FAYETTEVILLE — The summer talk about the Arkansas football centered on the switch to the 3-4 defensive scheme. That was supposed to be the magic elixir for what ailed a unit that gave up a school record 39 rushing touchdowns.
Two days into preseason camp, it's clear everyone missed a step. It's not so much what the Razorbacks were going to do as far as alignment that might make the difference in the 2017 season.
No, the magic elixir is in “the magic step.” It's all in the tackling, and the last step that new defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads is teaching.
There was special emphasis in the first 20 minutes open to the media on Friday, the second day of the Arkansas camp. Just 15 minutes into the workout, Rhoads waited for the linebackers and safeties, ready to continue the process of teaching that magic last step in the tackling.
It was missing last season as defensive backs dropped their head, tackled with their arms and generally missed SEC ball carriers over and over in the open field.
It was the kind of poor tackling fundamentals that senior defensive back Kevin Richardson said cost him his junior season. He reached for a Louisiana Tech wide receiver in the open field, tearing his pectoral tendon. Surgery was required.
“It's because of the way I tried to tackle,” Richardson said. “It was an arm tackle. I didn't bring my feet.”
Bringing the feet is just part of what Rhoads told the media afterward was the emphasis in his tackling drill Friday. Pads won't be added until Saturday when tackling should be easier to track. But Rhoads didn't wait for pads. He got with it with drills using “shield” pads, something Richardson said has been done all summer.
“We tackled every day, all summer long,” Richardson said. “Coach Rhoads told us that we had to tackle the dummy pads. We worked on it every day. I've never done anything like it in the summer. In the past, we just worked on our footwork and ran. We tackled every day this summer.”
No, it wasn't live tackling, but the linebackers and defensive backs did work on their form, their footwork in tackling position and all of the drills that Rhoads gave them for the summer.
"Every day," Richardson said. "It was over and over. The emphasis on tackling has been nonstop since last season.”
Rhoads had to be prodded to go over “the magic step” in the interviews after practice Friday. I'm sure he knew exactly what the reporter was asking, but he hesitated just an instant to make sure.
“You are talking about tackling?” he said. “That's in regards to the final step in what we are teaching with our tackling.
“The number one thing, keep the eyes up. The head can't be down.”
Rhoads reminded linebacker Dre Greenlaw that his head was down in “the magic step” drill. Greenlaw seemed to get it the second time.
Rhoads said it's also important “that the hips go all the way to the ball carrier. Then, I want them to step on their toes. We practiced that. We'll practice it more when we get to go live with pads. We are putting that into every tackling drill we do.”
Rhoads emphasized that playing good defense “starts with playing hard, but you have to tackle to play great defense. If we do that and play hard, we've got a chance to play great defense.”
Safety Santos Ramirez has shadowed Rhoads for the last six months. It's clearly one of the reasons teammates elected him a captain, along with Richardson. He's tried to learn the nuances of the defense through long tape study with Rhoads, also the secondary coach.
Never in all of that tape study did Rhoads mention “the magic step,” Ramirez said Friday. But it was crystal clear what his coach was talking about in practice Friday in the early drill.
“It was the first time we've heard that, but he's always coming up with a new way to teach something, new verbiage,” Ramirez said. “But I know exactly what he's talking about. It's all the things we've been working on. You have to be on balance. You have to run through the ball carrier. You have to put your toes on his toes. We have worked on that.
“It's being more patient with your tackling. It's trying to gain ground on the ball carrier as you finish the tackle."
Ramirez said he didn't do that last year.
"He showed me that on tape," Ramirez said. "I didn't keep my feet moving. I took bad angles. He taught me to attack the hips and move through the ball carrier. We worked on that every day last spring. I think I'm a lot better at that.
“I think that's what he's talking about with that magic step today in practice. I think we all know that's what we have to improve with the tackling.”
Ramirez learned more than tackling in the spring. He tried to learn the entire scheme. That's why he shadowed his coach.
“If he was watching tape, I was watching it with him,” Ramirez said. “No matter what time it was, I told him if he was in the tape room, I was in it. I got there when he got there and I didn't leave until he left. I wanted to learn everything. I told him it was about being hungry.”
Rhoads said that's why the team picked Ramirez as a captain. It was a bit unusual for head coach Bret Bielema to ask the team to vote on captains during spring practice. Generally, he's waited until fall camp.
“I don't think Coach B had ever done that,” Rhoads said. “Santos (was voted) because of, first, the consistent way he practiced. The team noticed. Second, it was his demeanor. It never went away.”
Rhoads was asked if that captain vote allowed Ramirez to take the reins of the team in the summer?
“No, I detected that he'd done that in the spring,” Rhoads said. “Because of the nature of the spring schedule, it was practice, meet, practice meet, practice meet. Santos stayed with me in every meeting on the days we didn't practice. It was every morning, every night.
“Santos watched me critique every player. He learned the entire defense.”
Rhoads said it's going to be more than just learning to tackle with proper fundamentals. It's about knowing every step of the defense, too. That sounds like the magic ingredient, not just the magic step.
It doesn't require much to tackle with good form. It takes hard work. The Hogs are putting that in with Paul Rhoads over the next five weeks.
It won't be magic, but it might mean the Arkansas defense doesn't give up 39 rushing touchdowns again.