What Bret Bielema, coordinators said Monday

NWA Democrat-Gazette/J.T. WAMPLER Arkansas football head coach Bret Bielema talks Sunday Dec. 6, 2015 about the Razorbacks' invitation to attend the Liberty Bowl in Memphis playing against Kansas State. The hogs won five of their last six games to become bowl eligible.

— Bret Bielema, Dan Enos and Robb Smith update Arkansas' Belk Bowl preparation.

Bret Bielema

— Been a long couple weeks. Last night was the last night the staff could be out recruiting, so he was in four states Sunday. Thinks they'll have a new high mark for early enrollees. Some will be JUCO guys, but mostly high school prospects. Some will participate in bowl practice.

— Coordinators ran a lot of practices last week with coaches out on the road recruiting.

— Virginia Tech brings multiple looks, multiple defenses. Hokies are good on defense.

— Giving players Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning off for finals.

— Saturday will be the second practice without seniors.

— Dre Greenlaw "has an outside chance of playing." If he keeps moving forward and doesn't have a bad day, he has a chance. Kevin Richardson is involved in everything, but without pads. He won't play. An outside chance Kody Walker could play.

— The last X-ray showed that Greenlaw's injury is almost healed. He's at nine weeks. D'Arthur Cowan and Cody Hollister were able to come back in similar, slightly shorter time periods.

— From a recent SEC coaches conference call: There's a chance college football may move to 10 coaches next year. "He could be anything: offense, defense, special teams, another coordinator, chief of staff." Could happen by the spring or by next fall.

— On whether the coaching change have an effect: He encourages coaches to approach him if they're interested in making a move. He'll put in a call if they want and tell them if he thinks it's a good or bad move. Thinks there could be more movement than usual after Jan. 1.

— Said schools have inquired about assistants.

— May get NFL Draft grade answers back as early as next week for Frank Ragnow and Jared Cornelius. NFL has gone to eight teams looking at the grades, as opposed to four to six like it had previously been.

— Had pretty good success the last two years in bowl prep, "so we'll try to keep things consistent with that." Every practice, except for a half of one, has been full pads.

— Thinks Hogs will have eight mid-term enrollees with a max of 12.

— Has had other coaches tell him how great an experience the Belk Bowl is.

— Players get a $400 gift card for the bowl.

— Dan Skipper's All-SEC honor was "not surprising." He became a very good player his senior year. He wasn't a guy just running around making officials and the other team frustrated. He's a complete player. He's matured. He's out there blocking kicks. He can tell NFL scouts his best football is in front of him.

— Deatrich Wise has looked good. "Kind of the 48 I saw of old." The finality of the game is here for the seniors, which means a lot.

— Briston Guidry has probably been one of the more impressive guys down the stretch. Saw him practice at Rummel last year and could tell he was going to be good. Had a teacher express that he was one of the most impressive players she'd had in her classroom. Been using him inside. Explosive, instinctive and plays hard. Looked at playing him in the beginning, but had a knee issue.

— Jonathan Marshall, Alexy Jean-Baptiste, Dee Walker and the safeties have looked good.

— Been tinkering with using a 3-4 look moving forward, so Guidry could be versatile in that.

— Michael Taylor has been the one guy that came out of nowhere.

— The 3-4 could be a better matchup against some offenses they play. Teams in the league have a 3-4 in a 4-3 alignment. Guys like a Michael Taylor or Randy Ramsey would be the hybrid.

— Thinks Sosa Agim likes the three technique. He can bring versatility.

— He grew up playing in the 3-4. The trend shifted to the 4-3 and now it's going back to the 3-4.

— Jared Collins wasn't his recruit, but has been a serious player. Has battled through health issues. A quiet kid. Gifted. DJ Dean was a player he recruited. Thought he looked like a guy who belonged at the end of his freshman year. Things got a little sideaways for him, but he's played well down the stretch.

— Britto Tutt was going to play this year before getting hurt. Lost like 15-20 pounds while recovering but has put it back on. Kofi Boateng is practicing.

— Losing Greenlaw and Richardson hurt in retrospect. In the moment, you're moving forward. Richardson was the one guy who could play all five positions in the secondary. When they played Alabama, Richardson was crying his eyes out because he didn't get to play.

— Thinks Tutt could be a really good safety or boundary corner moving forward.

— You knew big salaries were coming for coordinators. His first coordinator salary was $105,000 and "I thought I hit powerball. My first jump was to 200 and I thought that was a really big deal. That was just 12 years ago. "If you've got a great coach, you've got to pay to keep them."

— Austin Allen is this football team. The Auburn injury was "a bad, bad play" for him moving forward. Takes a while for a player to get over that. More than anyone, how he plays is a litmus test for the team. He's really taken ownership since the Missouri game.

— Cole Kelley wouldn't have been a guy that came in during the third quarter to get out of a game. Coaches talked about the situation a lot. Had routine back surgery two weeks ago. Did it now so they'd have him 100 percent in January. Practiced until last Monday or Tuesday. The surgery was planned, not an emergency deal. Has all A's in the classroom.

