Bielema sees arrow pointed up

Bret Bielema (left), Arkansas head football coach, and Vernon Hargreaves, linebackers coach, talk on Friday July 29, 2016 during the NWA Razorback Club's 15th Annual Celebrity Golf Tournament at the Kingswood and Berksdale golf complex in Bella Vista.

BELLA VISTA -- In Bret Bielema's world, everything is clicking into place as he prepares for a fourth preseason training camp at Arkansas.

Recruiting is splendid, as evidenced by highly rated Ashdown safety Montaric Brown's commitment Thursday becoming the 18th for the Razorbacks' Class of 2017. He added a 19th on Friday with Richmond, Ill., offensive tackle Dalton Wagner.

Bielema said his crew of assistant coaches is "the best nine recruiters I've ever had as a staff together at once."

The Razorbacks have no looming suspension issues, such as the kind that led to criticism of Alabama's Nick Saban and Mississippi State's Dan Mullen at SEC media days earlier this month.

Arkansas will open camp in six days with just a couple of injury issues. And the team is deep enough that the coaches are engaged in discussions about how to fill the last several spots on the 105-man roster that will report Wednesday.

"It's a steady crescendo," Bielema said in the sizzling midday heat Friday at the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Club golf outing at Kingswood Berksdale golf courses. "I think our coaches are excited. The three new guys I've got, Kurt [Anderson], Reggie [Mitchell] and Paul [Rhoads], I think they've brought in some great energy. I think we've got new players that'll help us.

"I'm excited. We haven't finalized our 105 roster, which to me is a really good thing. In year's past you were able to say, hey, here's the 105. Now we have a lot of guys battling for those last two or three positions."

Bielema is pumped about new on-campus recruiting guidelines, which allow a school to pay for the parents of prospects to visit.

"That's a rule that for us at Arkansas, that's like monumental," Bielema said. "Because once we get a parent on campus, we have a very good batting percentage, more so than at any place I've ever been, even at Wisconsin. I think that's a positive thing for us."

But then there's the issue of expectations.

Arkansas brings back eight starters on defense, but that unit struggled mightily to stop the pass last season and ranked No. 58 in the nation.

The Razorbacks piled up big offensive numbers to rank second in the SEC in scoring and total offense in 2015, but only linemen Frank Ragnow and Dan Skipper, receivers Drew Morgan and Dominique Reed, and tight end Jeremy Sprinkle (a part-time starter) return as starters.

Bielema shows little concern about the media slotting the Razorbacks fifth in the SEC West.

"I've been a head coach for 11 years, and my answer is always the same," Bielema said. "What they say in preseason polls has nothing more to say than what they say in barbershops and restaurants and chat rooms and all that stuff."

Bielema went on to reference his first team at Wisconsin in 2006.

"What we say at the end of the season is what matters," he said. "My first year, we were a team that went 12-1 and finished by beating Arkansas in a bowl game. We finished in the top-five. Before the year started, I saw where we were ranked 88th in the country.

"And I think a lot of it just had to do with preconceived notions. It blows my mind that people base their predictions on what they've seen in the past. I can't erase 10 years of history. I can't erase five years of history. All I know is we've improved every year, and I continue to say it."

Bielema said he and everyone involved with the team do not want a repeat of the 1-3 start last season, including home losses to Toledo and Texas Tech.

"I think we have a team that is hungry early on," Bielema said. "I think they've repeated that over and over and over again.

"As I look back on last year, obviously the beginning of the season there's some things that we left on the table in the Toledo game, Texas Tech. That had a huge effect on the end of the year. To take away from that, one of the most satisfying things was to be a 5-3 team in the league.

"We've kind of moved forward. I don't want to minimize or maximize where it is, from A to Z ... but to go 0-8, to go 2-6, then 5-3, that's a substantial jump in the growth of your program in the SEC West."

Noted analysts such as Phil Steele concede it's hard to feel comfortable gauging how Arkansas' season will play out, and that's largely because of questions on offense.

The quarterback position, where Austin Allen will enter camp as the starter; replacing three starters on the offensive line; and identifying the top two or three backs from a big pool of candidates -- including Kody Walker, Damon Mitchell, Rawleigh Williams, Juan Day, Devway Whaley and T.J. Hammonds -- loom as key areas.

"We have a team that's very experienced on defense and have a lot of good players returning on offense," Bielema said. "But your main trigger guy is going to be a new player, obviously with Austin or whoever it ends up."

Sports on 07/30/2016