FAYETTEVILLE — Five observations, with video, from Arkansas' 49-7 win over Florida A&M in Thursday's season opener.
— Sosa, Scoota, Speedier
Let’s get this out of the way quick: Florida A&M has a bad offense. Like, really bad.
Last year, the Rattlers ranked near the bottom of the FCS ranks in the major offensive categories. Thursday, they were hamstrung by playing without several injured starters, including quarterback Ryan Stanley.
Vincent Jeffries couldn’t throw the ball, registering just 95 passing yards. Their offensive line couldn’t hold up against a bigger, better Arkansas front.
But the Razorbacks did what they were supposed to in their new scheme, dominating Florida A&M on no uncertain terms with their starters in the game. The Rattlers managed just 49 yards of offense and 2.1 yards per play with just 2 first downs in the first half. Take away a 26-yard run on a fourth-quarter fake punt and they rushed for just 54 yards on 30 attempts. Henre' Toliver scooped and scored for a defensive touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter.
The biggest negative came on the injury front when cornerback Ryan Pulley sustained a season-ending pectoral injury late in the second quarter. The junior is the best cover man on the team and his absence will be a huge loss. Without him, Arkansas likely turns to true freshman Kamren Curl, a player who showed potential in fall camp and on Thursday but is obviously inexperienced.
The loss of Pulley put a damper on what was an impressive performance in the win, particularly by the sophomore duo of defensive end Sosa Agim and middle linebacker Scoota Harris.
Agim stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 286 pounds. He is bigger than multiple Florida A&M offensive linemen and easily more athletic than them all.
That trio of tackles occurred during a dominant 4-play stretch. Major mismatches and clever usage by the defensive staff. Agim finished with 4 tackles, including 3 solo stops and the above tackle-for loss.
Harris was all over the field in his first start, recording a team-high 5 solo (and total) tackles. He can’t match graduated four-year starter Brooks Ellis’ experience yet, but is much more athletic than his predecessor.
That’s a play Ellis, despite all his pros, probably doesn’t make. Harris also filled the hole on a regular basis all night.
Arkansas opened the game in a 3-3-5 look against a 4-wide set with nickel back Kevin Richardson in place of outside linebacker Dwayne Eugene, an alignment it will likely go to against TCU’s spread attack.
The Razorbacks tackled soundly and looked faster than last year. Granted, some of that was the opponent, of course. But replacing a slower lineman with Ramsey on the edge made a sizable difference.
When they did work out of the 3-4, they brought pressure from unexpected places.
Ramsey had been the blitzing outside backer most of the game, but Eugene got that job here and had an unabated (thanks to the back not seeing him) path into the backfield.
In the long run, it’s hard to glean much from this game against this caliber opponent. The TCU game will be more telling.
But Arkansas’ defense dominated like it was supposed to.
— Hayden shines in big debut
True freshman Chase Hayden made his college debut with an 8-yard carry on Arkansas’ third drive.
It was a more-than-solid first tote, but the 5-foot-11, 192-pounder spent the rest of the evening topping it.
Hayden was the offensive spark plug in his first collegiate action, running for a game-high 120 yards and a touchdown on just 14 carries. The performance was a continuation of what he did in fall camp: use his speed, quickness, moves and surprising oomph to create exciting runs.
Hayden missed a block in pass protection in the fourth quarter that resulted in backup quarterback Cole Kelley being sacked. Pass protection is his self-admitted biggest challenge at this point, but his overall performance far outweighed that play and was a confirmation of his camp production.
All 3 of the backs had solid games as Arkansas ran for 236 yards. Sophomore Devwah Whaley ran for 60 yards and a score on 12 carries, while senior graduate transfer David Williams produced 23 yards and two touchdowns on 7 attempts and caught two passes for 47 yards, including a screen he turned into a 37-yard gainer.
The Razorbacks will use all 3 this season, with Whaley the odds-on favorite to play a lead role. But Hayden has a different gear than his backfield mates.
He spent fall camp making big plays while running behind the second-team offensive line against the first-team defense. Thursday, he produced exciting runs in his collegiate debut.
Arkansas will count on him to do it again once the competition ramps up next week.
— Line shaky early
Arkansas had the same offensive line all spring practice and through the first two scrimmages of fall camp as Bret Bielema preached continuity for the front.
The Razorbacks switched it up in a big way Thursday, starting true freshman walk-on Ty Clary at right guard and moving right guard Johnny Gibson to right tackle in place of Brian Wallace, a change that came about as a result of Wallace’s inconsistency in fall practice and Clary’s surge over the course of camp.
Clary is a blue shirt, a walk-on this season who will go on scholarship for the spring semester. He was impressive, especially given the circumstances, but starting a true freshman at right tackle is an eyebrow-raising move.
The expectation was for a much-improved line after a less-than-stellar 2016, but the combination of starting Clary and the struggles in the early going Thursday paint a picture of a unit that still has question marks.
