FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas running back Rakeem Boyd has taken over the team rushing lead from the injured Devwah Whaley by compiling 310 yards in the past three games.
Boyd, a transfer from Independence (Kan.) Community College, has 502 rushing yards on 75 carries. He's also second on the team with 18 receptions, which have gone for 154 yards.
The pass-catching component to playing tailback for the Hogs has taken the 6-foot, 200-pounder from Stratford, Texas, a little off guard. Boyd did not have a catch in high school, and said he had two or three receptions in the junior-college ranks last year.
"I could always catch the ball," he said. "But when I got here, they just put that in the game plan."
Boyd said he likes catching the ball and having room to run.
"It helps a lot to make it one on one," he said. "It helps to get me out in space."
Arkansas Coach Chad Morris thinks it's a sound strategy to get the ball in Boyd's hands by any means necessary.
"Well, he's got great hands," Morris said. "With all our running backs, they're very involved in the pass protection. Then our ability to leak him out of the backfield and throw to him. I mean, he's been targeted as much as anybody this year, and it's because of his ability of catching balls."
La'Michael Pettway leads the team with 19 catches for 303 yards and 4 touchdowns, with tight end Cheyenne O'Grady climbing at 15 catches for 201 yards and 3 touchdowns, all in the past four games.
Personnel report
Coach Chad Morris indicated offensive linemen Johnny Gibson and Colton Jackson, defensive tackle Armon Watts and quarterback Ty Storey should all be ready for action Saturday against Vanderbilt.
"These guys should play," Morris said. "We don't anticipate them not playing."
Storey (concussion) and Jackson (back spasms) missed the Hogs' 23-0 victory over Tulsa, while Gibson played through a sore knee and Watts suffered a quad injury.
Gibson and Watts still wore green, limited-contact jerseys Wednesday.
Receiver Jared Cornelius (ankle) was not in sight during the media viewing portion Wednesday.
Family loss
Running back Chase Hayden's grandmother died earlier this week, but he's been practicing and will play against Vanderbilt.
"Obviously, our thoughts and prayers go out to Chase and his entire family," Coach Chad Morris said. "After the game on Saturday, he will go back and spend time with his family. We'll get him back Tuesday of next week."
Rakeem Boyd said the other running backs have been supportive of Hayden.
"We've been on his side," Boyd said. "He's been pretty strong about it, but I feel for him."
Red-zone D
Tulsa took nine snaps at the Arkansas 20 or closer Saturday, but finished with zero yards of offense on those snaps.
The Golden Hurricane had managed 7 yards on its first eight snaps in the Arkansas red zone, but lost it all on the final Tulsa snap of the day. Facing fourth down at the Arkansas 11, Seth Boomer dropped back to pass and was sacked by McTelvin Agim for a 7-yard loss.
'Dude' ball
Vanderbilt Coach Derek Mason is happy to have top tailback Ke'Shawn Vaughn back from a concussion, and he seems determined to ride the 5-10, 222-pound junior, whose 6.9 yards per carry rank sixth in the SEC.
Like many teams, the Commodores employ several tailbacks in their rotation, but Vaughn is expected to carry a big portion of the load against Arkansas.
"I understand the running back by committee, but we're late in the season," Mason said. "It's about your dudes touching the ball."
Hart's take
SEC Network announcer Tom Hart, speaking at the Northwest Arkansas Touchdown Club on Wednesday, said the job Coach Chad Morris is doing is remarkable.
"You not only have to change the culture, but you have to change the personnel," Hart said. "What he's doing is drastically different than what Bret Bielema wanted to do. It changes your strength and conditioning, changes your offseason program, and it changes how you're going to recruit."
Hart said the number of victories Arkansas (2-6) gets this season is irrelevant, and pointed to Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops as a good example.
"He wins two games his first year, then five games and five games," Hart said. "Now he has his own guys in there. They are poised for a breakthrough season. If their administration had pulled the plug on him after three seasons, they would have had to hit the reset button and gone back to two wins, three wins."
Stoops, whose Wildcats are off to a 6-1 start and are ranked No. 12 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll, has a 32-37 career record in his sixth year.
Third-down D
Vanderbilt has one of the worst third-down defenses in the nation. The Commodores rank No. 119 in that statistic, allowing conversions on 47.4 percent of third-down plays.
By comparison, Arkansas is No. 31, allowing conversions on 33 percent of third-down snaps.
Mason metrics
Vanderbilt Coach Derek Mason is considered a defensive specialist, but the 49-year-old actually spent almost as much time as an offensive assistant (nine years) as he did on defense (11) in the two decades leading up to his first head-coaching gig.
Mason, a native of Phoenix, started his college career as the wide receivers coach at Mesa (Ariz.) Community College in 1994, then went on to Weber State (1995-96) and Idaho State (1997-98) on offense before taking the defensive backs spot at Bucknell (1999-2001) for his first role on the other side of the ball.
He returned to offense as the receivers coach at Utah, as well as a special-teams assistant, in 2002, then worked as co-defensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Saint Mary's in 2003. Mason went back to offense for the next three years at New Mexico State (2004) and Ohio (2005-06) as a receivers coach before landing a three-year stint with the Minnesota Vikings as assistant defensive backs coach (2007-09).
Jim Harbaugh hired him at Stanford as defensive backs coach in 2010, and he rose to the position of associate head coach and defensive coordinator for Coach David Shaw the next season. Stanford went 23-4 in 2011-12, and Mason was a finalist for the Broyles Award in 2012, when the Cardinal ranked No. 5 in run defense and No. 1 in sacks nationally. He stayed one more year at Stanford in 2013, when the Cardinal ranked No. 13 in total defense, before taking the head coaching reins at Vanderbilt to succeed James Franklin.
Sports on 10/25/2018