FAYETTEVILLE — Austin Allen did take a break to start the summer, but don’t think the Arkansas quarterback is going to quit thinking about the last two games of the 2016 football season.
Those two games against Missouri and Virginia Tech are with him constantly.
“I’m going to San Diego to hang out with Hunter Henry for a few days, then we’ll start our summer workouts,” Allen said just after finishing final exams in mid-May.
Would he throw with Henry, coming off a great rookie season with the Chargers, during the trip to San Diego?
“I don’t think he needs me for that,” Allen said. “You know, he’s got (quarterback) Phillip Rivers to do that.”
Allen is back in town after doing a little sightseeing with Henry in San Diego. Allen maintained his weightlifting habits, but gave his arm a rest before diving into throwing sessions with the Arkansas wide receivers this week.
The only other break this summer will include a trip to the Manning Passing Academy in late June. Allen will be a camp counselor for the second consecutive summer. He said there is a lot of coaching with young quarterbacks, but there are throwing sessions over lunch with Eli Manning.
“We’ve got a big summer,” Allen said. “We’ve got a lot of talent in our group of wide receivers, as much as we’ve ever had. We just need to work together a lot and continue to become one unit.”
The Hogs lost four good wide receivers from last season in Drew Morgan, Keon Hatcher, Dominique Reed and Cody Hollister. Also gone is Jeremy Sprinkle, who was third on the team in receptions a season ago.
The only truly experienced returnee is senior Jared Cornelius, but Allen thinks La’Michael Pettway, Deon Stewart, Jordan Jones, Brandon Martin, Jonathan Nance and T.J. Hammonds give the Hogs plenty of talent and a chance to have a solid throwing game again.
Tight ends Austin Cantrell, Cheyenne O’Grady, Jack Kraus, Grayson Gunter, Will Gragg and Jeremy Patton are good options, too. Patton, the nation’s top JUCO tight end, will arrive soon.
Allen will serve as coach and organizer this summer as the skill position players will meet between four and five times each week. One thing that has to emerge can’t be worked on this summer: Who is going to take Hatcher’s role as a superb blocker in the wideout group?
“What we have to find out as far as our receivers, who can block like Keon,” Allen said. “Keon would block a safety or a defensive end or a linebacker to help us on the perimeter in our run game.
“We’ve got some big bodies like La’Michael and Brandon to do that and I think we’ll have that, but that’s the toughness part that has to develop.”
There is speed to go with the size in that group. Allen calls Stewart “the change of pace” in the group. Cornelius has some shiftiness, too. Jordan is the true burner, a 4.3 man in the 40-yard dash. Hammonds, still learning the nuances of the passing game, is another “shifty” target.
“We’ve got some guys like Deon and T.J., who can make you miss in space,” Allen said. “Jordan is a freak, someone who can fly.”
The key will be how far can Allen take all of those talented wideouts this summer. He’s the go-between for Dan Enos, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Allen has been with Enos for three years and knows the demands of his coach. That’s important as the Hogs try to mesh all the new receivers, including three junior college players in Martin, Nance and Patton.
“I’ve got to coach them,” he said. “My goal is to take them back to Coach Enos in August and show him what we’ve learned.
“It is a big summer. We’ve got a bunch of new stuff that we have to polish. We’ll have meetings and then we’ll take it to the field.”
Enos expects nothing but a great summer with Allen leading the way. It will follow a spectacular spring practice.
"It was a great spring for Austin," Enos said in late May. "He played at the highest level I’ve seen him at Arkansas. He had a great season last year and we expect him to build on that this year.
"I challenged him to take control of the wide receiver group over the summer. He didn’t have to do that last year because he had Keon Hatcher and Drew Morgan to do it. But what he’s got this summer is the most inexperienced group from our offense. I told him he’s got to meet, watch film and throw with them.
"In the spring, there were times that he wasn’t sure where they were going to be and he held the ball too long. If you have to wait for them to come out of their routes, you’ve waited too long. He’s got to trust them enough to let it fly before they turn their heads. So that’s where they have to get to this summer."
Part of the summer will be used to teach blocking protections to some new backs. The Hogs lost their best backfield protector when Rawleigh Williams elected to retire from football because of another neck injury.
“I think everyone understood,” Allen said. “It wasn’t worth the risk. The hit he took wasn’t hardly anything and that makes you think, is it worth it?
“Rawleigh is so smart, he’s going to do something really special away from football. We know that.
