Opportunity to play is the biggest motivator in recruiting. It always has been. It always will be, and that's in almost every sport at the collegiate level.
In the days of the Internet, you can find about anything in seconds. You can sure find a depth chart and a roster and that goes for any sport at about any level of college athletics.
If you want to know how many safeties they have at the University of Montana, you can find it. That's what Reid Miller did at the end of the spring semester. He found a school that was in need of his services. Miller starts for the Grizzlies this season after exercising his graduate transfer option when it didn't appear he fit in the Arkansas plans.
Miller has 47 tackles for Montana and has started five of the last six games after playing as a reserve in the opening two games. He found his spot by scanning the Internet for a place that needed safeties after playing almost exclusively on special teams the last three seasons at Arkansas.
Miller probably missed his chance to earn a spot in the two deep last spring at Arkansas when he underwent surgery for an appendectomy. He missed the first four weeks of spring, and a chance to impress his new coaches.
Give Miller kudos for understanding what was about to happen at Arkansas where true freshmen are the backup safeties this season. He knew youth was about to be served in the first season of the Chad Morris era.
There is a point in this, an explanation for what's happening with recruiting this fall at Arkansas as the four stars flock to the 2-7 Razorbacks. A recruiting class that may finish in the top 10 for the first time in the history of the ranking services is a product of hard work by the coaches. It's also true that coaches have hinted at early playing time. Hint might not be a strong enough word.
It's a huge driving force in recruiting. And, Arkansas coaches have made it known they will play freshmen both in their recruiting pitch and the way they've put their rookies in SEC action this season. There are 23 freshmen (12 true, 11 redshirt) who have played so far. Given the new redshirt rule that you don't burn a year unless you play more than four games, some who have played will still redshirt. Some others who have not played may play before it's over and also still redshirt.
Here's the list of true freshmen who have played this season: quarterback Connor Noland, quarterback John Stephen Jones, cornerback LaDarius Bishop, defensive end Nick Fulwider, wide receiver Michael Woods, defensive tackle Isaiah Nichols, safety Joseph Foucha, safety Myles Mason, linebacker Bumper Pool, offensive tackle Noah Gatlin, punters Reid Bauer and Matthew Phillips.
Here's the redshirt freshmen playing: offensive tackle Shane Clenin, cornerback Jarques McClellion, cornerback Jordan Curtis, wide receiver Koilan Jackson, wide receiver Tyson Morris, cornerback Montaric Brown, running back Maleek Williams, offensive tackle Daulton Wagner, offensive guard Kirby Adcock, snapper Jordan Silver and quarterback Daulton Hyatt.
This prompted me to return to some comments from defensive coordinator John Chavis before spring practice. It was in response to a question about the freshmen most likely to get on the field. Chavis coaches linebackers and immediately mentioned Pool as likely to play. It was an easy choice because the true freshman was already on campus and in the two deep.
Pool has played a lot, starting three times against Colorado State, North Texas and Vanderbilt. Two of those were when Dre Greenlaw was injured. Greenlaw sat out for one play to open the Vanderbilt for violation of team rules, but then was injured again five plays after entering the game. Pool played the remainder of the game.
Pool was listed as a four-star recruit when he signed out of Lucas, Texas. He's hardly disappointed, but there are also times when he makes a wrong read or a misses a step that takes him out of position. He over pursues at times taking an angle that's too aggressive. In short, he makes freshman mistakes.
In the days before freshmen eligibility, Frank Broyles said that for every sophomore who started, there would be one loss. However, there were exceptions. The undefeated 1964 National title team started sophomores Loyd Phillips and Harry Jones. Both would later be first-round picks in the 1967 NFL draft.
That's the type of player Chavis was talking about when he said true freshmen should play. Phillips and Jones played before underclassmen could declare for the draft. But make no mistake, neither one would have been around for their senior year if the rules were different in 1964.
That's why Chavis said youth will be served in his time at Arkansas. He's played first-year players since his early days at Tennessee. He learned quickly that players developed much faster when there was even a hint of playing time.
Freshmen might play plenty over the last three games as some got more attention during the bye week.