The Hogs had trouble run blocking and protecting Austin Allen in the first quarter against an FCS opponent, which has to ring some alarms after last season’s well-documented issues.
But it wasn’t the right side of the line that stood out for the wrong reasons, for the most part. Sophomore left tackle Colton Jackson, in particular, struggled the first few series. He whiffed on this block on third-and-1 on the opening drive of the game and the play was blown up, resulting in a punt, a red flag for fans who witnessed the Razorbacks struggle to convert short-yardage situations last season.
He also had issues in pass protection, including on Allen’s interception when he was beat off the edge, which led to Allen being hit as he released the ball.
There were other issues.
The coaching staff spent fall camp lauding Jackson’s progress, but his first start since the third game last season didn’t go as smoothly as hoped. He wasn’t the only lineman to mess up, of course. He got better over the course of the evening, but the beginning stages against a team like FAMU were troublesome.
Arkansas wound up running for 236 yards and the line began to look more in-sync as the game wore on, but the stumbles early on against such an inferior opponent give you pause.
TCU isn’t Alabama, but the matchup for the Horned Frogs should reveal much more about where the line stands.
— Pass game off
Austin Allen didn’t crack the 100-yard passing mark until late in the third quarter and finished with a career-low 135 through the air.
The senior quarterback completed 14 of 19 passes and tossed a touchdown, but was also intercepted once and wasn’t especially sharp, especially by his All-SEC standards.
There is likely blame to go around for all parties: quarterback, receivers and line. Arkansas was also understandably vanilla on offense for the most part.
Some of the inconsistency can be traced to the early line issues. Allen being sacked twice and hit 6 times, including 3 times the first two drives, against an FCS foe is cause for concern.
But he also held onto the ball on several occasions, which may be a reflection of the work-in-progress chemistry between him and his crop of mostly new receivers, of which only senior Jared Cornelius has extensive experience. They didn’t seem to be on the same page at times.
There were a few plays where no receivers created separation and Allen had to scramble after initially having time in the pocket.
The interception can be excused somewhat by the hit, but he stared down the Deon Stewart on the play was off-target with several other passes that might’ve been picked off against better competition. The obvious caveat is that the receivers may not have run the right route or made the right read.
Allen also appeared to turn down or miss potential big plays downfield. T.J. Hammonds was open and waving for the football on what likely would have been an easy touchdown and Jordan Jones appeared to have a step on a post.
Allen is a proven playmaker who entered the season healthy after being worn down by the beating he took last season. Thursday wasn't his best showing. He looked rusty at times, but the early line struggles and adjusting to new receivers had to play a role, too.
It’s natural to expect the pass game to take some time to click, but they’ll all need to be better next week.
— Clary impresses in surprise start
Bielema said they decided to go with Clary at right guard 10 days before the opener, but didn’t announce the move to avoid the walk-on being subjected to extra attention leading up to his college debut.
As a result, it was a shock when he trotted onto the field with the rest of the starting offense, joining Mitch Smothers (2011) as the only Razorback offensive linemen to start their season opener as true freshmen, but he looked comfortable and like he belonged.
He had some miscues, which was to be expected.
But he was impressive most of the night, both in run blocking:
… And in pass protection:
Clary was solid. He held up well and looked like he knew his assignments. He will be on scholarship in short order and him contributing in short order means it's already safe to classify him as a huge steal.
What starting a true freshman means for the line as a whole remains to be seen, but it's a rare situation. After going with the same group all spring and most of fall camp, the switch up begs the question of if and when other tweaks will be made.
Listed at 6-4, 286, Clary more than held his own against Florida A&M. Whether he can do that as the competition ramps up remains to be seen, but Thursday was an impressive debut.
Stray Thoughts
— Fullbacks Kendrick Jackson and Hayden Johnson were great, for the most part. Some really good work as lead blockers.
— Cole Kelley was large and in charge in his only series of the game, engineering a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive. His pair of completions were both screens, but he displayed poise on both, especially the first, which he flung to David Williams as he was being hit for a 37-yard gain. He also trucked a FAMU linebacker near the goal line, giving an idea of how his 6-7, 268-pound frame can translate. Ty Storey handled the victory formation on the game’s final possession.
— Not a good crowd, but not unexpected with the weather talk all week and the quality of opponent.
— Grant Morgan had 5 tackles, 2 solo, in relatively limited time. It was good for him and fellow backup inside linebacker Dee Walker (3 tackles, 1 solo) to get some PT.
— Interesting that true freshmen receivers De’Vion Warren and Jarrod Barnes played, but Koilan Jackson did not.
— Arkansas had just 2 penalties for 20 yards. One was the sideline interference penalty on Toliver's scoop-and-score, which was assessed on the ensuing kickoff. Clean performance overall, a good sign a year after the Hogs were one of the most-flagged teams in the SEC.