FAYETTEVILLE — It's clear that thin – or at least thinner – wins with new Arkansas football coach Chad Morris. Most everyone has bought in to the 'lighter is better' mantra as Morris takes the Razorbacks to a spread offense and an attacking style of defense this spring.
That goes double for two of the big-time players to come into the interview room Tuesday after the third workout of spring drills. Quarterback Cole Kelley and free safety Santos Ramirez talked of the “buy in” after about 60 days of the spring semester.
Kelley is the 6-7 sophomore who made the “Steamboat” package famous last fall under Bret Bielema. He doesn't want to run “a package” under Morris. He knows the shotgun spread from his high school days and is shooting for the number one spot, not a bit player.
Ramirez is the 6-2, 195 senior with the reputation as a leader and a thumper. But he is more in tune with what Morris wants: lean and mean.
The two would like to collide a few times in Saturday's first scrimmage, possible since Morris said there are often semi-live periods for his quarterbacks in scrimmages, at least allowing defenders to “thud up” the signal callers. It's the anticipated big explosion that most all of the Razorbacks talked about in the interview room Tuesday night. All are looking to turn some heads from their new coaches and earn a spot in the depth chart.
“I hope so,” said Kelley on Tuesday of the potential for quarterbacks dishing out and taking some punishment. “I sure hope so. I think of myself as a game player, or a scrimmage player. I think when people are watching or the lights are on, I play better. It's close to that time.
“I sure hope we get some live work for the quarterbacks soon. I love it. I like running the ball. I think that's what my body is built to do.”
And, just to make sure, Kelley said he's not going to waste away in this move to conditioning. He's probably down a good 15 pounds from the high point last fall, but he's no lightweight of a quarterback.
“I haven't weighed today, but I was 265 the last time I was (on scales),” he said. “I am not so worried about how big I might be. I'm just trying to stay with more lean foods, more protein. That's going to make me better and not so fat and sloppy.
“I don't want to be too light. I think that weight makes it harder (on the defense). I feel great right now.
"I like this offense. I like what Coach Morris has brought to us. We are still going to run the ball and be physical and because of what we are in, there will be one less guy in the box. I can see that is going to help us and I like it.”
Ramirez liked all of that. He's focused on everything the Morris and his new staff has offered. That includes the yoga sessions on Wednesday of the offseason program with Trumain Carroll's strength and conditioning staff.
“Tru and his conditioning staff, they told us about yoga and I thought that sounded great,” he said. “I am a little lighter, but the main thing, my body fat is down. I went from 4.5 percent to 3.5 percent. I'm telling you, we love Tru and his staff.
“What that yoga did was give us more flexibility. I think we were a big, stiff team. We have gotten more flexible. We did a lot of running. I was all in for the yoga from the start and we needed that running.”
How much running?
“We ran four days a week during our winter program,” Ramirez said. “That's a lot more. Honestly, we needed it. Like I said, we were too stiff.
“I don't think anyone fought it either. No one has been fighting what we have done our first three days of practice either. We all like what we are doing.
“What we are doing is fast paced in practice, but what we did this winter prepared us for it. We needed more speed on this team to play in the SEC.”
But some of it is just in the design. There may be more packages on offense and defense that showcase speed – along with just playing faster because of tempo.
“We sure are doing that on defense,” Ramirez said. “Coach (John) Chavis and his scheme emphasize pressure. There are blitzes and pressures. We have installed some of that already. Some of it is for me. I am not giving away too much, but the free safety is back, in the box and in some blitzes.
“I can tell you that the ends love it. Someone like Sosa Agim is just able to now be a dominant player. He's got his hand in the dirt and coming hard. He's quicker. He's faster. And, Coach Chavis is going to use all of that ability.”
It's still Coach Chavis? Isn't he “the Chief?” It's clear that some players are having a hard time just going full tilt boogie with the nickname for their defensive coordinator.
“I know he likes to be The Chief,” Ramirez said. “I'll work towards that, but right now, it's Coach Chavis. He fits The Chief because he's making all the calls with his defense. We see that. And, the way he wants us to play is like a war. But he's pretty much just 'coach' to me. It's hard to just go there so quickly.”
Told the quarterbacks might be live at some point this spring, Ramirez said he won't have to be told but once.
“Cole Kelley wants it to be live?” Ramirez said. “I know he does. If you are 270, I'd hope you would want it to be live, right?”
Kelley knew that was coming.
“Yeah, right,” he said. “I talk a lot of smack. I know those guys want to clean my clock. I talk so much those guys are going to want to come at me.
“But I've missed it. I loved the Steamboat package because I got to run between the tackles. So I look forward to it if we get to go live.”
It won't be totally live. Quarterbacks still get some protection. They wear black jerseys and are never to be taken to the ground.
“We understand,” Ramirez said. “They are valuable. But we'll thud them like Coach Morris wants. We will keep them up.”
Ramirez has been glad to see some live work already and knows more is just around the corner with a big scrimmage set for Saturday.
“Brief periods today were live,” he said. “We tackled for some small periods. It was great to get back to hitting and we know Saturday will be fun.”
All players have a large strip of tape across the front of their helmets with their full name. Coaches are still trying to make sure they don't call anyone by their number.
Ramirez was proud that some of the letters in his name were gone from the tape on Tuesday. The letters from the Sharpie had been erased by a few hits.
“Yeah, that's good,” he said. “A real good day would be where I knocked all of the letters off.”
That's coming soon. There may be some of that black ink disappearing into Cole Kelley's black jersey. The big quarterback said bring it on.
“That's what spring is all about,” Ramirez said. “We are competing with each other. We've been competing all winter.
“You know, I didn't know if I was coming back for my senior year (or going to the NFL draft), but I'm having so much fun. I'm so glad I'm here. I'm so glad to see you guys (in the interview room) for another spring.”