Dan Enos

— Cole Kelley's back has been bothering him for quite a while. "You've got to give him credit, he was fighting through pain." Wincing on throws. Should be full-go back in the strength and conditioning program in January. Has tremendous upside and has intangibles and intelligent for the position.

— Injury wasn't the result of a hit or something specific.

— Coached against Bud Foster on three occasions. "His reputation is well-deserved and well-earned." They present issues schematically with their 4-2-5. Tremendous coach who he has tremendous respect for. Having played them has helped a little bit. TCU ran a 4-2-5, too.

— Virginia Tech is an SEC-caliber defense. They're in that league from a statistical, personnel and coaching standpoint.

— Hokies will overload blitz at times. It's bothersome that he's going to have so much time to prepare. "Who knows what kind of wrinkles we'll see come the 29th."

— Hokies have two guys with 17.5 tackles-for-loss, so obviously Foster is doing things to get them in good situations to make plays.

— How hard the defense plays stands out when you turn on the tape.

— Didn't win any of the games he coached against Virginia Tech. Two were in Blacksburg.

— Practices have been spirited. Young guys who redshirted can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

— Jordan Jones has looked very explosive, making plays. Dillon Hays has done well playing center. Colton Jackson and Jaylen Merrick have continued to get better. Deon Stewart and LaMichael Pettway are making plays. The bowl practices are awesome for the coaches and young guys.

— Jackson has been playing tackle.

— Getting early enrollee offensive players will be awesome. Going through the weight program and spring practice really pays off in August when they're already aware with what's going on.

— Even with losing Dan Skipper, there should be two full lines and some change. Could have 12, 13, 14 guys, which will be the deepest they've been.

— "Come on back, Frank. We need you buddy. I'm pulling for him to come back. That's my shameless plug."

— "Drew Morgan, in my opinion, has been one of the best players in the league for two seasons." He's a playmaker on third down. Catches the ball. He'll continue to play after this because he's so determined, competitive, smart and tough.

— Keon Hatcher has been impressive with his demeanor and leadership. Made big catches in big moments. When it's game day, you can count on Keon to get open and fight for the ball. Does a lot as a blocker that gets overlooked. Not taking away anything from anyone who got voted All-SEC, but those guys are as good as anyone in the league.

— Dan Skipper played with much better balance, was quicker and on his feet more. Kurt Anderson deserves a lot of credit. Skipper deserved his first-team recognition.

— Johnny Gibson has done a good job and continues to improve.

— Hjalte Froholdt has been healthy and participated in all their practices. The bowl practices are big for Gibson, Froholdt and Brian Wallace to continue to get reps and grow.

— Didn't execute in the second half at Missouri. Showed the offense 13 plays that were the difference in the game. It wasn't just one area. Just got out of sync. Had plenty of opportunities to score 14, 21 more points in the second half. Looking forward to redeeming themselves.

— On potentially adding an assistant: "Any time we can create jobs for an assistant, it's a plus." The more coaches, the more positive impact can be had on the players. Having more coaches creates more opportunities for young guys and will be real positive for the game.

Robb Smith

— It was great to get Dre Greenlaw moving around. Using him in a limited capacity.

— Losing Greenlaw and Richardson "are things that happen throughout the course of a season. We've got to do a good job getting the next guy prepared."

— On using some 3-4 looks: "Any time you can create some flexibility in your front seven... all those are positive." Looking forward to exploring it more in the offseason.

— Hokies' QB is dangerous in the RPO. He's what makes them go.

— Have to find ways to take away the RPO game and quarterback game at the same time.

— The season "hasn't gone the way we wanted it to" defensively. Haven't produced to expectations and past performance.

— Bowl prep allows for a chance to develop some young players and get guys back healthy who have been injured. Deatrich Wise will be able to help more against Virginia Tech.

— Brooks Ellis is a great lead-by-example guy. Always doing the right things on and off the field. That's the legacy he'll leave the program, how he worked on and off the field.

— On Sosa Agim and Scoota Harris making freshman All-SEC: Those are good signs moving forward. Now we've got to do a great job to continue to develop them.

— Speed is needed "without question." Roster has to be geared to what those needs are, whether it's speed or size inside.

— Bowl prep is one of the exciting things about making a bowl. Have to take advantage of the extra practice.

— A 3-4 helps because there's an extra guy on his feet. Brings more flexibility and gives you a different athlete on the field.

— The outside linebackers have to be dual-threat guys in a 3-4. They have to stop the run and play coverage on first and second down and then provide pass rush on third down.

— The 3-4 has been discussed inside these walls "for a while. I'll let coach B go more into that."

— Any time you can bring in another assistant, a quality person and teacher, into the room, it makes your program better.

— On if he'd push for a defensive assistant: "I vote for defense all the time." But whatever it is, coach Bielema will make the right decision.

— Played Bud Foster a few times when he was at Rutgers. Virginia Tech is a great program. Foster's defenses are aggressive in nature. They'll blitz you and get after you. Changed from a G defense to a 4-3 over time.