“What I will tell you is that we recruit players,” Chavis said, “that we believe will help us and that have potential to play at the next level.”
In other words, come with the mindset that you are going to play and be here for just three years.
“You probably will say, 'How can you tell at this age?'" Chavis said. "They have to continue to develop, but you want to recruit guys who hopefully are making a decision after three years, are they going to come back?
“You go and do the research - I don't mean this in a wrong way but it's just facts - the guy who stays around for five years, he may help you win, and that's good, but the ones who are going to have the biggest impact on your program are going to be the ones who are going to be around here for three years.
“You want to recruit those guys. Of course, that's everybody else doing that, too. No one wants to talk about that, but it's what you want to do.”
If they can play, don't wait around with a redshirt season. It might cost you a year later.
“I learned a lesson at LSU that I guess I always knew,” Chavis said. “We had a defensive lineman that came in as a freshman who was not ready to play. He came in during the summer, worked and worked, and five or six games into the season was ready to play. He would have helped us. He was good enough.
“So we talked to him about getting on the field. He said, 'Coach, I'll do it if it's meaningful snaps, not just clean up at the end of the game. Otherwise, I wish you'd redshirt me.' So we redshirted him. He came back and played just two years and was gone. He was the 15th overall player taken in the draft.
“We got two years out of him. Again, what it tells me is this: if you have freshmen that are talented, find a way to get them on the field. Find a way to get them on the field.”
There was no doubt Chavis said it twice for emphasis. He also pushed the fact that they will be better the second year after playing as a freshman.
“There's no doubt,” Chavis said. “We are not going to be afraid to play freshmen. If they are talented, we will get them on the field.
“You get to a certain point when you practice, practice, practice that you have to get to the next step to advance. It's automatic, you only get better with playing time. You are going to see the true guy, the true athleticism when it's in a game.
“If all you do is practice what do you have to look forward to. In a game, they can look forward to going into a game and then being called out when we watch the film together. It's just human nature that is sometimes forgotten.
“Sometimes that player has the motor that's going and they are the same regardless of whether they play or not. But most of the time, the player will tell you, 'Hey Coach, I want to see myself on the big screen.' There is nothing wrong with that. They come here to play in the games.
“Our philosophy is that we are going to create chances for them to have success. When that happens, they become more confident. When they become confident, that's when they become a great player. I've never seen a great player who was not confident in what he was doing. That's a big part of coaching.”
That doesn't mean all play as true freshmen. You still have to evaluate when a player is fully ready.
“I've also seen situations where if you are not careful, you can hamper a player's development by putting him in situations he wasn't ready for, and then the way you respond when he's not ready,” Chavis said. “All of a sudden you are all over him. I always evaluate myself as a coach before I evaluate a player in terms of what is he seeing and why are we getting a certain response.
“What you find out, you have not repped him enough. Yeah, we told him, but that's the worst thing you can hear from a coach: We told him what to do. Are you kidding me? You told him?
“If all you had to do was tell them, why would you ever practice? Just tell them and let them go play. It doesn't work that way.”
The key is to be careful about saying never.
“It takes patience and you can't give up on players,” Chavis said. “You help them and find a way to develop.”
Chavis thinks there are going to be great memories made at Arkansas in the near future. Some of it may be that youth is about to be served.
Among the 22 on the Arkansas commit list, there are 13 defensive players. Nine are defensive ends or tackles. Chavis is going to get a chance to rebuild the defense quickly.
The opportunity is there to play quickly at Arkansas. The good news is that it's easier to play youngsters on defense than it is on offense.
I'll borrow a Darrell Royal line about young defensive players. The legendary Texas coach said, “If he bites you as a dog, he will bite you as a pup.”
There's another Royal line that might be appropriate as next season rolls toward us. It's only a little ironic that he mentions the Arkansas mascot.
Royal liked to say, “Every coach likes those players who, like trained pigs, will grin and jump right in the slop.”
Chavis and the Arkansas staff will try to train these youngsters, but the good news is that most of them are coming to campus with a grin. They think they are about to play a whole bunch.