Like it is

Morris, Lunney not shying away from load

Newly hired University of Arkansas football coach Chad Morris speaks Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017, during a press conference at the Fowler Family Baseball and Track Indoor Training Center in Fayetteville.

Chad Morris appears to be working his Texas off.

With just eight days until the early signing period for college football begins, the new head coach at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville is living life in the fast lane with the pedal to the medal.

He and Barry Lunney, who appears to have been wisely retained, are hitting it hard in Arkansas, surrounding border states and especially in Texas, where Morris was a high school coaching legend. He had a 169-38 record and won three state championships.

His resume is similar to that of Art Briles, who was 165-46-3 as a a Texas high school head coach, and he won four state titles before taking a job with Mike Leach at Texas Tech. Briles was 44 when he made the move to college. His rise to fame, turning Houston and Baylor around, was almost as notorious as his firing at Baylor.

Morris doesn't have a speck of trouble in his past, and he seems to have a plan to get the Razorbacks back on course.

While nothing is official, five of his SMU staff members were at the official news conference, and they have a wide and varied range of appeal.

Understand they are still on staff at SMU and preparing for the Dec. 20 Frisco Bowl against Louisiana Tech, so the heavy lifting has been up to Morris and Lunney.

Three of the five, including Joe Craddock, 32, who was listed as the offensive coordinator for the Mustangs (and had input. but Morris was calling the plays); Dustin Fry, 34, offensive line coach; and receivers coach Justin Stepp, 31, spent time as graduate assistants at Clemson before joining Morris at SMU.

All have experience recruiting the state of Texas, the No. 1 state for football recruiting in the country. Dade County in Miami may turn out more per county, but Texas is famous for turning out players for Power 5 schools.

It appears Mark Smith will be the recruiting coordinator, and his roots run deep in his native state of Texas. He was a high school coach for six years before joining Morris at SMU.

Randy Ross had almost two decades of experience working with the Alabama Crimson Tide football program, the last four as director of football, so he has a deep knowledge of the SEC. He also had nine years of experience at SMU, which is a plus.

It is thought running backs coach Jeff Traylor will join the staff after SMU's appearance in the Frisco Bowl, but he is serving as the interim head coach. The Dec. 20 date of that bowl is the same as the beginning of the early signing period, which is unfortunate.

Traylor is also a native of Texas and led Gilmer High School to three state championships.

The major question in the minds of the Razorback Nation is who will be the defensive coordinator. Morris is simply too busy to announce that right now or is waiting until after the Frisco Bowl.

If he's looking, he might start with David Bazzel. No, the former Hog captain isn't thinking about going into coaching, but as the founder of the Broyles Award -- which is awarded to the top assistant in the country -- he meets all the finalists and winners and might have an idea who might be a good fit at Arkansas.

Until the full staff is in place, Lunney and Morris are burning several candles at both ends.

It appears they will keep most of the players who committed and have swung three-star recruit LaDarrius Bishop of Ashdown away from Mississippi State on their way back to Texas.

Sports on 12/12/2017