Whaley looking to replicate Williams' feat

Arkansas running back Devwah Whaley runs for a 75-yard touchdown during a game against Alcorn State on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2016, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

— Arkansas finds itself in a familiar position entering the 2017 season.

The Razorbacks are looking to replace an All-SEC running back for the second consecutive season, and will again look to a sophomore to fill the void.

Rawleigh Williams picked up the slack last year after Alex Collins skipped his senior season to enter the NFL Draft. Williams finished third in the SEC with 1,360 rushing yards and scored 13 touchdowns, including one receiving. He also passed for a touchdown during a game against Mississippi State — the same game in which he rushed for a career-high four touchdowns before halftime.

Like Collins, Williams’ career at Arkansas was cut short, but for a different reason. Williams, who underwent surgery for a major neck injury suffered during a game against Auburn in October 2015, suffered a second neck injury during the Razorbacks’ final practice of the spring in April.

Ten days later, Williams retired from football, leaving Arkansas short on experience at the position once again.

The Razorbacks will turn to Devwah Whaley as their No. 1 back this fall. Whaley, a prized recruit from Beaumont, Texas, who signed with Arkansas after backing out of a commitment to Georgia, rushed for 602 yards and three touchdowns on 110 carries as a freshman last year.

His yards account for 87 percent of Arkansas’ returning production at the position after the Razorbacks lost 74 percent of their rushing yards from a year ago.

“I think Devwah, my guess is he probably entered spring with the idea to become the starting tailback,” Arkansas coach Bret Bielema said. “That’s just how he’s wired. I don’t know how much it affects him.

“Some of those younger players, a guy like Maleek Williams and maybe possibly Chase Hayden … it probably pushes them a little bit more and that’s probably a good thing for the summer.”

Whaley said Williams’ injury was a sobering moment for the team. It didn’t take long for him to realize he had become his position’s most experienced player in his first full offseason with the program.

“Things happened pretty fast,” Whaley said. “What happened with Rawleigh, we weren’t expecting that to happen. I’m preparing myself to be the best I can be to get ready for the season and also become a better leader, and be more vocal in the running back room. I’ve always been kind of quiet, but making strides.

“I’m just becoming a better Devwah — a player, student of the game, as well as just learning from Rawleigh. I look up to him and he’s taught me a lot.”

Whaley emerged as the Razorbacks’ No. 2 running back in an October game against Alcorn State from the NCAA’s Football Championship Subdivision. After limited action the first four games, Whaley rushed for 135 yards on nine attempts in that game at War Memorial Stadium, including a 75-yard touchdown.

He also had 112 yards and a touchdown at Mississippi State, and rushed for at least 50 yards against Ole Miss, Florida, LSU and Missouri, including a 30-yard touchdown run in the regular-season finale.

“As the season went along last year, I got better and more comfortable,” Whaley said. “For me coming from high school and playing my first year, it was a huge jump.

“I felt I had a pretty good game against Mississippi State. I made strides that game and continued to make strides after that. I stayed in my playbook, stayed and asked questions from the older guys like Kody (Walker) and Rawleigh, who were confident in what they were doing. Just sitting back and watching them helped me a lot, and then as I got more carries, I was more comfortable.”

Whaley also became a threat in the pass game late in the season on screen plays. He had two big gains totaling 69 yards against Florida and receptions of 23 yards or more against LSU and Virginia Tech. His six receptions averaged 23.2 yards.

“My hands have gotten a lot better,” Whaley said. “There’s always room for improvement and I’m going to continue to work on my hands to be a good all-around running back. I need to work on little things, most importantly my pass protection.”

Where Arkansas might miss Williams the most — and where Whaley will need to step up to be most successful — is in the ‘A’ gap, the area between the center and either guard. Much of Whaley’s success came last season on outside runs.

“That’s where you separate the men from the boys, running through the ‘A’ gap,” Whaley said. “Our offense is based on physicality and all the coaches stress that a lot. That’s just power football and what we do at Arkansas, and what we want to continue to do.”

Whaley is hopeful that losing weight this offseason will help him be more durable in his expanded role. He exited spring practice at 216 pounds, about 5 to 10 pounds lighter than his playing weight last season.

“I feel good and everybody says I look good,” Whaley said. “I was in the 220s at the start of the offseason. It was a point of emphasis to lose weight. It was important to me to get it done — not to necessarily gain speed, but not to feel sluggish and slow. It was mainly to maintain my speed.”

Behind Whaley is a cast of respected but unproven running backs. Among them are Maleek Williams and Chase Hayden, freshmen who were among the Razorbacks’ top recruits in the 2017 class.

Williams, a native of Punta Gorda, Fla., enrolled at Arkansas in January and went through spring drills.

“It was huge to have him here this spring,” Whaley said. “It was good for him to get up here early and get a head start on running our offense. He had to lose weight and got it done. His whole game, coming in from high school to college, is a big jump and he got it right away.”

Hayden, the son of former Tennessee and NFL running back Aaron Hayden, rushed for more than 7,000 yards and 92 touchdowns in a Memphis high school private league. He was Tennessee’s Mr. Football as a junior and chose the Razorbacks over six other SEC schools and Michigan, among others.