“I know it’s going to be hard when we go out to the field and don’t see 22 there. But what he did was right. A lot wouldn’t have come back from the first injury and that second one was so scary.”
There are no concerns about the running back depth, at least according to Allen.
“I don’t think so,” Allen said. “Devwah Whaley is a special player. I’m excited about him. We have a lot of good young ones, too. Maleek Williams runs hard and is fast. T. J. Hammonds is really good, too. He just has to continue to work on ball security. That’s what young backs have to learn, that you beat the first guy against LSU or Florida, there is someone coming behind you to knock the ball out.”
The offense appears to be loaded.
“I believe that; really talented,” Allen said. “Everywhere you look, we have talent. Our offensive line is a lot better. Plus, I have a year under my belt.”
What does being a returning starter at quarterback mean?
“I think what I saw this spring is that everything slows down,” he said. “I’ve heard that. I saw it. We did lose some guys, but what we replaced them with is real talent.
“I think all it comes down to is putting our mind to it and I saw that over the last six months. We did have the focus.”
Focus is mentioned a lot around the football offices these days. Allen said he sees an intensified focus from coaches, especially from Bret Bielema, heading into his fifth season as head coach. Enos may be the most intense coach in the building.
“He’s pretty competitive, pretty intense,” Allen said. “Coach Enos is the most competitive guy I’ve ever been around. He expects perfection. You miss a throw, he’ll tell you it’s unacceptable. He wants to win every rep, every play.”
Enos has Allen’s back when in front of the media, but he drives his quarterback in every way. Enos pointed out that Allen was taking too many hits last season, but also said it’s something that comes with the position.
There have been some who pointed to late-season problems and wrote them off as too many sacks and pressures on the quarterback. Allen did sustain a knee sprain against Auburn. He didn’t miss any games, but did sit out practice the following week when the Razorbacks had an open date, which allowed the injury time to heal.
Did all of the hits just wear on the first-time starter over the second half of the season?
“It didn’t wear on me,” Allen said. “You play football, you are going to get hit. I expect that.
“I just think the end of the season didn’t go right. It went pretty well the first seven weeks, not so good at the end. I think I learned some things over that end part of the season. I learned you can’t try to do too much. You check it down. You don’t throw into coverage. It was a learning experience.”
Allen threw 15 interceptions, lost four fumbles and was sacked 35 times. Opponents had 65 quarterback hurries against the Hogs. By contrast, the Arkansas defense got only 25 sacks and 27 quarterback hurries with its own pass rush.
Those last two games were replayed in the tape room over and over.
“That Missouri game, for two days, I didn’t want to see it,” Allen said. “We had a week off. But I came in and watched it. I watched it for two weeks. It was a sick feeling that didn’t go away for a long time. I watched it over and over.
“It was the same thing after the bowl game. I watched it a lot. It was the same sick feeling. It was the two worst feelings I’ve ever had and since it is the way the season ended, you don’t get over it.
“I think we’ve had a chip on our shoulders for the last six months. It’s still the focus.”
There were some good moments last season, but the bad moments dominate the thoughts. One of them was the way the Hogs fell apart in the fourth quarter against Texas A&M in a 45-24 loss. The Hogs were tied at 17 when they failed on three plays from near the Aggies’ goal line late in the third quarter. Allen failed on two sneaks, although one might have gotten across the goal line.
“I did, but the pylon camera didn’t show it,” Allen said. “There were too many players blocking the view. But I was in.
“We should have made it before that and we had other chances just like that. We just weren’t very good on short yardage in that game. We couldn’t get it in on that series we talked about, then A&M went 97 yards.
“We should have been up by 24 points at that point in the game. We were on the goal line so much and we had one play we fumbled into the end zone.”
Allen said the Hogs don’t just circle any one game, but the trip to play A&M in Arlington, Texas, is a big deal.
“We are 0-4 since I’ve been here,” Allen said. “We have to win at least one in my time.”
Allen can’t help but think about what might have been in his time.
“I think we’ve been better than we’ve shown,” he said. “There should have been some years where we won 10 or 11 games. We just let things slip away. Sometimes it’s been early, sometimes it’s been late. But we’ve had our blunders and didn’t make it happen.”
Again, Allen thinks a better focus will carry the Hogs through in 2017.
“I see it in our coaches,” he said. “Coach Bielema, he’s got a laser focus right now. I’ve seen it all winter and spring. It’s his fifth year and my fifth year. It’s time to do some damage.”