere on the offensive line, too. Jake Raulerson showed his versatility with yet another move. He'd worked at center and right guard early in camp after arriving on campus 10 days before practice began. The Texas transfer played right tackle the last two days and can handle the task.
There were a couple of plays where he took Deatrich Wise out of the action on run calls. Wise shoved him back near the quarterback twice, but Allen just stepped up in the pocket out of harms way.
It's not a cinch that Raulerson wins that job at right tackle, because Jalen Merrick is coming fast. At 6-4, 327, Merrick is longer and more athletic than Raulerson. Merrick would jump in with the ones at right tackle late in each series, allowing Raulerson to rest, because he then stepped into the center spot with the twos.
“Jake has played center, right guard and right tackle for us so far,” Bielema said. “You might want someone a little longer at tackle, but he can play there.”
Merrick drew praise from Bielema for coming back “a new man” after the summer. Merrick is a redshirt freshman with not a lot of football experience. But he may be as talented as any player on the team. As they say, he's coming fast.
Bielema was pleased with the offensive execution. There were few penalties and the only turnover was a ill-advised fade from true freshman quarterback Cole Kelley at the end of the day. Britto Tutt, beaten earlier when he fell down, walled off the receiver and had easy pickings.
The real camp question left to answer probably concerns the backup quarterback job. There has been no clear winner. Bielema and Enos have said over and over this week that it's wide open. Bielema said he hoped someone would step forward Saturday. I'm not sure if anyone did.
Ty Storey seemed to have gotten a few more snaps at backup quarterback in the two practices the media has seen this week, Thursday and Saturday. But there seems to be a real possibility that no one has done enough to create separation. Rafe Peavey is still not 100 percent after back surgery in the summer.
If someone doesn't jump up soon, it may be that Kelley, the man with the second biggest arm in camp, could win that backup spot.
So if Kelley has the second biggest, who has the biggest? It's Allen. His arm has gotten stronger and stronger. He's got the touch, the ability to distribute the ball in all of the sweet places like his brother on the bootlegs and waggles, but he's got a big arm. It keeps getting stronger. I saw him throw some lasers in pass skeleton on Thursday that I didn't think he could launch. He's accurate, too.
There are some major notations that need to be made about the offensive production on Saturday. Robb Smith had his hands tied for the most part. There were not exotic blitzes. In fact, I didn't see any on third down.
“There were some line stunts,” Bielema said. “But I told Robb to tone it down for today. We wanted to work on some things. They can do a lot more than they showed today. We'll get to that later.”
And, the defensive studs were not out there when the first offense went down the field to end the day. Bielema told Smith to get linebacker Brooks Ellis off the field, along with safety Josh Liddell and Wise. Those three are the bell cows of that defense. Liddell continues to improve. It was impressive to watch him switch safety spots with Santos Ramirez in some of the subtle calls that were allowed.
“Josh is now competing with the best safeties in the SEC,” Bielema said, obviously referencing the fact that there are no other safeties on his team quite at his level.
It's fun to watch the secondary respond to the coaching style of Paul Rhoades. The new backfield coach is loud and firm with his players. They know their keys. They are better tacklers, better at getting lined up right and it appears they are confident to the point of having fun.
Enos bemoaned the fact in the spring that he didn't have enough weapons as far as tight ends and fullbacks to reset his formations the way he could with Hunter Henry and Jeremy Sprinkle last year. I think he's fine now. Freshman fullback Hayden Johnson can handle the sophistication of the offense and also deliver punishment. He's also a deluxe pass catcher. And, it appears Austin Cantrell and Jack Kraus are comfortable with the finer points of the tight end position.
I saw flashes from Will Gragg and C.J. O'Grady on Saturday, but Bielema is careful to dole out praise in small doses for both of those. He wants fewer mistakes and won't settle for missed blocks or poor knowledge of the offense. Both are getting better, but not as far along as Cantrell and Kraus.
There's a lot to like about the overall roster. Bielema has put together a solid team in year four. He's done an amazing job of taking two team weaknesses (wide receiver and linebacker) when he got the job and turning them into strengths.
But the most important takeaway from Saturday was the one I hoped to see. That offensive line is going to be just fine. I should have relaxed after listening to Frank Ragnow on media day. It took just one scrimmage to see the magic of Bret Bielema.