FAYETTEVILLE — There are words that seem to be slipping into my vocabulary. I try not to use terms like cool anymore. Neat is another one that I am trying to drop. They are old and tired.
The one that I love and I've noticed it's in way too many of my writings is elite. I see that word used too often for camps and in other areas. But elite is way cool, really neat.
OK, I've done it. I'll try to do better. I dropped all three in one sentence.
But elite seems to apply where it comes to the Arkansas defensive line group coached by Rory Segrest. It's not a word that Segrest uses that I can recall.
Paul Rhoads used it on media day a couple of weeks back to describe top level defensive line groups that he's seen in his long coaching career. My ears perked up and I was pleased to learn Bret Bielema's new defensive backfield coach used “elite” to describe the Arkansas defensive line.
First, lets give some perspective on what I think of Rhoads, who comes to the Ozarks after seven seasons as head coach at Iowa State. He's a fine coach, but an even better man. He's experienced as a head coach, defensive coordinator and position coach.
He's worked in the Big Ten under John Cooper at Ohio State, a proven defensive coach with a penchant for producing great secondaries. He's coached in the SEC at Auburn under Tommy Tuberville.
That last point came up when I asked Rhoads about defensive line play as it pertains to playing in the SEC, or any league for that matter. Without hesitation, Rhoads said the SEC is “a defensive line league.”
I've heard that for years. It's what makes the SEC different from everyone else and is the key to the domination of the national championship game over the last two decades. I paid attention when Urban Meyer said that and noticed what he did at Ohio State as far as defensive line play. It was the crucial element of the way the Buckeyes won the title two years ago.
Back to Rhoads, he went quickly to my new favorite word and used it over and over. Elite, elite, elite.
“When you come to the SEC, the first thing you notice is the elite defensive linemen,” Rhoads said. “It was obvious at Auburn when I got there. They had elite defensive linemen, tackles and ends. I saw it across the league. Almost every team had them.”
And they don't have them in the Big 12 where Rhoads just left?
“Not like the SEC,” he said. “They just don't. You have one or two teams that have them, but not many of them. They may have one or two. The rest of the teams don't have many at all. The have nots struggle to get any (in the Big 12).
“It makes a difference in how you can play defense, your style. If you don't have elite defensive linemen, you can't do some things.”
So what about the Arkansas defensive line?
“Elite,” he said. “I saw it right away when I put on the tape when I got here. Elite. There are a bunch, too.
“Bret has done a great job of recruiting defensive linemen. You see the four in this freshmen class and it's really impressive. Sometimes you get one great one in a freshmen class. Four? Wow. These are special players.
“They you look across the front and see the experience and quality in what Bret has brought here to Arkansas, it gives you a chance. It's an elite group.”
Pretty neat, huh? Maybe even cool.
Rhoads nodded his head in agreement.
The job of coaching the secondary becomes easier. You don't have to cover as long with the likes of Deatrich Wise, Jeremiah Ledbetter, Taiwan Johnson and Tevin Beanum teeing off on the quarterback. And, yes, most expect Beanum to play.
But there are more coming. McTelvin “Sosa” Agim was an obvious elite level pass rusher in the last class, arriving last winter for bowl practices, immediately turning heads. All of the UA coaches called him special.
Agim has some elite running buddies in the defensive line meeting room in his class. The big news this week is that Star City's Austin Capps has stepped up at nose tackle. He'll rotate with Johnson, allowing Bijhon Jackson to slide over to the three technique to rotate with Ledbetter.
I am not surprised by the way Capps has emerged. He has looked like a man since the ninth grade. He came to camp with a full beard. He was offered by Bielema before he had his driver's license. He can probably lift that huge truck he drives with all of the camo in cool places.
I thought Capps might be shifted to the offensive line, perhaps in the same way Hjalte Froholdt made the switch to blossom at left guard. Could Capps be the right guard Bielema seems to be searching for over the last two weeks?
“I really thought about it at one point,” Bielema said. “But he's too good at nose tackle. He can play that tilted nose tackle spot we like in our front. He shoved Frank Ragnow and Hjalte Froholdt all the way back into Austin Allen's lap last year. He's just so strong.
“He's got great hands. I think all of that baseball he played growing up helped his hands. Swinging that bat is good for your hands. He's just so strong. Most freshmen are not as physically gifted as he is as far as overall strength. He's ready to play with that strength.
“He doesn't know all of our defense yet, but he does know what to do with a double team block. He's a man as far as his strength.”
The other two freshmen defensive linemen, Briston Guidry and Jonathan Marshall, aren't quite ready to get on the field, but that may happen this year, too.
Guidry is fighting back from knee surgery earlier this summer, a small meniscus tear. He played with a bad wheel for two years in high school.
Marshall is learning how to carry some new weight. He played at 250 in high school, gained 10 in the offseason but now is 299. He's a beast, but he's learning the fine points.
Learn their numbers and find them in warmups before the opener with Louisiana Tech. Agim (3), Guidry (7), Capps (41), Marshall (42) will blow your mind when you come to the realization they are all just freshmen.
“I worry when I think of all of the seniors we have on our defensive front,” Bielema said. “Then, there is a nice thought of what we have in these four freshmen. They are really good.”
Just say this over and over. Elite, elite, elite. It's pretty cool, even neat.