FAYETTEVILLE — After eight months of off-season workouts, 15 spring practices and a month-long fall camp, Arkansas is finally on the verge of playing another football game.
The Razorbacks will take the field Saturday for an official contest for the first time since their Liberty Bowl win over Kansas State. Arkansas hosts Louisiana Tech at 3 p.m.
“It is great to be at the end of the week where we will have college football finally,” Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema said on Wednesday’s SEC Teleconference. “I know our players are very excited about this weekend and we have a tough task in front of us.”
“La-Tech has had back-to-back nine win seasons and is a very well-coached football team. Coach Skip Holtz has done a tremendous job there. We have our work cut out.
“We are pretty healthy and we are getting everybody in the right positions at the right time and put the shine and polish here the rest of the week and look forward to the opportunity that we have in front out of us.”
Louisiana Tech has announced that redshirt freshman J’mar Smith (6-1, 222 pounds) will start at quarterback after expected redshirt senior starter Ryan Higgins (6-2, 207) got a DWI earlier this month.
“Obviously I have researched him (Smith) thoroughly going back to his high school days,” Bielema said. “He was offered by I believe at least a couple of our SEC schools here as well. He was a two-sport athlete with baseball involved. So there were some things that went into that process that made it a little bit unique otherwise he might have be at one of our SEC schools.
“Very talented, very gifted. He’s a bigger athlete 6-1, 220 plus that can run. I know he’s got a very live arm and can throw the ball a country mile. A guy that appears a very difficult task (to defend).
“Whoever else rolls through there, I know Higgins was voted captain and everything. So don’t know who we are going to see or what we are going to see but whenever somebody lines up I am sure there will be a quarterback there and we will try and defend it.”
Bielema updated the statuses of tailback Kody Walker, cornerback DJ Dean and wide receiver Dominique Reed.
“Kody went yesterday and looked really, really good,” Bielema said. “DJ went as well. He went about half the practice. I do think that there is a chance for him on Saturday and Dominique Reed was 100 percent.
“Really the only one I have any type of concern probably would be DJ and he has come a long way in a short amount of time. Otherwise we should be sitting on ready."
Bielema also noted that junior college defensive end Michael Taylor – who arrived on campus last Friday – is practicing with the team although his eligibility for this season is still in doubt.
“He is 100 percent,” Bielema said. “He has been cleared to practice since he arrived on campus. The issue will be whether he gets cleared to participate this year. He is a 3-for-3 so if he does, he has immediate eligibility. If not we will treat it just like we would with a redshirt player where even though he couldn’t compete on Saturday, he can practice throughout the year.
“He is on full scholarship and really we are just waiting for final word.”
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LSU head coach Les Miles has announced that he will have all nine assistants on the field during games this season.
Bielema was asked if he had ever been a part of something like that or had thought about doing that.
“All of our assistants? Like all nine?” Bielema responded. “Wow, no. We have at times maybe two on one side of the ball, but usually it has just been one and for me personally as coordinator, I always loved being down on the field.
“On the same account there are some guys who like to be removed and have a moment of pause or just kind of have their own little work area. I think it is totally based on personality.
“But I think as a head coach, you always got of wonder what is the strength of your coordinator. If he is really good at motivation or look in their eye or getting an awareness of where the game is based on the player’s feedback, I think that it is great to have him on the sidelines."
Bielema said secondary coach Paul Rhoads and tight ends coach Barry Lunney will sit in the press box, along with graduate assistants.
“I started off in the booth and they moved me to the sidelines just because my rapport," Bielema said. "As a young coach, the ability to talk with the guys and have a chance to make adjustments, I have had a little bit of both.
“I think that world will dramatically change next year though if we do go to where they are allowed certain technological advances of film in the press box.
“Both my coordinators love being on the field, but have expressed a desire that if there is a chance to review film, that might make them rethink their option next year.”
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Bielema was also asked if he would like to play a big-tine early non-conference game like the one slated this Saturday when LSU plays his old team Wisconsin at Lambeau Field.
“It has come up a little bit,” Bielema said. “When I was at Wisconsin, we had a huge interest in playing the SEC. I was involved in discussions that started their first game there a couple of years back.
“We were talking to ESPN and trying to get Alabama and it didn’t work out. We went to LSU and it did work out and then I left and came here.
“We played LSU the last three years and to have that matchup knowing that personnel and those people there, it will be interesting to see how that pans out on Saturday."
Bielema said Arkansas is looking into playing a Big Ten opponent after Michigan paid $2 million to cancel a home-and-home series that was set to begin in 2018. Bielema said it would be hard to play against Wisconsin.
"Anything’s possible, but I would say that until all the players that I recruited were removed out of that program that it might hit a little too close to home myself and working against coaches I know really, really well," Bielema said.
“I know we are looking forward to some good games.”
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Another theme question on this week’s teleconference concerned players having guns.
“Yeah, actually, my biggest fear when I took over at Wisconsin and with Coach (Barry) Alvarez, we had a huge group of kids that were hunters,” Bielema said. “When we had bye weeks, we used to always be concerned that they were gonna go out running around and not necessarily harm for the guns, but just, the vigor of being out and the wear on the legs and all that stuff. That kinda brought it to my attention back then.
“Didn't have the same policy we had there that we do here, because, A, there's obviously been a big push the last couple years. Last year there was an issue that became whether or not they were gonna legalize guns on campus. That, fortunately for us, has been followed through so it kinda eliminates anybody on campus to have a gun."
Bielema said Arkansas does have players who have licenses to carry guns.
"Obviously we have guys that come from quite a bit of different backgrounds where they've grown up hunting or been involved with that," Bielema said.
“We do ask those guys to make sure they follow all the policies that the government has but also keep aware that, just even in the last two months, there's been a huge ... a couple examples even in our conference of guys that have been caught in bad situations that maybe they did or they didn't intentionally or unintentionally get a bad situation out of that.
“It's been an eye opener for our guys and hopefully they're gonna be able to move forward. We are a work in progress constantly but trying to educate as well."