FAYETTEVILLE — Excuse me, but it doesn't seem like the start of football season.
Yes, it's finally August, but the Ozarks don't feel like summer this week. It was 58 degrees the last two mornings when I retrieved my newspaper at a little before 6 a.m.
Temperatures were well short of 80 when it hit lunch time. It was only 75 when the Arkansas football team went to the practice field Tuesday. I saw a co-ed wearing a sweatshirt in the middle of the afternoon. Forecast highs for the next 15 days will mostly be 82 or below.
Now they tell me there are no two-a-days! I understand the part about linemen wearing padded helmets. But how are coaches to build mental toughness and condition players for a 60-minute football game with no heat and an off day once a week?
OK, rant over. I'll move onto the essence of football, the battles of preseason camp between the offensive and defensive lines. It's supposed to be the strength of a Bret Bielema-coached team, except that's where I have the most questions heading into the 2017 season.
So with the seven assistant coaches in the media room Tuesday, I concentrated on the line coaches, Kurt Anderson on offense and John Scott on defense. Is there some nastiness building among the constant battles between their men?
“I can tell you that we've got a nasty offensive line,” Scott said. “They are physical in our offensive line. That's the nature here. And, they bring nastiness every day. That's something that's helped us. I think it helps bring that nasty nature to our side, too.
“What you have to do here is match that nastiness every day from our offensive line. You better match that or you are going to get embarrassed. I love it. I think we have brought the nastiness from our side, too.”
Scott got some help in that battle. Bielema decided one of the downright nasty young offensive linemen could help on defense. Redshirt freshman Dylan Hays was moved from center to nose tackle, boosting numbers at that position so Jonathan Marshall could move to defensive end.
Anderson said there was a protest from his room. No one wanted Hays to move to defense. They knew one of their nastiest teammates was going to make their lives more miserable.
“The head ball coach has all the power,” Anderson said. “I think the world of Dylan. I did object. I think Dylan has tremendous ability. He's got the motor and a quick twitch.
“I will be unrelenting in my objections. I want him back.”
Scott was tickled with the offer for help to add to depth in the defensive line. He knew Marshall was going to get plenty of time at defensive end. The nose tackle needed a third player in the rotation behind Bijhon Jackson and Austin Capps.
“Both of those are doing well,” Scott said. “Jackson has shown an ability to play relaxed and make plays so far in the first four days. Capps has been strong in camp, too. We asked Capps to work on his first step, his quickness. That's been obvious that he's done that.”
Hays (6-3, 298 pounds) made an easy transition to the defensive line. He was recruited as a defensive tackle by both Missouri and Indiana, something Scott didn't know.
“Coach Bielema told me that, so I got out his tape from high school,” Hays said. “I saw why those type schools wanted him. He plays with a true nastiness.”
Hays was in the middle of several skirmish last spring when he played a little past the whistle. Anderson said then, “I can take that. It's easier to dial that back than get it from someone who doesn't have it in them.”
Scott said Hays has “done a good job of learning the techniques” and the nuances of the 3-4 scheme.
“The one thing you get from him every play, he's going to go hard,” Scott said. “I noticed him in the spring and told Coach Bielema that I'd like to have him. I just knew he was going to bring a little more nastiness to our room.”
So maybe the Hogs have some heat in practice anyway.
“We've had some skirmishes,” Scott said. “I don't mind some of that. Players are trying to show what they've done all summer. They have gotten stronger and they are trying to give us a look at what they've done to improve themselves, make a name. That happens early in camp.”
Scott said the defensive line has improved strength.
“We asked some guys to get bigger, stronger,” he said. “One that we've really noticed is T.J. Smith.”
Smith, a third-year sophomore from Georgia, has held the first team spot at defensive end through four days. He gained 12 pounds to 290 in the summer.
“We told him that we wanted him a little bigger, a little stronger,” Scott said. “He did that. It's good weight. It's in his legs and lower body. He's carried that weight well. He's moving better if anything. We've seen that strength pay off.
“For the most part, we are stronger across the board in the defensive front. I see guys that have gained weight and some like Jonathan Marshall stay the same but get stronger.”
Marshall was 310 in the spring and has held that over the summer. He's working at end and nose tackle.
“Marshall is a guy who belongs at both spots,” Scott said. “He's done a good job of learning both spots.”
McTelvin Agim is the clear starter at the other end spot. The question going into camp was who would take that third defensive line spot. Smith, Marhsall and a host of others are off to a good start.
“Armon Watts had a good Monday,” Scott said. “We are also looking at Briston Guidry, Michael Taylor, Jake Hall. Guidry is another guy who has made good gains in strength.”
If there is a question mark on the offensive line it would be at left tackle where sophomore Colton Jackson is trying to fill the spot vacated by the graduated Dan Skipper. He's had good and not-so-good moments through four practices.
“The potential for Colton is off the charts,” Anderson said. “Colton has the quickness and athletic ability that you need at that spot, to protect the blind side (of the quarterback). He's got the intelligence and the strength, just everything you'd want.
“I think what you see now is the inexperience. He's a lot better than the spring, but he still has not-so-good-moments, a play or a rep that isn't perfect. What he can't let happen is something we saw our first day in pads, where he lets a bad rep get to him emotionally.
“I've coached him to let that play go. He can't let it lead to another bad moment. He's a lot better, but that's what we are working on, consistent mental approach.
“I think Colton is going to be a dominating left tackle in our league. He's getting to the point where he does have dominating stretches. I thought yesterday was a really good day. He didn't let a bad moment lead to another one. He's just learning lessons and getting better.”
Anderson doesn't see it as a problem. Jackson is light years ahead of where he was last year when he failed to hold the starting spot after the first three games. Anderson sees Jackson as a solid player in a solid line. All five have starting experience and are better in the second year of his system.
“I think we've got a pretty good first five,” Anderson said. “What we have now is that we are much better in communication. I can have a football talk with them and they talk back. There were times last year that I'd say something and they didn't talk back.
“I wasn't sure they understood because they didn't talk back last year. Now, they do. I think everyone understands what we are doing.”
There's been some real highlights to camp so far. Left guard Hjalte Froholdt seems to have mastered the footwork needed for pass protection, a problem last season.
“Froholdt has been a standout,” Anderson said. “One of our goals for him in the offseason was for him to become more natural in pass sets. He's done that. His footwork is much more natural. He is a mountain of a man. He's much stronger. It's been impressive.”
Anderson praised the other starters in the offensive line, too. He said Brian Wallace, Johnny Gibson and Frank Ragnow are solid in the other spots. Wallace has shown a big jump in “situational IQ.”
Anderson just needs more consistency in the backups.
“I can say that we still are not where I want to be with the backups, but we have some more time before the opener,” Anderson said. “I do know that I keep seeing mistakes by some of those guys who have been here two and three years. That shouldn't be happening.”
If it continues, youth will be served.
“Yes, the young ones like Dalton Wagner, Shane Clenin and Ty Clary are going to pass some of the older guys,” Anderson said. “I'm really impressed with Ty Clary. He's going to be all right.”
I'd be all right if there was a little more heat. I just think camp should be hot and nasty.
Old sportswriters don't know how to take these soft conditions, but I'll settle for coaches predicting nasty play from the offensive and defensive lines.