FAYETTEVILLE — It was a hit that caused Reynolds Razorback Stadium to shake from its foundation, but it was the kind of technique that Paul Rhoads is trying to eliminate in the Arkansas secondary.
Santos Ramirez targeted the ball with a crushing blow that ended the Ole Miss hopes last week as Arkansas scored a 34-30 victory. Rhoads, the Arkansas secondary coach, would have preferred a different kind of technique.
Would Rhoads liked a form tackle below the waist that dropped Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly about three yards short of the first down stakes?
“I would much rather have seen a tackle,” Rhoads said after practice Tuesday afternoon. “That's what we've talked about the last two days with Santos.”
Interestingly, Rhoads said the tackling the last two days of practice has been the best he's seen from Ramirez. The sophomore strong safety appears to have taken coaching from Rhoads.
“It's been the best he's been,” Rhoads said. “His technique is better.”
Knocking the ball loose is a good result, if the tackle is solid. Ramirez has missed tackles in the past going for the kill shot or the big hit.
“That's what he's kind of been,” Rhoads said. “We are trying to make sure he makes the tackle.”
Actually, the tackling was better against Ole Miss, but there were still two big misses by the two safeties, Josh Liddell and Ramirez. Both resulted in touchdowns.
“We did better,” Rhoads said. “We did tackle better. Our technique was better. Unfortunately, if you miss in the back end everyone sees it and it's going to result in big plays. We did do better as far as limiting big plays in both the run and the pass last week.”
Liddell had nine total tackles, sharing the team lead with linebacker Brooks Ellis. There were eight solo tackles for Liddell.
“Of the seven games since I've been here, that was his best game,” Rhoads said. “His tackling was better.”
Liddell said it was just a matter of cleaning up technique.
“You can play fast, you can be in great position, but if your technique is bad, you are going to miss tackles,” Liddell said. “That's what we worked on. That's what I did better.”
This is a week in which safety play is ultra important. The Auburn offense, as created by Gus Malzahn, puts extra pressure on safeties to make plays in the run and pass game. So many plays are based on giving safeties false reads or taking their eyes into the wrong places with motion or fakes from the quarterback.
“It's about maintaining discipline,” Liddell said. “Your have to know your keys and play them. They play fast and line up fast and it's all to try to get you to make a mistake. We cleaned up some of our mistakes last week (against the Ole Miss spread) and we are going to have to make sure we get it right this week, too.”
Rhoads knows the Auburn offense well. Interestingly, there was a brief period in 2009 when Malzahn was on his radar as offensive coordinator. It was after Malzahn's second year as offensive coordinator at Tulsa and before his first year as coordinator at Auburn. When Rhoads became head coach at Iowa State, he went after Malzahn to be his offensive coordinator.
“I tried to hire him,” Rhoads said. “He turned me down.”
Rhoads liked his offense then and knows it hasn't changed. It's a form of the old single wing with lots of crossing moves in the backfield. Even though Iowa State hasn't played Auburn, Rhoads said he's tried to watch the Tigers play.
“I was at Auburn (as defensive coordinator in 2008) and anywhere I've ever been, I tried to follow what they've done,” he said. “So I've watched him at Auburn.”
As far as the style of the offense, Rhoads said it's similar to some things his father did as a legendary high school coach in Iowa.
“My dad ran the single wing at times,” Rhoads said. “So I know some of what they are doing. As a player, there was a team on our schedule that ran a lot of this stuff. I was a free safety and what you do at that position is a big part of trying to play against it.”
That was in the mid-1980s when Rhoads was at Missouri Western.
“There was a coach at Missouri-Rolla running it,” he said. “It's tough. They used the spinner back, the whole thing. As a free safety, they are going to get your eyes going one direction and then the ball is going the other way. It's very tough.”
The Tigers are as good as anyone with the spread, but focus on the run more than most.
“What they do is tough as far as the tempo of how they play it,” Rhoads said. “You have to try to get the calls in from the sideline quicker and then maybe you simplify it somewhat. Getting lined up quicker is a piece to it.”
Rhoads saw a lot of it in the Big 12. Baylor was as tough as anyone with the tempo part of the spread.
“But they are good (at Auburn), and they have a good quarterback in Sean White,” he said. “He's very impressive. He is a big part of what they are doing now. He's accurate as a passer, too. We've played some good offensive teams, some good quarterbacks. We've played some that are in the top end of our conference and Auburn is right there with what they do and the quarterback is a major part of that.”
Rhoads has to play with one of the key pieces for at least one half against Auburn. Safety De'Andre Coley will sit out until halftime after being ejected in the Ole Miss game. It's the second time Coley has been ejected for targeting. Rhoads said there has been teaching about the rule this week.
“Certainly, we've addressed it, with De'Andre and with the rest of the team,” Rhoads said. “This one is a little different. In the Texas A&M game, it was in the first half, so he missed the next half, of that game. This time he's sitting out the first half of the next game.
“We've talked about what he's got to do in that first half. He's going to have to watch it closely (on TV), so he understands the adjustments that we will be making at halftime. He'll have to understand when to begin his warmup. We won't be with him at that point.”
Liddell admits there is extra pressure on the two remaining safeties in the three-man rotation in the back end of the UA defense.
“We've got to play smart,” Liddell said. “We can't make those kinds of costly penalties.”
It's a more confident Liddell heading to Auburn. Making plays does that.
“My confidence has never been the issue,” he said. “I just missed some plays the previous week (against Alabama). We looked at those things with Coach Rhoads and we tried to fix them.
“We are just trying to get better as a team, play in a more cohesive way. We know if you don't make plays at our position, touchdowns are the result.”
Head coach Bret Bielema called Liddell one of the quietest players on the team as he praised his play after the Ole Miss game. Liddell said that was a surprise.
“I don't think I'm like that at all,” he said. “I probably just haven't talked much to him. I have not been in his office much. I might go past there, but I'll just say hello. Maybe I need to talk to him a little more. I thought that was funny when I heard it after the game.
“I didn't take it as a bad thing. But I don't think I'm quiet at all.”
No, there was hardly anything bad being said about the safeties after the Ole Miss game, except Santos Ramirez could have made a tackle instead of going for the big hit.